Everything is coming together: TRIDENT Pre-Season Round-Up

TRIDENT return in 2025 with a lot of new faces in their garage, both inside and outside of the car. But so far for their Team Manager Giacomo Ricci, things are trending in the right direction.

The Italian outfit had one of their most successful Formula 2 seasons last year, achieving two wins for the first time, thanks to Roman Stanek’s Melbourne Sprint victory and Richard Verschoor’s Baku Feature Race triumph.

Five trips to the podiums marked their highest total in one season, while the 105 points scored is their second best record, after the 108 scored in 2022.

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TRIDENT will no doubt want to improve on those statistics in 2025, but they know there will be an adaptation process, especially for their new drivers Sami Meguetounif and Max Esterson.

What is helpful is that Meguetounif is a known quantity inside the team, given that he raced with them in Formula 3 last season, achieving two Feature Race wins and finishing eighth in the Standings.

For Esterson, he competed in the final two rounds of the 2024 campaign, so his adaptation process to the new team and the Championship started early.

So, while they may not have done as many laps as some of their rivals – Meguetounif completing 178 while Esterson did 116 – Ricci is still happy with how his drivers are looking ahead of the new season.

Speaking after the test, he reflected on his team’s performance in Barcelona, while also giving special mention to the new engineers and mechanics and how they fared across the three days.

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“We had a few problems during the three days of testing, but we have been able to solve them,” started Ricci. “We have also been able to complete the full program of testing, so this one I am quite happy with.

“We also have new parts and a new crew for the pit stop and I have to say the new guys did a good job in their first official time on track in this category.

“I think Sami and Max did a good job. It was good learning for them. It would be nice to have three more days, but we are all extremely motivated and looking forward to Melbourne.”

In terms of performance, it improved on each day for both drivers. The pair found themselves outside of the top 10 on the opening day, in both sessions.

When times were at their fastest though on Day 2, Meguetounif was 11th, less than a tenth behind Verschoor in P10.

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In the afternoon, Meguetounif was sixth with a 1:25.131, a tenth ahead of Esterson in P7, showing good progress in their one lap pace.

The Frenchman impressed again on the final day of the test, ending the afternoon segment with the fastest time on a 1:24.363, with his teammate in P10.

It ended a test where Ricci felt both his drivers progressed well, but he believes Meguetounif’s familiarity with the team, having raced for them in 2024, is helping his adaptation process.

“For me, both drivers are doing quite well,” he said. “I think Sami, you can see that he has been already with us for one year.

“He feels extremely confident with the team, very familiar with the environment. Max, I think he is growing, he still needs a little bit more time to feel comfortable. But I am sure we will get there.”

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Prior to the test, both drivers spoke of their goal of trying to be as consistent as possible this season, in their bid to push the team further.

That all starts this weekend in Melbourne, and while they go in as a pair of rookies, looking to learn as much as possible, their preparations since the end of last year should put them in good stead early on in 2025.