McLaren hoping to beat Audi to the signing of ‘mega’ youngster who starred at the Bahrain Grand Prix

Every team in the paddock is always on the search for the next great motor racing talent.

It’s a cut throat world and each team is looking further and further down the ladder to make they don’t miss out on the next Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton.

McLaren are all too familiar with how the system works, poaching Oscar Piastri from Alpine after he won the Formula 2 championship.

Alongside Lando Norris, McLaren have arguably the stronger line-up on the grid, but they know they can’t rely on both drivers committing their futures to the team for the rest of their Formula 1 careers.

F1 welcomed six full-season rookies to the grid in 2025, with a range of experience and junior accolades under their belt.

Reigning Formula 2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto has ended up at Sauber, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli is racing for Mercedes after Ferrari missed out on his signature.

At the Bahrain Grand Prix, both Formula 2 and Formula 3 were present during the race weekend, and it turns out the youngest talent on the grid caught the attention of at least two Formula 1 outfits.

READ MORE: All you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

McLaren interest in Formula 3 star Freddie Slater after Bahrain Grand Prix performance

Journalist Joe Saward was reporting from the circuit in Bahrain on his blog about what happened across the race weekend.

He pointed out that 16-year-old British driver Freddie Slater made a ‘big impression’ on his debut, filling in at AIX Racing who only have two permanent drivers at this stage of the season.

Slater outclassed teammates Javier Sagrera and Nicola Marinangeli, qualifying 10th which meant he started in P3 for the Sprint Race.

The youngster finished 0.5 seconds behind Red Bull junior and victor Nikola Tsolov, but also secured the fastest lap of the race to score nine points for AIX.

He was the only retirement from the Feature Race, but Slater did enough to impress Audi, who are looking to build out their junior driver program.

However, Saward reported that ‘the whisper in Bahrain’ is that Slater might soon be signed by McLaren, and it may help that he’s managed by the same group who also look after Norris’ career.

READ MORE: Every McLaren driver since the 2000 Formula 1 season, ranked

Freddie Slater lauds his ‘mega start’ to life in Formula 3 after securing impressive podium finish

It’s yet to be seen whether Slater will return with AIX for the next round of the F3 championship at Imola.

The teenager said: “It was great fun out there,” to the gathered media, including Formula Scout, after admitted he made a ‘mega start’ on his F3 debut.

He continued: “Leading for a little bit, then got into second and tried to reset everything so I could have another chance. But unfortunately a few safety cars affected that.

“We had to get on with it at the start. I basically knew what I had to do. I needed to get into the lead as soon as possible, and that was the goal. And then I tried to manage for as long as possible.

“Then Nikola came up behind. He was a little bit faster maybe in that phase where I was managing, and then he got in front and we were managing more. And then we started to pick the pace up as I saw Nikola was starting to struggle.

“If it wasn’t such an interfered race, I think it would have been a different race in terms of strategy, the way I played it. But, you know, on those first two laps you can’t mess about, you’ve got to get on with it. So I had to attack and then manage from there.”

McLaren helped Bortoleto reach F1 through their junior program, and Norris is another fine example of the work they can do.

Slater will be pleased he has options available, and his incredible F3 debut is likely to only open more doors going forward.