Victor Martins

Victor Martins (born 16 June 2001) is a French-Portuguese racing driver and member of the Alpine Academy, who is currently competing in the 2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship with ART Grand Prix.

Born in Quincy-sous-Sénart to a French mother and a Portuguese father, Martins began karting in 2013 after a spell in gymnastics in which he became French gymnastics champion at the age of 10.

In 2016, he went on to win the CIK-FIA Junior World Karting Championship title in dominant fashion, leading pundits to liken Martins to Stoffel Vandoorne.

In December 2016, Motorsport.com listed Martins as one of the ten karting drivers to look out for, ranking him second to Logan Sargeant.

Throughout his karting career, Martins won many other major competitions.

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.

Martins stepped up to single-seaters in 2017, returning to contest the French F4 Championship full-time.

Martins won twice during the first weekend, and won another in the next round, despite having a further win being excluded due to collision.

His fourth and final win came at the very final race, which was enough to be crowned junior champion and overall vice-champion.

He claimed nine poles, ten fastest laps and eleven podiums in total.

After driving for them during post-season testing, Martins signed to race with the R-ace GP outfit for the 2018 Formula Renault Eurocup.

Martins took his first Eurocup win during the midpoint of the season at the Red Bull Ring, and later another at Spa-Francorchamps.

Overall, he claimed two pole positions and six podiums, which placed him fifth in the overall standings.

Martins also contested the NEC championship, claiming his maiden Formula Renault victory at Monza.

Following the third round however, Martins was inellgible for points, which ranked him sixth.

Martins returned for the 2019 championship, switching to MP Motorsport, which had carried Martins' fellow Renault junior Christian Lundgaard to second in the championship the previous year.

Before the season, he participated in the final round of the 2019 Asian F3 Winter Series.

Martins had an average start to the first half of the season, scoring only one win but was level with leader Oscar Piastri at the halfway mark.

Martins recorded five wins in the last four rounds and finished runner-up to Piastri, with 7.5 points splitting the pair at the end of the year.

Martins won six races, achieving 14 podiums throughout the year, three more than rival Piastri.

In an article by Motorsport.com, Martins was ranked ninth of the top 20 junior single-seater drivers of 2019.

He won the 2020 Formula Renault Eurocup and the 2022 FIA Formula 3 Championship.

Martins moved to ART Grand Prix for the 2020 season of the championship, partnering Grégoire Saucy and rookie Paul Aron.

Martins took his first two victories during the Nürburgring round, hauling himself into title contention.

There would be more success to come, with four wins coming from the next six races.

Martins won one more race in Imola.

In a hard-fought battle with Brazilian Caio Collet Martins came out on top, after a total of seven victories and a nine race long podium streak during the middle of the season, ending up 44 points ahead of Collet.

In October 2020, Martins joined ART Grand Prix 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.

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.

The Frenchman's season started out positively, qualifying third in the opening round.

He took his first podium in second place in Race 2 after a last-lap battle with Olli Caldwell.

In Race 3, Martins moved up to second at the start but eventually slipped to fifth.

Martins qualified third again in his home race in Le Castellet, and pushed himself into the lead of the race by lap 18, but was passed by Alexander Smolyar with just half a lap to go.

A second podium came in Race 2 where Martins again charged through the field, finishing third.

Martins concluded his podium-laden weekend with a fourth place in Race 3.

At the first race in Austria, Martins finished fifth, a post-race penalty depriving him of a podium.

A disappointing end to Race 2 followed, Martins lost power on the penultimate lap that saw him retire from second place, and tyre damage with Arthur Leclerc saw him end Race 3 with no points.

The Frenchman had a disastrous Budapest round, a poor qualifying was rewarded with zero points in all races.

The no points streak ended at Spa-Francorchamps, where Martins qualified second and scored fifth place in Race 1.

In Race 3, Martins battled with Jack Doohan for the feature race victory, eventually having to settle for second as the Frenchman overtook Doohan off-track, being forced to give the lead back.