Victor Martins, ART Grand Prix driver, has earned pole position at the British GP in Silverstone with a lap time of 1:39.731. This circuit is favoured amongst most competitors due to its complexity, but this didn’t stop the Frenchman from setting the fastest overall lap:
“I think we did a great day and Free Practice was really strong, we knew exactly what to improve on for Qualifying. Then Run 1 was strong again, I was sitting P1 but a bit upset and not so happy with the balance I had, but definitely we did the right choice, not something that I wouldn’t say was much better but I delivered a good lap to get P1.”
Martins explains further how the feeling of the car had been this weekend, compared to previous races where he had just missed the top mark:
“I think honestly from the first few corners of Sector 1 on my first lap, I thought I was doing not more than what I should do.
“I was going to at least get a top 3 again, definitely aiming for pole but I think the lap was really good. I think Sector 2, I had a bit more if possible on the second lap if I still had tyres but the overall lap was quite a good one and a clean one. I’m definitely on the good side of today.
“I feel quite confident that since the beginning of the day that we were always there. Every lap I completed was really strong even if the last few laps were always there, we didn’t have so much degradation, so I’m quite confident that we can have a good car.”
There’s no doubt that the last few weekends have been troublesome for the Frenchman in terms of struggling to convert qualifying positions into great race performance.
Back in Austria, he qualified second, but only came away from the Red Bull Ring with two seventh place finishes. Since then, he has dropped to ninth in the overall championship standings at the halfway mark of the championship. Are there any reasons to hope for better this weekend?
“I think Red Bull Ring was something we could put on the side, we know what went wrong. I had the Sprint Race which went wrong, my floor was really damaged so I couldn’t get good data for Sunday and I think our approach was wrong there.
“If I get a clean weekend, I know on Sunday I will have everything in my hands to get the win.”
The Sprint Race kicks off on Saturday the 5th of July at 13:15 local time with the Feature Race on Sunday the 6th of July at 9:00 local time.
Image: Getty Images
