Audi F1 junior Slater to test in Formula E
Audi Formula 1 development driver Freddie Slater will drive for Andretti in the forthcoming Formula E rookie test at Jarama.
The Race can reveal that the 17-year-old will drive Jake Dennis’ car at the test, as current Trident Formula 3 driver Slater undertakes his first miles in a Formula E Gen3 Evo car.
Slater will get a six-hour window of running at the test, which is an annual fixture in Formula E but is being held away from the Berlin Tempelhof circuit for the first time since 2020 when Marrakesh was host.
Post karting career, Slater graduated to single-seaters with Prema in 2024, competing in the Italian and European Formula 4 championships, the former of which he won. A second place on a one-off F3 appearance at the Bahrain Grand Prix for AIX Racing brought him significant attention last season, in which he also clinched the Formula Regional European Championship, scoring eight wins on the way to the title for Prema.
Slater's career so far
2023: Ginetta Junior champion
2024: Italian F4 and UAE F4 champion, 2nd in Euro 4
2025: FREC champion, 2nd in Formula Regional Middle East
2026: 2nd in Formula Regional Oceania
He is competing full-time in F3 this year as one of the expected title favourites.
Talking to The Race about selecting Slater for the test, Andretti team principal Roger Griffiths said that the buzz around the 17-year-old British driver was the initial trigger.
“You start looking into the junior categories about who are the people to watch and traditionally we, as in the Formula E paddock, just look to see who's available from F2 - and a lot of those guys have been kicking around that championship for two or three seasons,” explained Griffiths.
“So, we thought, 'well, let's go for a real rookie and see somebody who's an exciting talent coming through the ranks'. Obviously, we're a team based in the UK, although running under an American flag, so having a British guy in the car feels good.
“But also, everybody's talking about him and everybody's very positive about him. I sort of laughingly said 'who's his manager?' and turns out it's Fraser!”
That alluded to Fraser Sheader, one of the founders of the ADD stable that also manages long-time Andretti driver Jake Dennis, as well as current F1 world champion Lando Norris and ex-Nissan FE racer Sacha Fenestraz.
Additionally, former Audi Formula E team principal and now Audi driver development director Allan McNish has been speaking to Griffiths regarding Slater’s rookie test programme.
Slater was announced as Audi F1’s first driver development signing in January and has been taken under McNish's wing.
"I think it was back in Valencia [November 2025] was when we started talking about Freddie,” said Griffiths.
“As an aside, I get a lot of people two or three weeks out from the test who call me up and they say ‘oh, have you got a seat available?'. No, we're a professional team and we get this stuff sorted months in advance and we take it seriously.
“He [Fraser] was very positive about Freddie having a shot. I was having calls with Allan McNish about how we moved forward and navigated the complexities of an Audi F1 driver driving for a competitor team within F1 [Cadillac] through the TWG Motorsports side of things. We took a common sense approach, as both he and I wanted this to happen.
“Allan's super keen on seeing how he gets on, and he's already pushing me to give him detailed feedback. We're all excited to see how he gets on.”
