Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Victor Martins’ hard work and analysis finally paid off when the ART Grand Prix driver claimed his maiden Formula 2 win in the feature race at Silverstone.
The Alpine junior had shown strong pace throughout the whole weekend. He scored his third pole of his rookie season in qualifying on Friday, and on Sunday he kept his cool to offset a five-second time penalty and stand on the podium’s top step.
“I felt it like it was [going to happen] today. I felt that I put the right approach. I had the right mindset and I worked on the right things to achieve that one,” Martins told the media after the race.
“When you get your first win, it’s always kind of opening the box,” he said as he vowed “I will do my best to do many more”.
“I don’t think it has taken more time than what I was expecting,” Martins said in response to a question from Formula Scout.
“Obviously, I was not thinking I would have done that always small mistakes with big consequences at the start of the season. But obviously, you need to accept it. You need to just work out, accept and analyse with the team.
“I have Alpine behind me. They are supporting me as much as possible on all of those things, mentally, the approach I need to get on the driving side. Also my team is helping me as much as possible. We are all together working really strongly to understand everything.
“And I think since a few rounds, I understood [what] I need to do to get a win, how I need to manage my tyres and how I need to manage myself mentally during a long race like a feature one. Honestly, it was just a matter of getting it for the first time.
“There was Austria. I just did a bad start [from pole], but then we got unlucky with the safety car so we couldn’t see it [a path to win from there]. I couldn’t show it, but honestly [the ability to win] it’s there since a few rounds.
“So we just need to continue on the things I’m working. I will keep it for myself, obviously with the team, but I would say we did a lot deeply and it’s paying off today. So I’m happy to have done it and I will be still doing [this behind-the-scenes work] to be even stronger in the future.”
Silverstone’s feature race win lifted Martins to fifth in the standings, tied on points with fellow rookie Ollie Bearman. ART GP also reduced the gap to Prema at the top of the teams’ standings to six points as Martins’ team-mate Theo Pourchaire also finished on the podium.
Martins now holds the longest point-scoring streak in F2 this year, with eight points finishes in a row.