Ahead of the Australian GP Victor Martins spoke with selected media, including LWOS, about his difficult start to the 2024 season.
Even before the star of this season, Victor Martins was considered a possible contender for the title. First among the rookies and fifth in the final standings, this should be the season where the Frenchman could finally fight for the championship. However, Martins seems to have some difficulties at the start of the 2024 season. The driver of the Alpine Driver Academy spoke to selected media on the first day of the Australian GP, and he seems to have everything under control.
Tough start of the season
These first two rounds did not go well for Martins. No points and two DNFs in four races left him in eighteenth position in the standings. A difficult place from which to recover, but the season is still long.
“I know I could have done better in Bahrain, for example in qualifying. I think I had the wrong approach and then we do the Sprint Race where it didn’t go well and we knew why.”
The Frenchman seems to be aware of the mistakes in Bahrain, where he qualified only eighth. In the Sprint Race, he did not manage to recover any points, despite starting in the first rows. Saturday, during the feature Race, things seemed to have improved, if not for a problem with the car which forced him to retire.
The second round was in Jeddah, where last year Martins got pole position and arrived second in the sprint race. However, like last year, he failed to bring home any victory. In Free Practice, he proved to be very fast but unfortunately, in qualifying he did not find the same pace and finished fourth. In the Sprint Race, due to a collision with the wall, he retired the car, while in the Feature Race, he finished eleventh after a post-race penalty. Close to the points but still very far from the performance expected from him.
“I think Jeddah was quite good also. We try to improve some stuff but I think we just missed something there, which is also due to the fact that you do not feel good in the car and you do not drive very well. You don’t extract 100% of potential and you do not get the results you want”.
Martins and ART Grand Prix know they are not the level they want to be, but they still have time to improve. The Frenchman is confident that the team will get there as soon as possible.
LAP 1 / 20
Disaster for Victor Martins as he's out of the Sprint Race after picking up damage on the opening lap 😫
🟡 The Safety Car is out 🟡#SaudiArabianGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/lK21FXjtLh
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) March 8, 2024
Is Martins under pressure for the title?
“If I think too much about Jeddah and Bahrain, it’s not going anywhere.” said Martins: “I’m not concerned. You know, we have still 12 races to go. It’s quite long. Last year, I did not start really well in the championship, I made some mistakes so I did not have so many more points than right now, but we will get there for sure”.
Martins does not seem to suffer too much pressure for the F2 title. He is trying to focus as much as possible on the races and try to overcome his difficulties. His goal is to enjoy the races, to have fun, and to improve their performance. To do this, in ART Grand Prix they were honest with each other from the beginning, talking about the problems encountered since the first race. Martins seems to be confident for this weekend in Australia where, last year, he could not express his full potential. There are still 24 chances to earn points between the Sprint and the Feature races. The young driver will commit to exploiting them fully.
Different tracks to try
Martins, to the question, if there are any other tracks outside the F2 calendar where he would like to race, said:
“I like Nürburgring, so I would like to go there again. I had the chance to go in Formula Renault. I think going to another place for sure will be good, like Melbourne last year, it was the first time. It is always nice to travel. Going to Japan would be nice and also Paul Ricard. But then I would say it is down to the F2 promoter organization to bring us there. I really like the track of the 2024 calendar because there are quite a lot of street circuits and I love them”.
For three years in a row, from 2018 to 2020, Martins took part in the Formula Renault Eurocup Championship. In his last year, he won the title, dominating the season with ten pole positions and seven victories.
