F3: Matteo de Palo won in Silverstone

      McLaren youth program driver Matteo De Palo achieved his first victory in Formula 3, finishing first in the Sunday race at Silverstone. Along with him on the podium were Ernesto Rivera and Maciej Gladysh, who was late to the awards ceremony because he went to the support race paddock instead of the "closed park" after the race. At the start, there was a slight cloud cover over the track, the air warmed up to +17°C, and the asphalt temperature was +23°C. The race began with two formation laps behind the safety car, and the distance was reduced from 22 to 21 laps. At the start, pole sitter Freddy Slater struggled to maintain the lead, fending off an attack from Theophile Nael in the first corner. Ernesto Rivera, starting fourth, lost two positions, letting Matteo De Palo and Fionn McLaughlin through. Ugo Ugochukwu moved up from twelfth to tenth place. On the second lap, while braking at the 16th corner, De Palo passed Louis Sharp and climbed to third place. On the third lap, on the straight before the 15th corner, De Palo used DRS to overtake Nael in the battle for second place. Matteo didn't delay and on the next lap passed his Trident teammate Slater in the fight for the lead. Behind them, in the battle for ninth place, Ugochukwu passed Evan David. On the sixth lap, technical issues arose on Nicola Lacorte's car, and he slowly returned to the pits. Uhyun Shin received a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. On the seventh lap, Slater regained the lead, overtaking De Palo before the 15th corner. On the tenth lap, Rivera passed Gladysh in the battle for fifth place. On the twelfth lap, the Trident drivers swapped positions again – De Palo led the race, while behind them Sharp lost several positions, dropping from fourth to ninth. On the eighteenth lap, yellow flags appeared on the track, and the safety car was deployed. The cause was Ricardo Escotto, who collided with Gerard Si from behind and stopped on the track with a damaged car. Si's car did not appear to have visible damage. The restart was given on the final lap. De Palo and Slater fought desperately with each other, their cars touching three times, and De Palo managed to maintain the lead. Exiting the ninth corner, Slater lost speed, which Nael took advantage of to move ahead. By the end of the lap, Slater also let Rivera, Gladysh, and Wharton pass. Matteo De Palo crossed the finish line first and achieved his first career victory. Theophile Nael finished second but received a 10-second penalty for pushing Louis Sharp off the track, dropping him out of the top ten. As a result, Rivera, who set the fastest lap, moved up to second place, and Maciej Gladysh completed the top three, marking his first career podium. The leader of the personal standings, Ugo Ugochukwu, earned points for sixth place. After the Silverstone stage, his lead over the nearest pursuer, Freddy Slater, is 19 points. The next Formula 3 stage will take place in Spa from July 17-19.