Matteo De Palo
Matteo De Palo is an Italian racing driver who is set to compete in the FIA Formula 3 Championship for Trident as part of the McLaren Driver Development Programme.
De Palo was the runner-up in the 2025 Formula Regional European Championship for Trident. He previously competed in the 2023 F4 Spanish Championship with Campos Racing, finishing fifth overall, and the 2024 Formula Regional European Championship with Saintéloc Racing.
Career
Formula Winter Series
De Palo made his car racing debut at the second round in Circuit Ricardo Tormo during the 2023 Formula Winter Series. He won the first race on debut, while taking both poles for the round.In July 2022, De Palo took part in a scouting camp conducted by the Ferrari Driver Academy.
Formula 4
Spanish F4
De Palo joined Campos Racing for the 2023 F4 Spanish Championship. He took his only Spanish F4 win of the year during the first round in Spa-Francorchamps, after original winner Valerio Rinicella received a penalty for track limits. A further podium came the next round in Aragón where he finished third from pole. He would next stand on the podium during the penultimate round at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, scoring a double podium. Despite only four podiums, his consistent points scoring saw him fifth in the standings, with 171 points.Italian F4
De Palo took part in the opening round of the 2023 Italian F4 Championship with R-ace GP at Imola. With ten points, De Palo was ranked 20th in the standings.British F4
De Palo made a cameo appearance in two rounds during the 2023 F4 British Championship, where he drove for Phinsys by Argenti.Formula Regional
2024
For 2024, De Palo was promoted to the Formula Regional European Championship with Saintéloc Racing. In the pre-season, he partook in the first two rounds of the Formula Regional Middle East Championship with the team. He scored two points finishes with the highest being a seventh, putting him 18th in the standings. In his main campaign, De Palo scored his first points with fifth in the second round in Spa-Francorchamps. He improved his personal best to fourth during the second race at the Red Bull Ring. With six points finishes, De Palo finished 17th in the drivers' standings with 29 points.De Palo also took part in the Macau Grand Prix with PHM Racing. In an incident-packed race, De Palo managed to find his way to finish in fifth place, but was disqualified due to a car infringement.
File:FRECA 2025 Mogyoród Nr. 8 De Palo.jpg|thumb|left|De Palo driving for Trident during the 2025 Formula Regional European Championship
2025
For the final two rounds of the Formula Regional Middle East campaign, De Palo joined the grid with Evans GP. He score points on one occasion, with ninth place during the final round in Qatar, placing 19th in the standings.De Palo remained in Formula Regional Europe for 2025, switching over to Trident for his sophomore campaign. He won the first race of the season at the Misano World Circuit, a maiden win in the series for both him and Trident. He followed this result with a podium in race two, putting him second in the overall standings behind Evan Giltaire. He seized the championship lead next time out in Spa-Francorchamps with a second place. However, he only managed a double sixth place finish in Zandvoort that saw him concede the lead to Freddie Slater. Despite this, he took his first pole at the Hungaroring, and followed it up with a second win of the campaign to take back the points lead. Despite a second place in Paul Ricard, a double victory from Slater swung favours back to the Briton. After being off the rostrum in Imola, De Palo won during the first race in Austria and regained the championship lead, but this was immediately lost with a retirement in race two. He secured his fourth and final victory of the year in Barcelona, and a double rostrum in Hockenheim to sit four points behind Slater into the title decider. However, his title chances derailed during the first Monza race, as an on-track incident necessitated a pit stop, and he finished outside the points. Despite this, he rounded the season with a second place the next day, finishing runner-up in the standings with four wins, two poles and eleven podiums.
Later in the year, De Palo raced in the Macau Grand Prix with R-ace GP.
FIA Formula 3
De Palo is set to make the promotion to Formula 3 for 2026, continuing with Trident alongside his FRECA rival Freddie Slater.Formula One
In November 2025, De Palo became a part of the McLaren Driver Development Programme.Karting record
Karting career summary
Racing record
Racing career summary
Complete Formula Winter Series results
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | DC | Points |
| 2023 | Campos Racing | JER 1 | JER 2 | CRT 1 1 | CRT 2 5 | NAV 1 | NAV 2 | CAT 2 | CAT 2 | 6th | 37 |
Complete F4 Spanish Championship results
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | DC | Points |
| 2023 | Campos Racing | SPA 1 9 | SPA 2 7 | SPA 3 1 | ARA 1 7 | ARA 2 5 | ARA 3 3 | NAV 1 15 | NAV 2 Ret | NAV 3 6 | JER 1 4 | JER 2 7 | JER 3 8 | EST 1 7 | EST 2 4 | EST 3 9 | CRT 1 7 | CRT 2 3 | CRT 3 2 | CAT 1 6 | CAT 2 6 | CAT 3 4 | 5th | 171 |
Complete Italian F4 Championship results
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | DC | Points |
| 2023 | R-ace GP | IMO 1 24† | IMO 2 | IMO 3 7 | IMO 4 8 | MIS 1 | MIS 2 | MIS 3 | SPA 1 | SPA 2 | SPA 3 | MNZ 1 | MNZ 2 | MNZ 3 | LEC 1 | LEC 2 | LEC 3 | MUG 1 | MUG 2 | MUG 3 | VLL 1 | VLL 2 | VLL 3 | 20th | 10 |
Complete F4 British Championship results
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | DC | Points |
| 2023 | Phinsys by Argenti | DON 1 | DON 2 | DON 3 | BHI 1 | BHI 2 | BHI 3 | SNE 1 C | SNE 2 11 | SNE 3 19 | THR 1 13 | THR 2 19 | THR 3 12 | OUL 1 | OUL 2 | OUL 3 | SIL 1 | SIL 2 | SIL 3 | CRO 1 | CRO 2 | CRO 3 | KNO 1 | KNO 2 | KNO 3 | DPGP 1 | DPGP 2 | DPGP 3 | DPGP 4 | BHGP 1 | BHGP 2 | BHGP 3 | 25th | 0 |
Complete Formula Regional Middle East Championship results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | DC | Points |
| 2024 | Saintéloc Racing | YMC1 1 15 | YMC1 2 14 | YMC1 3 9 | YMC2 1 7 | YMC2 2 16 | YMC2 3 15 | DUB1 1 | DUB1 2 | DUB1 3 | YMC3 1 | YMC3 2 | YMC3 3 | DUB2 1 | DUB2 2 | DUB2 3 | 18th | 8 |
| 2025 | Evans GP | YMC1 1 | YMC1 2 | YMC1 3 | YMC2 1 | YMC2 2 | YMC2 3 | DUB 1 | DUB 2 | DUB 3 | YMC3 1 Ret | YMC3 2 16 | YMC3 3 24† | LUS 1 Ret | LUS 2 9 | LUS 3 19 | 19th | 4 |
Complete Formula Regional European Championship results
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | DC | Points |
| 2024 | Saintéloc Racing | HOC 1 15 | HOC 2 13 | SPA 1 5 | SPA 2 11 | ZAN 1 Ret | ZAN 2 Ret | HUN 1 DSQ | HUN 2 10 | MUG 1 19 | MUG 2 18 | LEC 1 10 | LEC 2 15 | IMO 1 8 | IMO 2 Ret | RBR 1 10 | RBR 2 4 | CAT 1 22 | CAT 2 Ret | MNZ 1 25† | MNZ 2 Ret | 17th | 29 |
| 2025 | Trident | MIS 1 1 | MIS 2 3 | SPA 1 2 | SPA 2 6 | ZAN 1 6 | ZAN 2 6 | HUN 1 1 | HUN 2 3 | LEC 1 2 | LEC 2 6 | IMO 1 5 | IMO 2 4 | RBR 1 1 | RBR 2 Ret | CAT 1 1 | CAT 2 7 | HOC 1 3 | HOC 2 2 | MNZ 1 11 | MNZ 2 2 | 2nd | 277 |