Latest / Rusty's Garage / The Motorsport Brief | Freddie Slater, the 17-year-old in Audi's F1 Driver Development Programme

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The Motorsport Brief | Freddie Slater, the 17-year-old in Audi's F1 Driver Development Programme · Rusty's Garage

• 0:00
  For this episode of the Motorsport Brief, we are at one of the great playgrounds of motorsport, Highlands Motorsport Park, with some really exciting news for today's special guest.
• 0:10
  I'm Roddy Rusty with you for this edition of the Motorsport Brief.
• 0:13
  Shortly to Freddie Slater and a little bit of his story and the journey so far.
• 0:18
  He's got some great things to come too.
• 0:20
  Don't forget, of course, we recorded in recent weeks while we've been on the tour, Will Davison, a two-part feature episode.
• 0:25
  His time in single-seaters in England, supercars, the great and rich history that his family has in motorsport, and he knows that intimately.
• 0:33
  So check that out when you get a moment.
• 0:35
  Let's go to Freddie Slater.
• 0:37
  Off the back of last weekend's round of this championship, you joined the winner's list, mate.
• 0:41
  That must have been superb.
• 0:42
  How do you feel?
• 0:44
  Yeah, I think it was a big bounce back from the first two weekends.
• 0:48
  As we know, it's not been the easiest of seasons of four weeks so far.
• 0:52
  So to bounce back like we did and have two wins race to, I'm a little bit disappointed about, but it's something to learn from for sure.
• 0:59
  But yeah, to get two wins under the belt and be back in the fight is a dream come true.
• 1:03
  Can we share a little bit of your journey?
• 1:05
  I think the first time you got a go-kart was when you were about five years of age.
• 1:10
  But your dad's got a bit of racing, maybe around Porsches and stuff.
• 1:13
  And how much of an impact did that have on you as a young fella?
• 1:16
  Yeah, being the firstborn as well, just kind of, I've always went to go watch my dad.
• 1:20
  And my godfather is a driver as well.
• 1:22
  So it's kind of, I've always been around it.
• 1:24
  And I loved anything with an engine, a motorbike, quad bikes, whatever it was.
• 1:27
  So yeah.
• 1:30
  It just started when I was a young age and then I couldn't think of anything better to do, to be honest.
• 1:34
  So it's been a very cool journey since I was five, really.
• 1:37
  So it feels just like yesterday that I was driving a go-kart around my dad's factory area and where the trucks park and stuff.
• 1:45
  So it's a pretty cool moment to be here.
• 1:47
  Nice that he's on the tour here with us as well.
• 1:49
  We'll talk a bit more about that in a moment.
• 1:50
  Am I right in saying, too, that the family business has supported a couple of other British races, too?
• 1:56
  Billy Munger, for example, I think, have you not?
• 1:58
  Yeah, Billy Munger is actually, I think it's the nephew or cousin of my godfather.
• 2:02
  So we have a bit of a relationship.
• 2:04
  Yeah, so obviously before his terrible crash, we were sponsoring him and Jeanette Juniors and stuff.
• 2:13
  And then obviously after we tried to help as much as possible after his crash.
• 2:16
  So as you know, Billy's doing great things at the moment with all his triathlon stuff, which is pretty cool to see.
• 2:22
  But yeah, it's all runs in the family.
• 2:24
  He's excellent in the media too, a great inspirational person I think.
• 2:28
  Can we come to your career when you got that go-kart and when you look at the CV, Freddie, I mean it's so impressive, you know I think it's like nine titles, there are European Championships, Junior World titles there and so on.
• 2:41
  Did the speed come immediately to you?
• 2:43
  Was that a learned thing?
• 2:44
  What was that like?
• 2:46
  It's so hard to say if it was natural talent.
• 2:50
  I don't know, that's kind of for other people to judge and my family and coaches and stuff that I've been around for a while.
• 2:55
  But for me, it was always being thrown in situations where I wasn't comfortable.
• 2:59
  I always did a lot of categories where I was always the youngest.
• 3:01
  I was always racing people a lot older, a lot more mature.
• 3:04
  So I was having to adapt my driving and...
• 3:08
  be more grown up than I was, you know.
• 3:09
  So for me, it's more just the situations.
• 3:13
  Craig, as you know, is with me here this weekend.
• 3:15
  My dad, my family, they've all put me in these more difficult situations where I had to raise my game, which I guess made me more mature earlier than I should have been.
• 3:24
  And yeah, and then traveling around the world, hanging around with teams and stuff, it's always going to make you more mature.
• 3:29
  So I think it's just a combination of things and getting thrown into the deep end.
• 3:33
  Whether that was planned or not, the irony, I guess, in that is that it's prepped you well, hasn't it?
• 3:38
  Yeah, for sure, because I've always said to people, go do what you can at the highest level.
• 3:42
  Like, I was just, I wasn't even old enough to go into Junior X30.
• 3:47
  I went to America, they gave me dispensation, and I was racing much older kids at the time, and I was only nine years old.
• 3:52
  So, yeah.
• 3:54
  Yeah, that's the thing.
• 3:55
  You've just got to be thrown in and adapt and learn.
• 3:58
  I'm here to learn, and like you saw, this championship, we've learned the most in the first two weekends and the whole way through for my main season in Formula 3.
• 4:06
  So I'm just continuously learning, and that's the main thing.
• 4:09
  In the learning process, are you – like, I sense in you you have –
• 4:15
  a certain level of confidence, one that is, you're meant to be here.
• 4:19
  I don't mean that in a cocky way, right?
• 4:21
  That's an important thing, I think.
• 4:23
  But then in addition to that, I feel like there's a lot of application going on behind the scenes.
• 4:28
  Are you that kind of really driven, disciplined athlete?
• 4:31
  And where did that come from, if that's a summary of you?
• 4:34
  I think people are a little bit shocked with me.
• 4:37
  I, I'd say I work really hard.
• 4:39
  I work on my nutrition, my, my fitness, my sleep.
• 4:42
  I, I try not to leave anything unturned, you know?
• 4:45
  So, um, I want to win and I don't want to just win by one second.
• 4:49
  I try to win by 10.
• 4:50
  So, um, when I do have bad races and we've seen this championship, it, it does set me back a bit and I'm like, okay, I need to pick the good bits from that and learn from it and go forward.
• 5:01
  Um, and that's what makes it.
• 5:03
  I guess easier to perform when it becomes a little bit easier sometimes or the results start coming because I try and find perfection in everything.
• 5:11
  So it's kind of one of them things that I think if I chase the perfection, it makes the other times easier, let's say.
• 5:17
  So, yeah, I just, I do try hard.
• 5:21
  So that's the end of it.
• 5:22
  I admire that.
• 5:22
  I wish I kind of had a bit of that at the same time.
• 5:25
  Just in the transition from karting to single-seaters, Freddie, when you look at your CV, that's still relatively recent, right?
• 5:32
  But again, you immediately achieved some success, and I immediately think of 2024.
• 5:40
  as well, beginning the campaign in the UAE.
• 5:43
  And then what you did in Italy was remarkable around Italian F4.
• 5:49
  I think the record had been 13 wins.
• 5:52
  You got 15.
• 5:53
  There was a swag of pole positions there.
• 5:55
  And the record used to be held by Kimi Antonelli, didn't it?
• 5:58
  Yeah, and the karting was a great, just good learning.
• 6:02
  You learn so much about race, craft, developing as a person as well because it's long weekends with lots of...
• 6:09
  different people so you learn loads there and then the transition to cars i did janetta's and then obviously had a really good year there but then it doesn't always mean it's going to translate into the formula four and we put so much work in behind the scenes in the winter and then when i when i turned up for italian f4 um it all clicked and i just felt really comfortable driving with my feet and just felt such a flow you know i can't explain it but
• 6:32
  everything just felt nice and I knew I was in control.
• 6:34
  So it's that feeling I'm trying to chase now as I work up the ladder.
• 6:40
  And yeah, with less track time, as you see when we go to Formula 3, etc., it's a lot harder to do that.
• 6:45
  So yeah, I think the foundation of F4 that I've learned is really crucial for the rest of my career.
• 6:51
  Will you stick with us?
• 6:51
  We're just going to grab a really quick break here on Rusty's Garage.
• 6:54
  More with Freddie Slater right after this.
• 7:00
  You're watching, listening to the Motorsport Brief, and we're delighted to be joined by a young man who is climbing the ladder, and the growth curve's been pretty impressive so far too.
• 7:09
  Freddie Slater is with us.
• 7:10
  We're recording this at Highlands Motorsport Park on the weekend of the New Zealand Grand Prix, and we're pretty proud of that race in this part of the world.
• 7:17
  I think, you know, we'd love it to be recognised globally, like a Macau, for example, one of only two GPs in the world that isn't Formula One but is allowed to carry that status.
• 7:28
  What would that mean for you to try and chase that this weekend?
• 7:31
  And you're also in the hunt for the CTFROP title here, aren't you?
• 7:33
  Yeah, there's two goals this weekend, to win the championship, hopefully, and then win the main race.
• 7:38
  I've just driven the track for the first time, and it's crazy out there.
• 7:41
  It's such an awesome track to drive.
• 7:44
  it's i miss miss these type of tracks you know like to have a grand prix here it is like going to macau there's jumps there's walls it's it's the same level and um it definitely deserves the hype you know and uh it definitely needs to be representative to macau as well it's still on the same level so um i can't wait for sunday and it should be good fun
• 8:03
  M2 competition have a rich heritage in this game.
• 8:07
  And you've talked about the seesaw, I guess, of the first part of this championship.
• 8:10
  A little bit of tough stuff on both sides, but then the success at Terratonga last weekend.
• 8:17
  Report card of the New Zealand tour for you so far?
• 8:20
  Yeah, it's not been the easiest with lots of issues in round one and round two internally.
• 8:25
  And then we managed to...
• 8:28
  reset for round three and you saw what happened so i've definitely made mistakes and it's something i'm going to learn from and it's going to make me better going into formula three about being a lot more under the limit because i try and push the boundaries too much and it goes wrong sometimes as you see sometimes on the starts i go forward sometimes i don't and um i've definitely learned a lot about myself coming out here um but yeah we're still in the hunt even with those two bad first rounds so uh no i look forward to the racing this weekend
• 8:55
  What attracted you to coming and playing here?
• 8:56
  I mean, you did some incredible things in Freca.
• 8:59
  This is a nice lead-in, I would imagine, to the 2026 season for you.
• 9:03
  Obviously, you know, Arvid Lindblad's come out of this last year.
• 9:06
  Liam Lawson's had success in it too.
• 9:07
  What drew you to coming to play in New Zealand?
• 9:10
  I think it was to actually have an experience of driving different tracks, more old school tracks that I really enjoy.
• 9:17
  My management team, ADD, as you know, they work with Lando and they did it not long ago.
• 9:22
  So they said it was the coolest thing they probably ever did.
• 9:25
  And honestly, just we've had so much fun off track as well.
• 9:28
  and also the tracks are incredible to drive you know there's so much passion as well the media the fans everywhere out here they love it so it's been really enjoyable to come here and race against some of the best drivers as well you know we've got supercar drivers rally drivers it's it's not a normal championship let's say so it's been very cool to compete with all them
• 9:46
  the reaction some of the youtube numbers and stuff have been crazy um off the charts really really good can we come to some big news for you this week firstly congratulations tell us i guess about what you you know what you can about this uh development program with audi um i have a colleague in australia or a supercars racer who's come through karting aaron cameron and he messaged me in recent days and he said i'd love you to ask freddie um at this point you know why why he wasn't part of a development program with a major you know he should be he should be there and then
• 10:16
  It's mega.
• 10:17
  Thank you very much.
• 10:18
  Yeah, it's kind of been one of the things that I don't think you really need.
• 10:22
  I think if you, at a young age, if you're put on a Formula One team, driver development program, it kind of doesn't mean a lot, especially in the early years.
• 10:30
  And now I'm starting to get closer to Formula One, let's say that my goal, it becomes a little bit more important now to start developing myself into
• 10:38
  an up-and-coming Formula One driver I guess so um now was the right time two three years ago definitely wasn't because I was still developing myself as a racing car driver not a car driver so um now was the right time I've got the right team behind me for sure and it's been amazing to kind of see them working really hard obviously to to join Formula One especially and uh yeah it's been a very cool announcement and a very cool journey that I'm looking forward to
• 11:04
  And the support around it is terrific.
• 11:07
  I mean, to see someone like Alan McNish endorsing that, naturally he's a part of the Audi framework and family there.
• 11:12
  Yeah.
• 11:13
  They've done some unreal things, Freddie, in everything that they apply themselves to.
• 11:17
  World Rally, Super Touring, sports cars especially.
• 11:22
  I mean, you're joining, I feel, at a really good time.
• 11:25
  Yeah, and the thing with Audi is the long term of it.
• 11:29
  They're not going into the sport just for a couple of years.
• 11:31
  You know, I can see the long term project and hopefully that means me in a couple of years kind of hopefully taking them to championships and wins.
• 11:38
  So that's the goal is to try to make myself to the best possible grade I can be.
• 11:43
  And then hopefully they keep developing their car and getting even better.
• 11:47
  But yeah, Alan is a proper racer and I've really enjoyed spending time with him as a person, not just in terms of working with him, but also just hearing his stories and the way he went about things and a very cool role model to have by my side.
• 12:01
  Couple to finish here.
• 12:03
  I sense you enjoy a little bit of golf away from there.
• 12:06
  I think your dad does too, he was telling me before.
• 12:08
  Have you played a couple of courses here in New Zealand?
• 12:10
  What's that been like?
• 12:11
  And is that a good decompress for you away from all of this?
• 12:14
  Yeah, golf is...
• 12:17
  the way i play golf is the way i drive and sometimes too aggressive so um i've learned i've actually learned a lot about myself um playing golf basically relaxing more not trying as hard and actually better results come so um sometimes i try too hard on the track and on the golf course and i've definitely learned a lot about myself from from that i wouldn't say my golf game's that good so it needs some work and needs some lessons but uh no it's good fun
• 12:41
  Lastly, I'm going to see you at Melbourne.
• 12:44
  I work at Albert Park every year.
• 12:46
  Big year coming up in Formula 3 with Triton.
• 12:48
  Just tell us about that program.
• 12:50
  Do you get at the rounds where F3 is on the program with Formula 1?
• 12:54
  Do you get to go and spend a bit of time with Audi or is it more just focusing on F3 when you're at places like Albert Park?
• 13:00
  My main focus is my F3 year.
• 13:05
  I've got to do my job, I've got to win to prove myself as well.
• 13:09
  So I think in time we will start developing myself into the team, maybe if it becomes right, but at the moment it's full focus on my season.
• 13:19
  Melbourne's going to be very cool, especially for the Audi thing, the first race on track.
• 13:23
  But for me it's the first round of the championship and it needs to start well, so I can't come soon enough.
• 13:29
  Well done.
• 13:30
  It's been awesome to spend the summer with you and to get a sense of the real drive and determination that you have.
• 13:37
  Highly rated by autosport, as you know, in recent times with them drawing parallels with some of those like a Lando Norris and a Lewis Hamilton who are already there.
• 13:47
  Could this young racer be the next one in line?
• 13:50
  That is it for today with Freddie Slater.
• 13:51
  Keep an eye out for notifications on future episodes too.
• 13:54
  Might have won with a world rally champion in the days ahead.
• 13:57
  Bye for now.