Trident leaves the Red Sea coast without changes in its standings

The Feature Race, which concluded the third round of the FIA Formula 2 Championship season, on the very fast street circuit of Jeddah, saw the Trident Motorsport drivers miss out on the points zone. The difficult qualifying on the circuit on the Red Sea shore affected Max Esterson's race, while Sami Meguetounif was forced to give up almost immediately.

Starting from nineteenth position on the grid, Max Esterson took the start of the Feature Race with the harder Prime tyre compound. The twenty-year-old from New York managed well the tyre wear, covering twenty-seven laps with the same set of tires. The switch to the softer Option compound only occurred on the last lap. Nonetheless, the clean race, except for a single brief Virtual Safety Car, did not favor Trident Racing, which could not capitalize on the strategy. Despite his efforts, Esterson eventually crossed the finish line in eighteenth place.

Sami Meguetounif’s Feature Race lasted just eight laps. The twenty-year-old from Marseille was forced to retire after hitting the wall on the difficult street circuit in Jeddah.

The FIA Formula 2 Championship is now taking a break. The next round of the season scheduled for 16 and 18 May in Imola.

Giacomo Ricci, Team Manager: “It wasn’t a positive weekend, starting with a lacklustre qualifying and two races that didn’t offer many chances to recover. In today’s Feature Race, Sami Meguetounif damaged his car after contact with a wall. With Max Esterson, we focused on a strategy extending the first stint of the race with the Prime compounds until the last lap, but the dynamics of today’s race weren’t in our favour. Still, the American driver’s race pace was promising in some phases of the race”.