Victor Martins is crowned the 2022 FIA Formula 3 world champion after narrowly beating out Zane Maloney and Oliver Bearman to take the championship title.
In his now title winning season, the 21-year old Frenchman has had a very successful season amassing a total of two race wins and six podiums. Remaining a hard fought battle right until the very end, Martins showed a level of maturity and patience that allowed him to take the title in a championship decider at Monza between six possible champions.
Sunday’s feature race saw Victor Martins become the drivers’ champion after the race in unconventional circumstances. The three highest placed championship contenders – Martins, Bearman and Maloney – were battling it out from the very start until their efforts were thwarted by a crash causing a red flag with just five laps to go. Race control elected not to restart the race and so the three title protagonists had to sit and wait on the pit wall until penalties were added and points calculated to determine who had won the championship.
“The key of the weekend was to stay out of trouble.” He said. “The approach for the feature race was the right one, just waiting for the others to make mistakes.”
Victor Martins has been a member of the Alpine academy (Renault Sport academy prior to 2021) since 2018. After two years in the Formula Renault Eurocup, he left the series a champion and made to move for Formula 3 in 2021. Driving for MP Motorsport in his rookie year, Martins impressed with a 5th place finish though switched to ART Grand Prix for his second campaign.
Reflecting on his time in the series, Martins said “I think I’ve become a lot stronger and also in how I approach the weekend. Last year I was quite slow, reaching the limit of the car in free practice.” He added “In Formula 3 I think the performance is 70% in your mind. If you’re not confident in yourself, the weekend is over. If you start on the right foot, you do a good lap time straight away. You can give the right feedback with the team, you can work with serenity.”
Martins identified Budapest and Spa as the race weekends in which he turned it around, improved his mentality and made huge strides in the championship. “I was struggling in a negative momentum” he said. “Then I kind of reset and accepted that I was bad. I’ll be honest. I was just doing a bad job compared to my teammates.”
“Alpine, ART also, my family, my brother, they were all behind me to point at the issue in myself. They were trying to make me realise that I was having the wrong approach and mindset.” He added “I pointed at the core of the problem, which was myself. I reset, I didn’t doubt my confidence or potential.”
This mentality is something the Frenchman commented on a lot when reflecting upon his journey to the F3 championship. “I never give up, I always trust in myself, in the people around me also. I’m becoming stronger and stronger every year, and I can also say to myself that I’m ready to fight for another championship like that.”
Martins was asked post-race about his relationship with the previous French F3 winner, the late Anthoine Hubert. Both Frenchmen were part of the Renault driver academy in 2019 before Hubert’s untimely death.
“I could see the professionalism of Anthoine, how he was dedicated to motorsport. I remember when he won the GP3 title like I am now”
Martins recalled: “He always smiled, even if it was not good, I want to keep that. I have him on my helmet. I really wanted to cross that finish line and show on the camera that I did it for him. But I won’t show it to anybody, I just want to feel it and do it for him.”
After claiming the Formula 3 title and being a member of the Alpine academy, it is anticipated that the young Frenchman will make the step into Formula 2 for the 2023 season. This is a step he believes he is more than ready for. “I feel that I’m fully prepared for F2. I believe in myself. I believe in ART this year.” he said. “I will hope to be in F2, and I know I will have the chance to do great things there.”
Martins also commented on the currently vacant F1 seat at Alpine: “I’m not focussing on that seat. Even though if, you know, they gave me the chance to do it, I would take it for sure. Because I feel that I am ready. I have been through enough of the younger categories.”
“If I have the right mindset and I do a good job in the winter break and I go into formula 2, I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t get a seat in the future. You know in my own career everything has been a bit slow, so I will say if it is going fast, I will take it. But I don’t see it like that, I will take my time.”