Victor Martins became the latest driver to take an FIA Formula 2 victory with a maiden win in Sunday’s Feature Race – a feat he’s claimed “feels amazing!”
The 22 year old Frenchman started the race from pole and displayed composure throughout, taking a dominant victory, despite picking up a 5 second penalty. Speaking about overcoming the penalty, Martins had the following thoughts:
“I learned about the five seconds just before the safety car restart, and, that was a bit of a difficult moment, to actually take it, but I knew I had a great pace on the soft.
“My engineer, the whole team kept me calm and in position, just to keep focused on the driving and just going to the win until the end.”
Martins said that he feels, “it’s only the beginning”, in terms of Formula 2 fortune, gaining, “good confidence for the future”, from his Silverstone success. But as for the factors behind his success… Martins attributes that to his team.
“I think it’s just good communication with the team, knowing where I am, what is the target at the moment, and just to really evaluate the moment. Honestly I was just doing lap after lap, and I knew I had some gap with Iwasa, at some point I had Leclerc & Hadjar in front, but that was actually a good moment just to keep my tyres alive, just to keep warming them, and then when I will be free I will just push, and that’s what happened and we did it!”
Martins’ stellar victory takes him to fifth in the championship on 88 points, tied with Prema’s Oliver Bearman in fourth. But with five rounds left in the 2023 campaign, Martins will be keen to finish ahead of Bearman, and stamp his authority on F2 as the highest finishing rookie of 2023.
Formula 2 returns in Hungary next weekend which is a track that Martins has good history at, claiming points finishes in both of the Formula 3 races in 2022. He’ll be hoping for more success to continue his strong Formula 2 form of four podiums in the last six races.
Image: Formula Motorsport Limited
