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TRIDENT ended the 2024 Formula 2 season 10th in the Championship but in an extremely competitive year in which every team won a race, that position might not tell the full story.
The Italian outfit scored 105 points last year – three less than their record total in 2023 – while Richard Verschoor and Roman Stanek’s two victories were the most the team had achieved in one season.
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However, after banking on experience to start the previous campaign, Trident have turned to rookies in the form of Sami Meguetounif and Max Esterson for 2025.
So, as they look to continue that upward trajectory, what can we expect from the pair this year?
Meguetounif has experience within the Trident family having driven for them last year in Formula 3, winning two Feature Races in Imola and Monza on his way to finishing eighth in the Standings.
In his lone campaign in the third tier the Frenchman certainly caught the eye, scoring points in both races on debut in Sakhir, narrowly missing out on the podium in the Feature in fourth.
Meguetounif though could never quite get the consistency he needed to challenge for the title, despite believing he had the pace to do so.
Speaking after the F3 season, he highlighted the Barcelona, Silverstone, Spielberg, and Budapest rounds, where he scored just five points, as a key part of his story.
He explained that after a mistake in the Barcelona Sprint Race – where he crashed out fighting for the lead – it “put me in the wrong loop for like three rounds.”
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Meguetounif also added: “I don't know if it’s a link or not, but after that mistake, I spent like three rounds getting a lot of bad luck or being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and in those four rounds, including my mistake in Barcelona, I lost so many points.”
He will of course want to iron out those mistakes and the three days of post-season testing in Abu Dhabi would have certainly helped.
The 20-year-old enjoyed a strong test improving on each day and there was a belief that the timesheets did not represent how well Meguetounif was performing.
The Barcelona pre-season test will be key for him to get more up to speed in F2 machinery and if he can find the consistency he missed out on last year he has shown he has the pace to be competitive.
Esterson is the second rookie in Trident’s lineup although he comes with slightly more experience than Meguetounif given that he took part in the final two rounds of the 2024 campaign.
The 22-year-old showed plenty of promise during those two weekends, qualifying as the lead Trident driver in both, and putting in competitive performances in the races.
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In Lusail, he qualified P13 on debut, but a slow start in the Sprint dropped him down to P19 before he fought back to cross the line in 14th.
He had a good getaway in the Feature and was going well until before the unfortunate timing of the Safety Car affected his plans to go long on the Hard tyre before he later dropped him down the order.
The American continued to show some good form in Abu Dhabi also for both the race weekend and the test and while he did not score points, he was once again the lead Trident in Qualifying.
He made progress in both races starting in P19 and despite not scoring points, he would have taken a great deal of confidence from his performances across the two rounds.
Trident are going into the year riding a good wave of momentum after one of their strongest seasons in Formula 2, and that is something that will help both Meguetounif and Esterson.
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Along with that, the former continuing on in a familiar environment will also help, as will the fact that Esterson will be no stranger to competitive action once the season starts in Melbourne.
With the team looking to build on a strong 2024, the signs are there that they have a lineup capable of doing so.