Ahead of the Silverstone Grand Prix, The Campos F2 Rookie, Josep María “Pepe” Martí sat down to discuss his F2 season so far and well as Austria last weekend and the British GP this weekend.
12th in the championship standings, he admitted that just because he had a convincing performance around Red Bull Ring, ‘One flower doesn’t make summer.’ So he remains cautious coming into Silverstone.
In Austria, Pepe Martí was back on the podium after a string of retirements, and bad luck kept him off the top steps for five rounds. He was also on track for a P4 finish in the Feature race at Austria, but came into some trouble when fighting with his teammate.
The Spaniard was under investigation for entering the pit lane during a Virtual Safety Car. Although, Martí was certain he hadn’t made an infringement, the Campos team had opted to allow his teammate, Isack Hadjar, through in hopes he could catch Bortoleto down the road.
Unfortunately, Hadjar could not get close to Bortoleto, instead, fighting with his teammate over the position. The fighting led to the Argentinian, Franco Colapinto getting past both Campos drivers on the last lap.
Martí received a 30 second penalty for the pit lane infringement, putting him outside of the points.
When Pepe Martí was asked about the incident, and how the debrief went, the Spaniard admitted, “Obviously, there’s a little bit of misunderstanding on the radio. Mostly, it was just that I was under investigation for a penalty, which I was aware of, but I was quite confident from my side. Then it turned out to be wrong.”
He went on to say, “It was a bit of a disappointment from my side. But then again, it was quite clear that for them after the race, there was a good reason to get the position back.”
However, despite the penalty in Austria, it remained one of the stronger weekends for Martí so far this season. When asked whether that affects his confidence coming into Silverstone, the Spaniard remained pragmatic.
“Yes, and No. You normally head into every weekend in the same manner. I think in F2, the results, like Zak was saying, are extremely unpredictable. You can be the quickest and not get a point. You can be the seventh quickest and win both races,” He continued on, “So I feel like you have to every weekend the same way. Obviously, I’m a bit more confident coming back with a podium and good points.”
Martí summarised his mindset with a Spanish saying, “One flower doesn’t make summer.”
He also mentioned how patience is a key aspect to surviving the Formula 2 championship. Acknowledging the ‘setbacks’ but pushing through as we’re only halfway through the Formula 2 season.
The Spanish driver noted the difference between the Formula 2 and 3 championships, “you have to be very precise, I feel like it’s a harder championship than F3 because of a lot of these factors.”
Pepe Martí has raced at Silverstone before in Formula 3, finishing P3 in the Feature Race in 2023. However, he admitted that having experience at a track doesn’t always translate to results.
“I remember one of the tracks I struggled with the most out of this year so far was probably Jeddah. And we had a lot of mileage.”
He also took into consideration the difference between F2 and F3, recognising he knows the ‘layout’ but not in an F2 car.
Similarly, the chance of rain looming over this weekend makes things more difficult. The practice session this morning already saw mixed conditions. Martí was open about how he ‘loves wet weather driving’ discussing how he was always quite quick in the wet when he moved to racing in Europe.
Again, a unique part of Silverstone is how quickly the track dries, enabling it to dry in as fast as 10 minutes. This allows more interesting strategies to take place, especially in the Feature race, where there may be a mix of wet tyres and slicks.
Pepe Martí was able to prove this wet weather talent in practice. He found himself second in the practice session this morning and doubt will be hoping to repeat that performance for qualifying this afternoon.
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