Victor Martins on F2 title: “This year is going to be different”

Morgan Holiday
Apr 9
4 min read

Written by Morgan Holiday

The 2025 Formula 2 season marks Victor Martins’ third season in the category. After a fifth place finish overall in his rookie season, then a seventh place finish in 2024, he’s back for another year and he’s focused on one thing: the F2 title.

“For sure it’s going to be an important year,” Martins said ahead of the start of the season.

“I have no problem for people to put me as the favorite because in the end I could have been the rookie champion in 2023. In 2024 for sure I think I was one of the favorites also but in the end we didn’t manage to put everything together, we struggled a lot with the car, the package overall.

“I think I have experienced also a situation where I have not been, in the past where I have been a bit surprised by not being at the front straight away, finishing on many pole positions in 2023, every time on the podium I think most of the time I was up there fighting for victories.”

Coming back from 2024

Martins finished fifth in his first full season of F2 in 2023 off the back of winning the Formula 3 championship. The Frenchman was the highest placed rookie in the 2023 standings, his breakout first season witnessing three pole positions, one race win and nine podiums.

After a stellar first year, expectations were high for Martins second F2 season. But 2024 wasn’t quite the rise that anyone in Martins’ camp was hoping for, as he struggled throughout the year to finish just seventh overall. Picking up one race win, one pole position, and just five total podiums, the drop in results was down to a string of bad luck more so than a lack of pace.

Looking back on 2024, Martins commented that he’s put his less than ideal season out of his mind altogether.

“For sure I learned a lot of things about how to manage these difficult moments,” he commented. “I feel this year is going to be different, in my mind I feel like I jumped from 2023 straight to 2025, and 2024 doesn’t really exist.

“Let’s say it doesn’t affect my goal, my motivation, my confidence in the team and the people I’m working with. I know I’m working with the best engineers in Formula 2, they will give me the best car for quali in Melbourne.

“I know this year is going to be different, but I don’t want to be like ‘I need to win straight away, I need to do the pole from the first round’, I know that the package we have right now is really strong in both short and long runs, so for sure it brings more serenity for how we approach the weekend. But for sure my goal is to win the title and nothing else.”

Experience and improvement

Despite retiring from the first and only race so far in the 2025 season, Martins sits eighth in the standings after collecting two points from inheriting pole position, after Gabriele Mini received a penalty.

As one of the more experienced drivers on this year’s grid, the French driver has the benefit of having learned from years on track in Formula 2 with ART.

Ahead of the 2025 season, DIVEBOMB spoke to Martins about what he’s learned in his previous F2 seasons, and about what he’s still working on.

“I think in terms of adaptation with the tyres during the race, how you manage them regarding the weather conditions and how the track layout is compared to another one,” Martins said.

“So I would say, on managing my tyres, on managing how mentally you approach the race, I know there are certain moments in the race where you can push 100% and there are some others where you need to control, back off a bit, have a look at where the others are who you are fighting with.

“I would say also, for the tyres in qualifying, to switch them on before the first push, I think it’s really important to focus on that. And I would say the little details, I know that from the first year I did in 2023 I was on it because all the engineers helped me a lot.

"In ART they are really good to support the drivers on this and to overcome every subject about the performance side. Let’s say warmup and tyre deg during the race, where you can push, where you cannot, this kind of thing.

“Where I am looking forward to improve, I would say from 2024 just my championship campaign, to be up there from the beginning… To not want too much, at some point to finish P5 if I can only do P5. And that will be always good for the championship points, and that’s it.

“I think we are on a different approach with ART right now, we know where we are, we know what we do, and that wasn’t the case last year.”

The second round of the Formula 2 championship kicks off in Bahrain this weekend. Ahead of the weekend, Martins has announced that he has joined the Williams Racing Driver Academy, joining fellow F2 driver Luke Browning as a member of the F1 team.

“I’m super happy to be joining the Williams Racing Driver Academy,” said Martins. “This is a new chapter for me, but my goal remains the same – to push myself to the limit, both as a person and as a racing driver, and to make it to Formula 1.

“Williams is an iconic team with an incredible history, and I’m confident this is the best place to be to help me achieve my goals.

"This year, I’ll put all my focus into winning the Formula 2 Drivers’ Championship with ART Grand Prix and maximising this opportunity with the Driver Academy both on and off the track. I look forward to working with everyone at Williams as we embark on this new journey together.”