For a rookie, momentum is everything. After the bruises of Spa, Monegasque teenager Matteo Giaccardi reset at Magny-Cours, and left with both a trophy and his place in the French F4 championship top ten intact.
The weekend in three beats
In Qualifying, Giaccardi laid the groundwork with P8 in a tightly bunched session, just five-tenths off pole as Louis Iglesias dipped under 1:40.
In Race 1, a non-start torpedoed any early points haul, officials logged DNS, but it set up a redemption arc for Saturday afternoon. In Race 2, Redemption delivered. Under reverse-grid conditions, Arthur Dorison controlled the race, Guillaume Bouzar chased, and Giaccardi drove a measured final stint to P3, his second podium of the season. Then in Race 3, Sunday’s more elbows-out affair netted P9, more points, and a dose of realism about the midfield knife-fight.
Why this podium matters
The result didn’t happen in a vacuum. Giaccardi had already announced himself in Round 1 at Nogaro, claiming third in one of the opening races of the year, a statement debut that put him on the scoreboard early. Saturday’s Magny-Cours podium confirmed that pace wasn’t a one-off.
Across the triple-header, Rayan Caretti and Arthur Dorison split the headlines, Caretti taking Races 1 and 3, Dorison dominating Race 2, but Giaccardi’s ability to convert a DNS into a podium and then back it up with points on Sunday is exactly how a first-year driver cements championship position.
The standings picture
Post-Magny-Cours, Giaccardi is inside the top 10 on 41 points, a clear stride ahead of the chasing rookies even if he’s well behind the title-fighting duo of Alex Munoz and Jules Roussel. Independent databases and paddock summaries list him with one 2025 podium pre-Magny-Cours and confirm the Magny-Cours box ticked on the résumé.
Context: a stacked season
The FFSA Academy’s 2025 field is almost 30-strong and travels up to seven rounds from Nogaro in April to Le Mans in late September, with Lédenon (12–14 September) next, one of the calendar’s most technical, high-commitment circuits. For rookies, it’s a track that rewards rhythm and punishes impatience, making Giaccardi’s Magny-Cours reset timely.
The bigger picture for Monaco’s junior ladder
Giaccardi arrived from international karting and has adapted quickly to the Mygale-Renault package. Media across the junior-single-seater beat flagged him as a solid midfield presence in testing; two podiums by Round 4 is trending ahead of that billing.
