Trident’s Sami Meguetounif impressed during the 2024 season—his debut season in F3— earning himself a direct promotion to F2 for the 2025 season. After an impressive debut, he enjoyed several highs, including his two race wins, during the season, but suffered some lows, including three retirements. This saw him finish the 2024 season 8th in the F3 drivers’ championship standings.
Wins in Monaco and Monza
Italy was incredibly good to Meguetounif in 2024 who took his two wins of the season in Imola and Monza. In the 2024 F3 Imola round, Meguetoundi achieved his maiden F3 podium. After starting P3 in the feature race, he managed an impressive performance. This saw him get past Campos Racing’s Oliver Goethe, who had won the sprint race, and his Trident teammate Santiago Ramos.
Several months later, in Monza, Meguetounif claimed his second win of the season This gave the Trident driver a front-row seat to see his teammate Leonardo Fornaroli claim the championship title after a last-lap move on ART Grand Prix’s Christian Mansell. Meguetounif had an impressive race, showcased excellent racecraft and courageous, intelligent overtakes, including one on MP Motorsport’s Alex Dunne at Turn 10.
Some lows among the highs
Unfortunately, despite achieving two wins, Meguetounif’s 2024 F3 season was marred by some bitter moments. Among the worst of these was a retirement from the Imola sprint race after slight contact with Prema Racing’s Dino Beganovic sent him spinning into the gravel. He also unwillingly became part of a three-car crash in Monaco after finding himself without anywhere to go after a collision between León and ART Grand Prix’s Nikola Tsolov.
The French driver also had to retire after a crash with his teammate Ramos while batting for P1 on the third lap of the Barcelona sprint race. That crash, according to Meguetounif, impacted his following F3 performances as well. The French driver indeed scored only twice in the following three race weekends, significantly haltering his potential title campaign.
“I’m satisfied, but at the same time, I have a bit of regret about my lack of consistency. I know looking at my potential that I could have done better.”
“I don’t know if it’s a reason, but the mistake that I did in Barcelona in the Sprint Race put me in the wrong loop for like three rounds. And unfortunately, it was the races that were in a row: Barcelona, Silverstone, Red Bull Ring and Budapest.”
Late turnaround
Ultimately, in the final rounds of the 2024 F3 season, Meguetounif managed to return to his previous high level of racing and won the final round:
“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.”
Meguetounif to step up to F2 for 2025
After an impressive F3 rookie season in 2024, Meguetounif will face another steep learning curve in 2025 as he will form part of Trident’s F2 lineup. The French driver will once again have to adapt to the new championship. However, while Meguetounif has yet to prove himself at the higher level, he has the talent and speed needed to make his mark in F2 as well.
