Imola, first points of the season with Sami Meguetounif
The Feature Race, which concluded the fourth round of the FIA Formula 2 Championship at Imola saw Trident Motorsport scoring the first points with Sami Meguetounif, who finished the longer race of the weekend in tenth position.
The twenty-year-old from Marseille had set the sixteenth fastest time in the official practice session, at the end of a session in which the French driver had not managed to find a good lap. Meguetounif started the Feature Race with a set of Option tyres and switched to Prime tyres already at the end of the seventh lap. The strategy implemented by Trident Motorsport proved to be a winning one and the Frenchman showed a solid race pace that allowed him to recover numerous positions.
Meguetounif then managed to capitalise on a neutralisation period, saving his tyres behind the safety car, to secure tenth place overall. After having obtained, exactly one year ago, his first victory in the FIA Formula 3 Championship with the colors of Trident Motorsport, Meguetounif gave another satisfaction to the team with operational headquarters in Ossona by hitting the points zone in the Feature Race.
Forced to finish the Sprint Race on Saturday at the back of the field, due to understeer caused by excessive tire degradation, and not by contact with an opponent, Max Esterson ran a solid Feature Race, even if the dynamics of the race, with the safety car intervened at an unfavorable moment, did not help him. Starting from the eighteenth place on the grid, the twenty-two-year-old American took advantage of the set of Prime tires to climb up to sixth place.
Subsequently, the neutralization and the different strategy, made Esterson slip to nineteenth place. Regardless of the final result, the American showed that he has a solid race pace at times on the Italian track and set the fifth best time in the race. Next weekend is a very emotional event, on the always fascinating streets of Monaco, home of the fifth round of the FIA Formula 2 Championship.
Giacomo Ricci, Team Manager: “We wrap up the first race in Italy having earned the first point of the season with Sami Meguetounif, which we take as an encouraging result. The French driver managed to finish the race despite contact with a rival in a close duel. Max Esterson showed a solid pace at times, but the dynamics of the race did not favor him. Now there is no time to catch our breath, given that next weekend awaits us on the street circuit of Monaco, where we hope to make further progress”.