Victor Martins
| Victor Martins | |
|---|---|
 Martins in 2022 | |
| Nationality |  French |
| Born | 16 June 2001 Quincy-sous-Sénart, France |
| FIA Formula 3 Championship career | |
| Debut season | 2021 |
| Current team | ART Grand Prix |
| Car number | 7 |
| Former teams | MP Motorsport |
| Starts | 38 (39 entries) |
| Wins | 3 |
| Podiums | 12 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 5 |
| Best finish | 1st in 2022 |
| Previous series | |
| 2018–2020 2018 2016–17 | Formula Renault Eurocup Formula Renault NEC French F4 Championship |
| Championship titles | |
| 2022 2020 2017 | FIA Formula 3 Championship Formula Renault Eurocup French F4 Junior Champion |
Victor Martins (born 16 June 2001) is a French-Portuguese racing driver and member of the Alpine Academy.[1] He won the 2020 Formula Renault Eurocup and is the reigning FIA Formula 3 champion.
Career
Karting
Born in Quincy-sous-Sénart to a French mother and a Portuguese father,[2] Martins began karting in 2014 after a spell in gymnastics.[3] In 2016, he went on to win the CIK-FIA World Championship title in dominant fashion, leading pundits to liken Martins to Stoffel Vandoorne.[4] In December 2016, Motorsport.com listed Martins as one of the ten karting drivers to look out for, ranking him second to Logan Sargeant.[5]
Lower formulae
Whilst karting in 2016, Martins partook as a guest driver in the fifth round of the French F4 Championship, in which he claimed two podiums.[6] In 2017, Martins returned to contest the series full-time, claiming four wins, nine poles, ten fastest laps and eleven podiums and finishing as junior champion and overall vice-champion, just four points behind Arthur Rougier.[7]
Formula Renault
2018
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After driving for them during post-season testing, Martins signed to race with the R-ace GP outfit for the 2018 Formula Renault Eurocup.[8] Claiming two wins at the Red Bull Ring and Spa-Francorchamps and two pole positions, Martins ended the season fifth in the overall standings.[9][10] Martins also contested the NEC championship, claiming his maiden Formula Renault victory at Monza.[11]
2019
Martins returned for the 2019 championship, switching to MP Motorsport, which had carried Martins's fellow Renault junior Christian Lundgaard to second in the championship the previous year.[12] He finished runner-up to Oscar Piastri, with 7.5 points splitting the pair at the end of the year.[13] Martins won six races, achieving 14 podiums throughout the year, three more than rival Piastri.
2020
He moved to ART Grand Prix for the 2020 season of the championship, partnering Grégoire Saucy and rookie Paul Aron.[14] In a hard-fought battle with Brazilian Caio Collet Martins came out on top, after seven victories and a nine race long podium streak during the middle of the season, ending up 44 points ahead of Collet.[15][16]
FIA Formula 3 Championship
2021: Top rookie
In October 2020, Martins joined ART for the post-season test at Catalunya, which saw him finish in the top ten across all four sessions, with a highest placed finish of fifth on the first day.[17][18][19] He ended up signing for MP Motorsport for the 2021 Formula 3 season, alongside fellow Alpine junior and Formula Renault Eurocup title rival Caio Collet and Tijmen van der Helm.[20] The Frenchman's season started out positively, after a second place in race two of the opening round, and two podiums at his home round in Le Castellet.[21][22] However, after a fifth place finish at the first race in Austria, Martins went five races without scoring points. This streak ended at Spa-Francorchamps, where Martins battled with Jack Doohan for the feature race victory, eventually having to settle for second,[23] after which the French driver took his first win in the series in the second sprint race in Zandvoort.[24] After another podium in Sochi, Martins finished fifth in the drivers' standings, becoming the best-placed rookie of the season.
2022: Championship season
He tested for ART Grand Prix during the post-season testing and the following year, was announced in their line-up for the 2022 campaign.[25] In the opening Bahrain round, Martins took his first win of the season by winning the feature race over Arthur Leclerc.[26] Another podium followed in the Imola sprint race, before the Frenchman came out victorious during the feature race at Barcelona, coming back from a mechanical failure that lead to a retirement on Saturday. His form continued, as Martins took second places at Silverstone and Spielberg respectively, before following it up with another double-points finish in Hungary.[27][28]
After the summer break however, Martins experienced a shocking weekend in Belgium, qualifying lowly thanks to an error on his final flying lap during a mixed-weather session,[29] before being taken out of the feature race by Kush Maini.[30] He came back fighting, scoring a second place in the feature race at Zandvoort to put himself into the lead of the championship with one round remaining.[31] Having stated that he "[didn't] want to think, [he] just [wanted] to do" before the season finale in Monza,[32] Martins took the championship victory after finishing both races in the points, thus becoming the first drivers' champion for a team other than Prema in the category.[33] His closest title rival Zane Maloney, who finished a mere five points behind the Frenchman, commented after Martins' title had been confirmed that there was "no one better to win the championship".[34]
Formula 2
At the conclusion of the 2022 F2 season, Martines drove for ART during the post-season test at the Yas Marina Circuit.[35]
Formula One
In January 2018, Martins was inducted into the Renault Sport Academy.[8] After the 2019 season the French driver was released from the program. Martins rejoined the newly formed Alpine F1 Team academy on the 10th of February after his Formula Renault Eurocup title win.[36][37]
Karting record
Karting career summary
| Season | Series | Team | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Championnat Regional Île de France — Cadet | 13th | |
| Championnat de France — Cadet | 6th | ||
| Challenge Rotax Max France — Cadet | 3rd | ||
| 2015 | Trophée Interclub — Cadet | 3rd | |
| Trophée Oscar Petit — Cadet | 1st | ||
| National Series Karting — Cadet | 2nd | ||
| Coupe de France — Cadet | 4th | ||
| Challenge Rotax Max France — Cadet | 4th | ||
| Championnat de France — Cadet | 3rd | ||
| 2016 | WSK Champions Cup — OKJ | VDK Racing | NC |
| Championnat de Belgique — X30 Junior | 1st | ||
| X30 Challenge Europa — X30 Junior | 2nd | ||
| WSK Super Master Series — OKJ | 20th | ||
| CIK-FIA Karting European Championship — OKJ | 3rd | ||
| WSK Final Cup — OKJ | 1st | ||
| IAME International Final — X30 Junior | 13th | ||
| CIK-FIA World Championship — OKJ | 1st | ||
| 2017 | WSK Champions Cup — OK | VDK Racing | 8th |
| WSK Super Master Series — OK | 20th |
Complete CIK-FIA Karting European Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | VDK Racing | OKJ | ZUE QH 30 |
ZUE PF 9 |
ZUE R 32 |
ADR QH 16 |
ADR PF 10 |
ADR R 12 |
PRT QH 9 |
PRT PF 1 |
PRT R 1 |
GEN QH 1 |
GEN PF 1 |
GEN R 1 |
3rd | 109 |
Racing record
Career summary
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | French F4 Championship | FFSA Academy | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | NC† |
| 2017 | French F4 Championship | FFSA Academy | 21 | 4 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 299 | 2nd |
| 2018 | Formula Renault Eurocup | R-ace GP | 20 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 186 | 5th |
| Formula Renault NEC | 12 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 83 | 6th‡ | ||
| 2019 | Formula Renault Eurocup | MP Motorsport | 19 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 312.5 | 2nd |
| F3 Asian Winter Series | Pinnacle Motorsport | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | NC† | |
| 2020 | Formula Renault Eurocup | ART Grand Prix | 20 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 14 | 348 | 1st |
| 2021 | FIA Formula 3 Championship | MP Motorsport | 20 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 131 | 5th |
| 2022 | FIA Formula 3 Championship | ART Grand Prix | 18 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 139 | 1st |
| Formula One | Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen | Test/Development driver | |||||||
† As Martins was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
‡ Martins was ineligible for points from the third round onwards.
Complete French F4 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | LEC 1 |
LEC 2 |
LEC 3 |
LEC 4 |
PAU 1 |
PAU 2 |
PAU 3 |
PAU 4 |
LÉD 1 |
LÉD 2 |
LÉD 3 |
LÉD 4 |
MAG 1 |
MAG 2 |
MAG 3 |
MAG 4 |
LMS 1 4 |
LMS 2 10 |
LMS 3 3 |
LMS 4 3 |
CAT 1 |
CAT 2 |
CAT 3 |
NC† | 0 |
| 2017 | NOG 1 1 |
NOG 2 11 |
NOG 3 1 |
MNZ 1 1 |
MNZ 2 4 |
MNZ 3 EX |
PAU 1 2 |
PAU 2 8 |
PAU 3 16 |
SPA 1 4 |
SPA 2 2 |
SPA 3 2 |
MAG 1 2 |
MAG 2 13 |
MAG 3 2 |
CAT 1 2 |
CAT 2 4 |
CAT 3 2 |
LEC 1 7 |
LEC 2 5 |
LEC 3 1 |
2nd | 299 |
† As Martins was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
Complete Formula Renault Eurocup results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | R-ace GP | LEC 1 11 |
LEC 2 4 |
MNZ 1 6 |
MNZ 2 5 |
SIL 1 6 |
SIL 2 6 |
MON 1 3 |
MON 2 3 |
RBR 1 9 |
RBR 2 1 |
SPA 1 Ret |
SPA 2 1 |
HUN 1 4 |
HUN 2 9 |
NÜR 1 4 |
NÜR 2 2 |
HOC 1 Ret |
HOC 2 Ret |
CAT 1 Ret |
CAT 2 3 |
5th | 186 |
| 2019 | MP Motorsport | MNZ 1 4 |
MNZ 2 2 |
SIL 1 10 |
SIL 2 3 |
MON 1 1 |
MON 2 2 |
LEC 1 3 |
LEC 2 3 |
SPA 1 2 |
SPA 2 5 |
NÜR 1 5 |
NÜR 2 DNS |
HUN 1 1 |
HUN 2 3 |
CAT 1 1 |
CAT 2 1 |
HOC 1 1 |
HOC 2 5 |
YMC 1 2 |
YMC 2 1 |
2nd | 312.5 |
| 2020 | ART Grand Prix | MNZ 1 10 |
MNZ 2 2 |
IMO 1 4 |
IMO 2 4 |
NÜR 1 1 |
NÜR 2 1 |
MAG 1 3 |
MAG 2 1 |
ZAN 1 1 |
ZAN 2 2 |
CAT 1 1 |
CAT 2 1 |
SPA 1 2‡ |
SPA 2 4 |
IMO 1 5 |
IMO 2 1 |
HOC 1 2 |
HOC 2 2 |
LEC 1 4 |
LEC 2 2 |
1st | 348 |
‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | MP Motorsport | CAT 1 9 |
CAT 2 2 |
CAT 3 5 |
LEC 1 2 |
LEC 2 3 |
LEC 3 4 |
RBR 1 5 |
RBR 2 26† |
RBR 3 24 |
HUN 1 15 |
HUN 2 25 |
HUN 3 27 |
SPA 1 5 |
SPA 2 7 |
SPA 3 2 |
ZAN 1 8 |
ZAN 2 1 |
ZAN 3 10 |
SOC 1 3 |
SOC 2 C |
SOC 3 8 |
5th | 131 |
| 2022 | ART Grand Prix | BHR SPR Ret |
BHR FEA 1 |
IMO SPR 2 |
IMO FEA 9 |
CAT SPR Ret |
CAT FEA 1 |
SIL SPR 2 |
SIL FEA 7 |
RBR SPR 8 |
RBR FEA 2 |
HUN SPR 6 |
HUN FEA 10 |
SPA SPR 21 |
SPA FEA Ret |
ZAN SPR 7 |
ZAN FEA 2 |
MNZ SPR 10 |
MNZ FEA 4 |
1st | 139 |
† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.
References
- ^ "Victor Martins". Alpine Cars. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- ^ "Victor Martins élu par la rédaction de LusoJornal: Sportif franco-portugais de l'année". LusoJournal.com. 6 January 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
- ^ "Who is Victor Martins?". 22 November 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
- ^ "Victor Martins: The karting prodigy being likened to Vandoorne".
- ^ "The Top 10 most exciting karting talents of 2016". 17 December 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
- ^ "Meilleur temps pour Yifei Ye au Mans" (in French). Fédération Française du Sport Automobile. 10 September 2016. Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
- ^ "Karting world champion Martins makes single-seater switch". 18 March 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
- ^ a b "French F4 rivals Rougier and Martins become Renault juniors ahead of Eurocup moves". 15 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
- ^ "Formula Renault at Red Bull Ring: Wins for R-ace GP's Fewtrell, Martins". 22 July 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
- ^ Viñals, Arnau (28 July 2018). "VICTOR MARTINS WINS AHEAD OF THE SUMMER BREAK". FormulaRapida.net. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
- ^ Waring, Bethanie (1 July 2018). "Victor Martins takes first Formula Renault win in second Monza NEC race". FormulaScout. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
- ^ Allen, Peter (21 December 2018). "Victor Martins makes MP switch to remain in Formula Renault Eurocup". Formula Scout. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- ^ "VICTOR MARTINS MOVES TO MP MOTORSPORT FOR SECOND FORMULA RENAULT EUROCUP SEASON". 21 December 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
- ^ Wood, Ida (2020-03-10). "Eurocup runner-up Victor Martins confirms return with ART". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
- ^ Woollard, Craig (2020-11-14). "Martins is Formula Renault Eurocup champion as Colombo wins at Paul Ricard". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
- ^ Wood, Ida (2020-12-21). "2020 Formula Renault season review". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
- ^ "FIA Formula 3 returns to action for Barcelona post-season test". October 4, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
- ^ "Nannini tops Day 1 of post-season testing in Barcelona, ahead of Hughes". October 5, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
- ^ "Novalak ends Barcelona post-season testing on top, ahead of Doohan in Trident one-two". October 6, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
- ^ Allen, Peter (2021-02-10). "Alpine places Victor Martins and Caio Collet with MP in FIA F3". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
- ^ Woollard, Craig (2021-06-19). "Smolyar and Martins unsure Paul Ricard F3 charge can be repeated". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
- ^ Woollard, Craig (2021-06-19). "Double Paul Ricard podium the most fun Martins has had in racing". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
- ^ "MUST WATCH: Victor Martins move on Doohan for P1". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
- ^ "2021 Round 6 post-Race 2 press conference". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
- ^ Allen, Peter (14 February 2022). "Victor Martins moves to ART in F3, Caio Collet continues with MP". Formula Scout. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
- ^ "FEATURE RACE: Martins prevails in Sakhir to win over Leclerc". FIA Formula3® - The Official F3® Website. 20 March 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- ^ "2022 Round 4 post-Sprint Race press conference". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
- ^ "2022 Round 5 post-Feature Race press conference". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
- ^ "Martins refusing to focus on title fight after costly Qualifying error". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
- ^ "FEATURE RACE: Maloney bounces back to bring home first win in Trident 1-2". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
- ^ "FEATURE RACE: Maloney goes two-for-two in Zandvoort charge". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
- ^ "Martins on F3 title showdown: "Forget everything, drive naturally and go for it"". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
- ^ "FEATURE RACE: Maloney beats Bearman at Monza as Martins becomes Champion". FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
- ^ McClure, Michael (2022-09-18). "'There's no one better to win': The FIA F3 paddock reacts to Martins' title". F1 Feeder Series. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
- ^ Foster, Tyler (2022-11-23). "Your guide to the 2022 F2 post-season test". F1 Feeder Series. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
- ^ Larkam, Lewis (10 February 2021). "Alpine F1 team reveals Academy line-up for 2021 season". Crash. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
- ^ "Martins has no regrets over Renault split". Planet F1. 22 February 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
External links
- Official website
- Victor Martins career summary at DriverDB.com
|
- 2001 births
- Living people
- French racing drivers
- French F4 Championship drivers
- Sportspeople from Essonne
- Formula Renault Eurocup drivers
- FIA Formula 3 Championship drivers
- Auto Sport Academy drivers
- R-ace GP drivers
- MP Motorsport drivers
- ART Grand Prix drivers
- F3 Asian Championship drivers
- Pinnacle Motorsport drivers
- Karting World Championship drivers
- FIA Formula 3 Champions
- French people of Portuguese descent