Interview
Sami Meguetounif staying with TRIDENT for a second consecutive season has given him plenty of confidence heading into his rookie Formula 2 campaign, as he targets a more consistent 2025.
The Frenchman steps up from Formula 3 where he raced with the Italian outfit, winning two Feature Races in Imola and Monza that helped him finish eighth in the Drivers’ Championship.
He got his first taste of F2 machinery with the team at the post-season test in Abu Dhabi and looking ahead, Meguetounif could barely contain his excitement at what was to come.
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“I'm feeling great,” said Meguetounif. “We had the winter break after the Abu Dhabi test, I've enjoyed the time with family and friends and I think it's the only really calm moment of the year.
“But now since the very beginning of January, I'm fully back into work, physical and mental preparation, everything.
“After two full weeks I'm already super excited to start, it feels too long to wait but at the same time it's an important time to prepare, so I'm enjoying the break before testing.”
Speaking further about how the three days of testing went, Meguetounif said: “Honestly, I expected that I would need a bit more time to adapt to the car, but honestly, things felt quite natural for me.
“After the first morning I already felt great in the car. I gained a lot of confidence straight away and from the afternoon on day one, I felt good in the car. At the same time, we had a very intense run plan through the three days, and we drove a lot.
“Physically I did my best to prepare, but I was not sure about how tough it would be and at the end I think I managed it quite well, even doing a full race sim. I managed to complete every lap without big issues so at the end I think it was really productive test.
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“We understood a lot. The engineers had to do a lot of tests also on the car because in the season they don't really have the time to test and understand the car because you have to put the fastest cars possible to deliver the results so you cannot go the wrong way trying things.
“So, we did that in the test, and I really felt that it was helpful for the team, for the engineers and at the same time for myself. I think every time we had a decent package we were there. So, I'm really happy about the tests and it's giving me a lot of hope for the start of the year.”
In four out of the six three-hour sessions in the test, Meguetounif was classified 17th or lower but did also finish in the top five on days one and two in the afternoon segments.
But the 20-year-old says that you cannot read too much into the timesheets as TRIDENT’s run plan meant they put the Supersoft tyres on when the track was at its slowest as the engineers ran a few tests.
The three days of running also helped Meguetounif build towards improving his consistency in the car, something he did not quite achieve in F3, but he believes staying with TRIDENT for a second year should help with that.
“For myself, staying with TRIDENT, it's also super nice,” he admitted. “I did some mistakes last year but I'm in the same environment to work on them, to take the time to understand what happened.
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“It's a different category, but it's trying again, let's go and try to do it again without doing the same mistakes. From a confidence and mental side, I feel super good staying with the team, even if there are some new people around me in the F2 team it's still TRIDENT and it's giving me so much motivation to put the blue colour on top that's for sure.”
Despite having the pace, Meguetounif admits a part of his issue in 2024 was his desire to “destroy” his rivals, but this year he wants to take a calmer approach to achieve his goal of putting TRIDENT back on top.
“I think in F3, the speed and the potential were fully there and we showed that by winning two Feature Races,” he said. “It's something even sometimes the non-rookie champions are not doing so the potential was very high.
“If the car is working well, I will be in the same situation this year in F2 and I have it clear in my mind that if it's the same, I’ll give everything to be at that same level. But I want to be there more often and maybe if it's not a win, if it's a top five or top three, I'll take it.
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“I will try to be satisfied with sometimes a bit less but if it's more often, it will pay off. I think it's something that I need to work on and for sure in the days where the win can come to me, I will take it one hundred percent.
“But maybe in F3 I wanted to destroy everyone so much that sometimes it was pushing me to make some mistakes and by calming down a little bit I'm sure I can do great and be more consistent.”