Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Trident has announced it has parted ways with its two Formula 2 drivers, and is believed to already have replacements lined up for the next round in Baku.

The early termination of Max Esterson and Sami Meguetounif’s contracts was made official via a statement posted to social media today, following media reports that the pair were on their way out imminently.

“By mutual agreement with Sami Meguetounif and Max Esterson, we have decided to part ways before the end of the 2025 season. Thank you, Sami and Max, for your commitment. It has been a pleasure to have had them both on our team and we wish them all the best for their future,” read Trident’s statement.

With three rounds to go, Trident is currently 11th and last in F2’s teams standings with just two points from the first 21 races.

Meguetounif is responsible for both of those points, having finished 10th in the Imola and Red Bull Ring feature races, while Esterson’s sole top-10 result was 10th place in the Red Bull Ring sprint race and therefore did not earn him any points.

The rookie pair sit 19th and 21st in the standings, both having stepped up to F2 after one year in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, with only one other driver this having gone points-free.

“This F2 season hasn’t delivered the results our team’s effort and preparation have deserved,” said Esterson. “There’s been hard work from every member of the team, but it hasn’t yet converted into the consistent pace or points we all expected and need.

“That’s tough to accept, but stepping up to this level was always part of a plan to gain experience at highest level of junior single seater racing. Even if it didn’t produce the results I wanted, I showed that on occasion I could run on pace when everything was working well.”

The American driver added: “I hope to find the right opportunity to be back on the F2 grid later this season if seat opens up in somewhere, and while my focus is set on returning to FIA Formula 2 in 2026, if we are unable to find a competitive spot in F2 we will be well prepared to pursue almost any of the world’s other top-level racing series.”

With the F3 season having concluded at Monza, several drivers can be expected to make the step up to F2 over the last three rounds of that championship, as happened last year.

Two F3 racers to have been linked with taking over the Trident seats for Baku are 19-year-old Norwegian and McLaren Formula 1 junior Martinius Stenshorne and 20-year-old Dutchman Laurens van Hoepen, according to reports by GPblog.

Stenshorne has spent the last two years in F3 with Hitech GP, coming 18th in his rookie campaign and fifth this year with two victories and three other podiums.

Van Hoepen has been a rival on the F3 grid with ART Grand Prix, coming 13th in 2024 and 12th in 2025. He has five podiums from his two seasons there.

The post Trident to replace its F2 driver pairing for Baku appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Sami Meguetounif is hoping that Trident will have his car rebuilt in time for Formula 2’s feature race on Sunday after a hefty sprint race crash.

On lap four of Saturday’s race, Meguetounif divided to the inside of Campos Racing driver Arvid Lindblad at turn three while Lindblad was attempting to pass Hitech GP’s Luke Browning.

As Lindblad turned in, contact was made. Meguetounif bounced off his car, and Lindblad was sent into the path of Browning. Due to being off the ground, Meguetounif’s car then rolled over Browning’s as it made contact then rolled again before coming to a stop. The race was red flagged for 40 minutes following the crash, which all three drivers walked away from.

With extensive damage at all four corners, Trident was left with “nearly a complete rebuild” to complete according to Meguetounif.

“Hopefully, the car will be ready for tomorrow,” he told Formula Scout. “We’ve got the engine and all the spare parts, so it is a short night for the team. It’s almost a complete rebuild. If the car is ready, which I’m sure it will be, I will give everything to pay them back for their work.”

The 21-year-old was not penalised for the crash, since the stewards found no driver wholly at fault for the incident.

“Things happen very quickly,” Meguetounif said. “When I took the decision to brake quite late I couldn’t come back, and I think Arvid went for a move on Luke forgetting about me.”

He added: “He bought his car to the apex, and we made contact as I had nowhere to go but, as the stewards say, it was a racing incident. I think it was quite optimistic from both me and Arvid to make that move.”

The safety of the drivers was secured by the halo cockpit protection device, saving all three drivers from potential injuries.

“When the contact was made it all happened very quickly. I closed my eyes, but watching the replay the halo saved me and Luke.”

Should he make the grid, Meguetounif will start from 13th place and he has an eye on scoring. The Frenchman has one point so far this year.

“I started close to the top 10 so if we make a good strategy and our pace which is looking good I hope to score points and bounce back,” he said.

The post Meguetounif pins hopes on car rebuild after walking away from F2 crash appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Trident’s Sami Meguetounif ended Formula 2 pre-season testing at Barcelona on top on Wednesday afternoon.

It was quiet early on, with six drivers heading out. Campos Racing’s Arvid Lindblad set a 1m25.427s benchmark to lead MP Motorsport’s Ricard Verschoor by 0.288 seconds.

Lindblad’s team-mate Pepe Marti set a 1m26.307s in third, going 0.137s faster than Trident’s Max Esterson.

MP’s Oliver Goethe and Meguetounif joined them in the 1m26s after 11 minutes of track action, and some time later Rodin Motorsport sent out its drivers and Alex Dunne set a 1m25.805s to go third fastest.

Just before Esterson struck trouble in sector two and caused a red flag stoppage 25 minutes in, Meguetounif lowered the pace to 1m24.363s and it was a time that would not be beaten.

Testing resumed with 50 minutes having already passed of the three-hour session, and 10 drivers had completed laptimes after an hour.

That soon grew to 18, and there were more red flags 71 minutes in as Van Amersfoort Racing’s John Bennett had a problem in sector three.

Therewas another lengthy break, and green flags waved again in the session’s second half. A few drivers headed straight back out, and Rodin’s Christian Mansell set a 1m27.117s to move into eighth place ahead of fellow improver and VAR driver Rafael Villagomez.

Meguetounif still had a gap of over a second at the top until Dunne set a 1m25.048s at the start of the final hour. He returned to the pits after that, and team-mate Mansell set a new personal best of 1m25.817s that lifted him to fifth. He then returned to the pits too.

Goethe caused the next red flag period with half an hour remaining of testing, and with 20 minutes to go AIX Racing’s Cian Shields recorded a 1m27.840s that put him 10th.

The next changes to the top 10 occurred with little over seven minutes left on the clock. ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins set a 1m26.355s, putting him within two seconds of the pace and into seventh place, then AIX sent out its drivers again. Joshua Duerksen and Shields moved into sixth and seventh by both setting 1m25.9s laps, and 25 seconds before the chequered flag was due to wave there were red flags again and this time caused by Meguetounif.

Afternoon session results

The post Trident’s Meguetounif ends F2 pre-season testing on top appeared first on Formula Scout.

40. Evan Giltaire

Down 14 • Was a winner early in first full FREC campaign 

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

After looking promising in a couple of outings at the end of 2023, Giltaire stayed with ART Grand Prix for a full rookie campaign in Formula Regional Europe. The reigning French F4 champion looked like a potential title challenger as he calmly took his maiden win on the opening weekend at Hockenheim. However, thereafter his season lost rhythm as he struggled to get on top of tyre degradation, while team-mate Alessandro Giusti gained the upper hand as the team recovered from a dismal 2023 season.

After that initial high, Giltaire could only manage one more podium, in the first race at the Red Bull Ring.

He acknowledged that his inability to nail routinely a top five slot in split qualifying hampered his chances of progress in races. Overall, an average position of 6.7 in qualifying in his group meant he was only the season’s 13th fastest qualifier, leaving him stuck in the pack and exposed to the risk of midfield contact accordingly.

He did take second place in the rookie standings behind Noah Stromsted but will be looking to challenge for the main title in his sophomore year in 2025.

Giltaire had looked well-placed for a strong finish on his Macau debut, but starting the feature race from ninth he was a victim of team-mate James Wharton’s crash at Lisboa putting an end to his race.

39. Noel Leon

Up 11 • Progressed to score podiums in F3 and Macau

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

After dominating a weak Euroformula field in 2023, Leon’s first season in FIA Formula 3 was characterised by continued progress.

The in-season testing at Barcelona marked a turning point after a slow start for the Mexican and his Van Amersfoort Racing team. At Imola, he achieved his first podium in a chaotic conclusion to the sprint race, where he lost the lead on the last lap to cross the line in second place, then stood on the top step after a penalty for Oliver Goethe, only to then be penalised himself for a restart infraction and demoted to third.

After that Leon became a regular points scorer while his team-mates struggled. He became a frontrunner in the final rounds of the season, snatching three more podiums – including second in the Hungaroring feature race – to allow him to squeeze into the top 10 in the final standings.

He went on to finish on the podium at the Macau Grand Prix in a one-off return to FRegional machinery, and joins Prema for his second season in F3 in 2025.

38. Hiyu Yamakoshi

New entry • Took the fight to Slater after Italian F4 switch

Photo: ACI Sport

Photo: ACI Sport

Yamakoshi was a revelation as he moved across to the Italian F4 championship with Van Amersfoort Racing, after combining the French and Spanish championships in 2023. The Japanese driver endeared himself to his team with his willingness to listen and learn, his conduct off-track and his speed on-track.

In a season where the rest of the filed was left somewhat in Freddie Slater’s shadow, Yamakoshi was the Englishman’s main challenger in the opening rounds. When he took three poles at Imola, he seemed to have rattled Slater slightly for the first and only time in the year. His two wins in Emilia-Romagna were fully deserved, while he was his own harshest critic for the mistake which cost him a hat-trick.

He took three more podiums at Vallelunga but lost direction mid-season before bouncing back in Barcelona, although a disastrous weekend at Monza cost him second in the final standings.

He did take two more victories in the Euro 4 series but lacked the consistency to challenge for overall honours, with Monza again proving his downfall.

Self-effacing, approachable and modest, if he can add a bit more aggression to his racing, Yamakoshi could shine in FRegional next year as he steps up with VAR.

37. Christian Ho

Up 4 • Singaporean was standout star of Eurocup-3

Photo: Eurocup-3

Photo: Eurocup-3

Ho looks like the next big talent from southeast Asia, and like many drivers with sighs set on Formula 1 he relocated to Europe for his karting career.

As a single-seater rookie in 2022 he was fairly anonymous, but since teaming up with Campos Racing last year he has become a rapid driver capable of winning streaks and title attacks. Spanish F4 was the first place he showed it, keeping the title fight going to the final round and winning the last four races, and in 2024 he stepped up to the FRegional-based Eurocup-3 and came two points short of being champion.

Failing to meet the chequered flag in the first two races meant he already had a 30-point margin to close, and while he took pole for the next race a slow start and a penalty meant he finished fourth and the gap to the top grew.

Ho’s response was two wins and two poles at Algarve, although retiring his car from second place in race three meant he was still 13 points behind in the title race, then a win and a second place from his double pole at Paul Ricard earned him the points lead.

The perfect weekend for main rival Javier Sagrera at Zandvoort while he only picked up one podium meant Ho trailed by 23 points ahead of the Spanish leg of the season, where his team was likely to have the advantage over the MP Motorsport outfit from the Netherlands than ran Sagrera.

A 10-second penalty for Ho denied him a double podium at Motorland Aragon and grew Sagrera’s advantage, and at Jerez only two points were snipped off as Ho claimed a lights-to-flag race one win and was fifth in race two after a prolonged battle with a team-mate that Ho couldn’t win due to their similar pace.

Ho finished second in race one of the Barcelona finale then comfortably took pole for the title decider. That was converted into a fifth win with ease, but the presence of guest drivers meant Sagrera earned two more points than usual in fifth and therefore pipped Ho to the crown – although that remains under appeal.

The 18-year-old Singaporean has not yet announced his 2025 plans, but there’s scant places left on the FIA F3 grid so there’s a risk that the off-season rather than results could slow his career momentum.

36. Sami Meguetounif

New entry • Fast but inconsistent rookie won two F3 feature races

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Meguetounif was immediately up to speed upon his FIA F3 debut, fighting for the podium in the season opener at Bahrain as he made the most of Trident’s highly competitive package.

A costly mistake in qualifying impacted his results in the second round of the championship at Melbourne, but he bounced back at Imola with a superb race management to win the feature race.

However, the Frenchman was not always able to accompany his speed with consistency, and only scored five points in the next five rounds.

He was aware he just needed to put it together, and so he did in the last two rounds to be fifth in the feature race at Spa-Francorchamps and then comfortably win the final race of the year at Monza, which he executed perfectly as he left the title contenders to squabble behind him.

Meguetounif did what his title-winning team-mate Leonardo Fornaroli could not by winning a race – twice – but never otherwise finished on the podium and therefore only scored just over half as many points and finished eighth in the standings. Rather than stay to put that right in 2025, another step up to Formula 2 beckons.

35. Tim Tramnitz

Down 6 • Red Bull junior was strongest in F3 sprints

Photo: Red Bull

Photo: Red Bull

Tramnitz quickly emerged as the leading driver of MP Motorsport’s all-rookie line-up in FIA F3.

The experience gathered during pre-season testing allowed him to finish fifth and third in the opening round of the season at Bahrain. The expectations were high after that, but the MP car was not always able to fight at the front.

Still, the Red Bull junior continued to make the podium in reversed-grid sprint races, twice finishing in second place at Imola and Monaco while the season was still in its early stages.

Results were hard to come by in the middle of the year but the German continued to progress as the season went on and kept maximising the opportunities he had. He capped off the season by scoring points in the last four races, and finally stood on the top step in the sprint race at Monza.

Ninth in the final standings, he scored more points than anybody – and 64% of his own total – in sprint races, so will be trying to lead MP forward into the top half of the top 12 in qualifying to score bigger in 2025.

34. Callum Voisin

New entry • Drove Rodin to the top step in F3

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Without a doubt, Voisin was one of the standout drivers of the second half of the 2024 FIA F3 season.

The Rodin Motorsport package lacked competitiveness and his lack of experience in the series didn’t help either, which led to him going points-free for the first six rounds.

However, the Silverstone round was an important turnaround. Helped by the mixed weather conditions and his and his British-based team’s local knowledge, Voisin extracted the maximum from the car and showcased his talent by qualifying ninth and finishing the sprint race in fourth place, before charging to first in a highly strategic feature race only to then be classified third because of a penalty.

The points streak continued at the Hungaroring and Spa-Francorchamps, where he starred again claiming pole position and then winning the feature race in slippery conditions.

33. Ollie Bearman

Down 27 • Managed three more F2 wins amid F1 call-ups and Prema struggles

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Bearman’s 2024 season was far off the expectations for a sophomore of his pedigree. Prema’s struggled with the set-up of the new F2 car was evident in its all-star line-up’s lack of results, with the car proving difficult to handle especially in the race.

However, Ferrari junior Bearman still put it on pole in Jeddah – a remarkable turnaround from Bahrain one week earlier – before he had to withdraw to make his surprise F1 debut.

More F1 commitments and the unpredictability of his car impacted the Briton’s performances from thereon. Qualifying became a struggle, and it was difficult to reach the front starting from the back. Nevertheless, Bearman still delivered when he found himself in a position to do so, winning the sprint races at Spielberg, Monza and Lusail.

The highlight of his season though was the Monaco feature race, where he charged from 12th place on the grid to fourth at the chequered flag, including a blistering opening lap, strong race pace and a brilliant move on his teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

32. Nikita Johnson

Up 16 • Teen won frequently in Indy Pro 2000 and twice in GB3

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Velocity Racing Development’s protege is still only 16, but has already proven himself on three rungs of the Road to Indy and now on the British racing scene too.

After taking two wins and two other podiums from five races in 2023, Johnson raced in the third-tier USF Pro 2000 full-time this year and won eight races but lost the title due to non-finishes and a disqualification. He not only won three more races than the champion, but became only the fourth driver in the last 27 years to surpass seven victories in a season.

Johnson was victorious in four of the first six races this season. That run was ended when he was disqualified from victory in race two on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course due to having a modified component on his car, and he not just lost the 30 points for winning but was also docked a further 30 points as a penalty.

His lead went from 55 to 15 points, but then he finished second from pole in race three and his closest title rival ran out of budget and dropped off the grid. The following race however also contributed to Johnson losing the title, as the Freedom 90 awarded additional points due to running on an oval. Johnson crashed out halfway through and had a penalty, and now he had just a one-point lead over Lochie Hughes.

A perfect weekend at the Road America triple-header put Hughes ahead, and Johnson rebounded by going unbeaten at Mid-Ohio but that was a two-race weekend so a big points gap still existed.

Then came Toronto. Johnson ploughed into the back of another car one corner into race one, then his attempt to pressure Hughes for the lead in race two turned into a spin and a race-ending crash. Now he was third in the points, and another unbeaten weekend in the Portland finale only moved him back up one spot.

VRD isn’t active in Indy Nxt, the next rung of the Road to Indy, so the team prepared Johnson for 2025 by also having him race in GB3 this year. He joined the grid after turning 16 and won twice en route to 11th in the standings. For 2025 he will stay there but join Hitech GP.

31. Noah Stromsted

New entry • Summary

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

Against a dominant Prema and drivers with more FRegional experience, Stromsted probably did the maximum he could this year by coming sixth in FREC.

He was over 50 points shy of fifth place, but was classified as top rookie and in addition to four second places (one of which came from a pole position claimed in heavy rain at the Red Bull Ring), he had three other top-five finishes and three fastest laps.

Wet-weather form propelled him to strong results at multiple circuits, but Stromsted admitted to Formula Scout there was a pace struggle in the dry during the season’s first half. The building of experience helped him following that, and 62% of his points came after season’s halfway point.

Stromsted also scored 99.1% of Race Performance Motorsport’s points, individually matching the team’s combined podium tally from the previous two seasons and single-handedly earning it sixth place in the teams’ standings for 2024. Had he been with a more established outfit, there’s no doubt Stromsted’s struggles would have either been resolved quicker, been less costly in terms of points, or both.

There were also cameos in FRegional Middle East and FIA F3 either side of turning 17, and Stromsted will step up to the latter full-time for his fifth year of single-seater racing.

The post Formula Scout Top 50 Drivers of 2024: 40-31 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Sami Meguetounif will step up to Formula 2 with Trident next season after winning two Formula 3 feature races with the team in 2024.

The French driver secured a seat at multiple champion team Trident for his debut F3 season and won the Sunday races at both Imola and Monza. Those victories were his only podium finishes and accounted for 60% of his points as he ended the year eighth in the championship.

After coming fourth in French Formula 4 in 2020, Meguetounif went on to race in ADAC F4 in 2021 with R-ace GP, with which he made his Formula Regional debut towards the end of the year. Two years in the Formula Regional European Championship with MP Motorsport followed, where he placed 16th and then ninth in the standings.

“When I made my debut in Formula 3 with the Italian team twelve months ago, I did not think I would grow so quickly,” said Meguetounif.

“This year I have worked with strong, intelligent and determined people. We have had an incredible season, which has allowed me, also thanks to two wonderful victories, to convince those who support me that it was time to move up a ladder. I can’t wait to take part in the Formula 2 post-season tests and enter a new phase of my career.”

Meguetounif will be teammate to Max Esterson, who already made the step up from F3 to contest the last two rounds of the F2 season with Trident.

“We had the pleasure of working with Sami this year in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, obtaining remarkable results, as he has proven to be a winning driver,” said team manager Giacomo Ricci.

“The move to the higher category represents a natural step at this stage of his career. I am sure that Sami has all the qualities to learn quickly and have a competitive season.”

The post Sami Meguetounif moves up to F2 with Trident for 2025 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Trident’s Sami Meguetounif felt reinvigorated by claiming third place in what he described as a “very important” qualifying as he looks to fulfil his Formula 3 potential.

The French racer was 0.092 seconds off Hitech GP’s poleman Luke Browning on his first day competing at Silverstone.  

“I’m very, very happy about this one,” he told media including Formula Scout. “I’ve done many mistakes this year and this quali was not on the paper the easiest one.

“It’s the first time I come here in Silverstone. Even if the prep has been massive before to come here, it’s always different in real life, especially on an impressive track like this. So this quali is very important for me, and I enjoyed it. But at the same time, it is only the beginning of the weekend. The points are tomorrow and Sunday.”

Meguetounif’s qualifying strategy was disrupted by some light rain mid-session, which set the alarms off.

“The experience was low going into quali, so the target was to do as many laps as possible to do then at the end of the session put something good,” he explained. “When I did my first push, that was obviously not so great because I was discovering everything, I think I was P19 and then the rain started to come.

“It was a disaster for me. In my mind I really felt like it was the end of the session. I needed to drive and I couldn’t because of the rain. So it was very much pressure and stress. But then when I arrived in the last lap, the engineer just told me ‘they are improving. You can do it. Focus on the basics, what we talked about.’ And that’s what I did.

“Being less than a tenth from pole at the end is good. I would have signed straightaway.”

Meguetounif is aware he “really need to deliver” after scoring just one point since winning the feature race at Imola four rounds ago. “It will be no stupid risk. But starting from third, like in Imola, it’s all to play for the win as well,” he affirmed.

Now he targets a “much more consistent” second half of the season. “Even if it’s not a win, big points every weekend was the target.

“I couldn’t do it in Red Bull Ring because of some incident in the quali. But I knew the potential was there. Here in Silverstone, I managed to start well the weekend. I really hope from there I can stay up at the front and finish my season with the results that my potential deserves. When I say my [potential] is obviously me and with the team and the car. So this is very important for me and I hope it’s the start of a good end of the season.”

Meguetounif, Jenzer Motorsport’s Max Esterson, Campos Racing’s Mari Boya and ART Grand Prix’s Nikola Tsolov will serve a three-place grid penalty in the sprint race for impeding other competitors during qualifying.

The post Meguetounif: Silverstone qualifying “very important” to fulfil F3 potential appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Sami Meguetounif delivered a smooth drive to achieve his maiden Formula 3 win on his Trident team’s home ground in the Imola feature race.

The Frenchman lined up third on the grid and was fourth on lap three of 22 after victory rival Campos Racing’s Oliver Goethe drove past him at the Tamburello chicane. However, that slow start to the race was part of the strategy, with his race engineer reminding him to “drive smooth” on the radio, and it eventually paid off.

“I still don’t realise [it],” Meguetounif told Formula Scout in the paddock after the race. “I’m on a cloud. After yesterday’s DNF, I gave everything and finally I take what we deserve. So it’s amazing.

“The first half of the race, even when Ollie passed me, I really focused on myself and my car, looking after my tyres,” he explained. “Didn’t try to go crazy and really stayed calm as my engineer helped me a lot to stay in that state of mind. I managed.

“I was just a bit scared of being attacked by the Prema. [Arvid] Lindblad, I think was behind me. I was managing the gap with him at the same time I was managing the tyres and then from mid-race I felt better than the guys in front, and I just decided to increase a bit the amount of pushing.”

He benefited from a technical issue in the car of his team-mate Leonardo Fornaroli to move up to third on lap six. Then he overtook his other team-mate Santiago Ramos on lap 12 and went on to close a gap of over two seconds to Goethe, passing him on lap 18 to win the race.

“The tyres felt great at the end because I pushed less at the beginning. The strategy was optimal,” he said.

The victory came off the back of a thorough learning process in the first two rounds of the championship at Bahrain and Melbourne, for a driver who didn’t reach the top step over two seasons in the Formula Regional European Championship.

“I learned a lot and arriving in Imola, even if the track is difficult, we were focused and I was focused on putting finally together all the job. And I think I made it quite well. Yesterday, I’ve been a bit unlucky and maybe taking a bit too much risk. So that’s why I had the contact with Dino [Beganovic]. But still, winning the feature race is something amazing.

“When you’re a rookie, especially when you came back after some difficult season in the previous year, [winning] makes you realise that in a good car with the good people around you, you can do it.

“Of course it’s a big boost of confidence and from now I will only look [for] this.”

Meguetounif is now sixth in the drivers’ standings with 38 points to his name, which is 14 behind the leader Fornaroli.

The post Meguetounif: Staying “focused on myself” paid off for Imola F3 win appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Sami Meguetounif claimed victory in FIA Formula 3’s feature race at Imola after overtaking Oliver Goethe in a late charge.

Despite starting from pole, Trident’s Santiago Ramos struggled for most of the race and scored just four points by finishing eighth. Meanwhile, team-mate and local star Leonardo Fornaroli made the podium in third after being hindered by a technical issue.

All three of Trident’s drivers enjoyed a good getaway and held on to their starting positions. Behind them, it was Goethe who made the moves. The Campos Racing driver gained two places from seventh on the grid, then moved up to fourth by passing Prema’s Arvid Lindblad. Hitech GP’s Luke Browning also climbed two positions to be seventh at the end of lap one. Conversely, Prema’s Gabriele Mini was slow off the line and fell from sixth to 11th place.

Fornaroli took the lead of the race from Ramos heading into the Tamburello chicane on lap three of 22, while Goethe passed Meguetounif to end Trident’s monopoly on the podium positions. The Red Bull junior continued his charge, taking second from Ramos on lap five.

One lap later he was in the lead as Fornaroli slowed down on the main straight with a technical issue and dropped to fifth before he could return to racing speed.

Fornaroli was then on a mission to recover the ground lost. He drove past Lindblad after several laps of battling and then passed Ramos, who had been overtaken by Meguetounif a few laps before.

Meguetounif’s reminder from his engineer to “drive smooth” early on in the race paid off, as the Frenchman closed the gap on Goethe and overtook him on lap 18. He then broke away up front, leaving Goethe to hold off Fornaroli for second.

Ramos visibly struggled for grip halfway through the race and lost fourth place to Browning, who had previously overtaken Prema duo Dino Beganovic and Lindblad. As the race progressed, Lindblad joined Ramos in starting to drop backwards and by lap 15 they were seventh and eighth.

Further down the order, Campos’s Mari Boya and Sebastian Montoya charged through the field. Boya climbed from 27th to ninth, and Montoya rose from 24th to 11th. He then picked up the last point for 10th place when Hitech’s Martinius Stenshorne was penalised.

Race results (22 laps)

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Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Trident enjoyed a dream FIA Formula 3 qualifying at Imola as it locked out the top three spots of the feature race grid.

Santiago Ramos edged local star Leonardo Fornaroli by 0.053 seconds, with Sami Meguetounif 0.252s behind in third.

“I never really aimed for pole position at that stage [end of qualifying],” Ramos admitted in the press conference afterwards.

“I tried to make a clean lap, and at the end, it ended up being like a really good lap. I felt like I pushed on the limit in high-speed corners, on traction, everywhere.”

The Mexican was “super happy” with his lap, and had “never imagined” he would claim his maiden car racing pole position after a tough previous round at Melbourne, although said that “Imola is a good track for me” the result “definitely helps a lot and brings the confidence back”.

Ramos qualified 18th in Melbourne. while Fornaroli took pole. After narrowly missing out on another at Imola, Fornaroli said: “I just wanted to put a clean lap together without doing any mistakes. So maybe there was a little bit of time [to find], but I’m still very happy with my lap.”

Meguetounif pointed to off-track work for Trident’s enviable qualifying results.

“We’ve been lucky to have Leo, a second-year driver, to help us to learn quicker, and let’s say catch the pace. We spend a lot of time at the simulator, [and] on a tricky track like here, I think it really pays off a lot.

He added: “The first push [lap in qualifying], you really need to approach it as taking information for later in the session. And if you made this one correct, then you can just add the small details, knowing that you will get a bit more grip by having a lighter car in the second and third set of tyres.”

The trio agreed that the team’s interest must prevail in the feature race over the individual urge to win against each other.

“The quickest is going to win, so it’s just a matter of fighting properly,” Ramos stated.

Formula Scout caught up with team manager Giacomo Ricci, who was delighted with Trident’s performance.

“It’s the first top three in qualifying in our history. So it is really, really special,” he remarked. “We risked quite a bit with the strategy, but at the end it paid off. So I’m really happy and really proud of the job of everyone involved in the team.”

Trident opted to use all three sets of new tyres in qualifying, completing a single flying lap on each.

“For the feature race, we will not have the new tyre. That’s a factor. But at the same time, you’re starting in front. So I still believe that the clean air, it could be an advantage. During the races there can be also plenty of safety cars. So we will see.”

Ricci is “optimistic” and reckons the lower temperatures with the race’s early morning Sunday start time may play in Trident’s favour.

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Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Trident leads the way in the FIA Formula 3 Championship after round one, even though the team’s best result was a third place.

Leonardo Fornaroli, Sami Meguetounif and Santiago Ramos scored 38 points between them at Bahrain, with Fornaroli fourth in the standings after making the sprint race podium and coming seventh with fastest lap in the feature race. Finishing fourth and fifth in that race put Meguetounif and Ramos sixth and ninth in the standings.

Fornaroli is a proven F3 talent with a pole and three podiums from 2023, while his rookie team-mates came ninth and 11th in last year’s Formula Regional European Championship. Meguetounif took a win and five other podiums from 59 FRegional races, while two third places are the best results of Ramos’s single-seater career.

All three drivers are targeting becoming 2024 FIA F3 champion.

“We were expecting to have a good pace after the test we did here a couple of weeks ago, so it was not surprising [to be high up],” Ramos said to Formula Scout at Bahrain after qualifying fifth, sandwiched between Meguetounif and Fornaroli.

He thought he had “some chances to win” and “to score some proper points”, but emphasised his focus was on the “long run” of the season rather than “finding the trophy” in round one.

“We need to be fighting for the championship, for sure. At the moment we’re an underdog, I would say. We didn’t look so strong on testing, but I think we’ve proved so far this weekend that we have the possibilities to fight up front and it’s just a matter of being consistent and staying always there during all the races.”

Meguetounif was frustrated to “spend too much time killing my tyres trying to pass one driver” in the sprint race, which restricted him to 10th place, but was happy “qualifying was strong” and that he “learned a lot” from his debut so felt ready to perform in the feature race.

“For the season, I want to fight always at the front. I have a car to win, so I cannot target P10, I have to target the front,” he told Formula Scout. “That’s my goal, to not do mistakes and be consistent, and deliver. Deliver always with the car I have.”

He emphasised “in that learning phase we still need to deliver if you want to fight for the championship” and that being a rookie was no excuse for losing: “We have to win and learn at the same time.”

After the feature race he had further frustrations about missing out on a better result, making “too much [mistakes] to be on the podium”. Overall though he was satisfied his results put him 12 points off the championship summit, and with his improved tyre management in the longer feature race, and vowed to be on the podium in round two.

Fornaroli credited “a big step on tyre management” since 2023 for his podium, and is targeting similar results in upcoming races to bolster his title ambitions.

On-site interviews by Roger Gascoigne

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