Sami Meguetounif
Meguetounif in 2023
Nationality	French
Born	(2004-05-24) 24 May 2004 (age 20) Marseille, France
FIA Formula 3 Championship career
Debut season	2024
Current team	Trident
Car number	5
Starts	4 (4 entries)
Wins	1
Podiums	1
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	TBD in 2024
Previous series
2023 2022 2021–2023 2021 2021 2019–2020 2019	FR Middle Championship FR Asian Championship FR European Championship ADAC Formula 4 Italian F4 Championship French F4 Championship F4 SEA Championship

Sami Meguetounif (French pronunciation: [sa.mi mɛ.ɡɥɛ.tu.nif];^[1] born 24 May 2004) is a French racing driver who is currently competing in the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship with Trident. He previously competed in the Formula Regional European Championship for two seasons in 2022 and 2023 with MP Motorsport.

Career

Karting

Meguetounif started karting in his native France in 2013, racing in the Regional PACAC championship, which he would go on to finish second in. He won the same championship in the Minime class two years later, and soon made his debut in various national championships.^[2] Meguetounif moved into international competition in 2017, finishing fifth in the Karting Academy Trophy and getting second place in the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, only losing out to Tijmen van der Helm. That year Meguetounif also won two trophies in his homeland, one of them being the National Championship, beating future flatmate and Formula 4 rival Victor Bernier.^[3] In 2018 Meguetounif went on to improve to fourth in the Academy Trophy, and also made his first appearance in the European Championship.^[4] He finished his karting career in 2019, with 14th place at the World Championships.^[5]

Lower formulae

2019

Meguetounif made his car racing debut in the 2019 French F4 Championship, competing at the Circuit Paul Ricard, ending up in the top ten in two out of three races.^[6] He also made a solitary appearance as a guest driver in the final round of the Formula 4 South East Asia Championship, where he finished second in all but one of his races.

2020

For 2020 Meguetounif decided to race in the French F4 Championship for a full season.^[7] He started the season out with only ten points from the first round, but would go on to improve rapidly, getting his first podium with a second-place finish in race 1 at Magny-Cours. After a disappointing round in Zandvoort Meguetounif returned to the rostrum with third place in race 1 of round four. He followed that success up with his most successful round of the season, scoring both pole positions, two seconds and one third place at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. He finished his season off strongly, achieving his only win of the season at Le Castellet, and scoring two further podiums in the final two rounds. In total, Meguetounif finished on the podium eight times and ended up fourth in the standings.^[8]

2021

In 2021 the French driver joined R-ace GP to compete in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship on a full-time basis, whilst also racing in certain rounds of the Italian Championship.^[9]

Formula Regional Championship

2021

On 4 October 2021 it was announced that Meguetounif would start the final four races of the Formula Regional European Championship, remaining with R-ace.^[10] He finished his first two races at the Regional F3 level in 22nd and 20th at the Mugello Circuit. The Frenchman improved significantly in the final round, finishing close to the top-ten in both races.

2022

In February of the following year, Meguetounif took part in the final round of the Formula Regional Asian Championship with Evans GP, in preparation for his main campaign.^[11] Having finished 13th in his debut race, Meguetounif scored points in an incident-packed race 2. He ended up 20th in the standings.

Meguetounif joined MP Motorsport for that year's Formula Regional European Championship, partnering Michael Belov and Dilano van 't Hoff.^[12] He scored his first points in the first race with a ninth-place finish, missing out on the rookie win to Sebastián Montoya by three tenths. At the second round of the season in Imola Meguetounif experienced a hard crash after being pushed off the track. He recounts losing consciousness after colliding with the wall but was found to have no serious issues during subsequent check-ups.^[13] He took part in qualifying the day after, but withdrew from the race.

The Frenchman would score two more points finishes during the campaign, which included a second place in Belgium, leading him to end up 16th in the drivers' championship.

2023

Meguetounif competed the full season in the 2023 Formula Regional Middle East Championship with MP Motorsport.^[14]

For his main campaign, Meguetounif would remain with MP in FRECA, partnering Victor Bernier and Dilano van 't Hoff.^[15] A first podium of the year came soon, with the Frenchman finishing third in Barcelona.^[16] After a pair of points-scoring rounds, Meguetounif and the team would miss the round in Mugello out of respect for van 't Hoff, who had died in an accident at Spa.^[17] At the subsequent round in France, Meguetounif would finish second, and he would repeat that result during the next event at the Red Bull Ring, dedicating his result to van 't Hoff.^[18][19] However, this would end up being his final podium finish of the year, one he ended ninth overall, six places ahead of teammate Bernier.^[20]

FIA Formula 3

Having completed the post-season tests with Trident, Meguetounif would sign for the Italian team to compete in the 2024 season of the FIA Formula 3 Championship.^[21]

Personal life

Meguetounif was born in Marseille and raised in Marrakesh, Morocco.^[22][23] Meguetounif completed the Lycée, the equivalent to A-Levels in France. During this time, he lived and studied together with his FRECA teammate Victor Bernier.^[24]

Karting record

Karting career summary

Racing record

Racing career summary