Victor Martins has announced that he is joining the Williams Academy for the 2025 F2 season and beyond. Leaving the Alpine Academy before the season began he seeks need opportunities joining Luke Browning as a Williams supported F2 driver.
The Frenchman is entering his third season in Formula 2. He ended his rookie season as the highest ranked newbie in 2023 and Martins was marked as a title favourite for 2024. However, ART Grand Prix struggled with the new cars and Martins missed out on his hopes for a title fight.
Martins knows with 2025 being his third season in the series the pressure is high for him to be in the title fight and he has admitted he welcomes it.
He said,“It’s going to be an important year. I have no problem for people to put me as a favourite because in the end. I have been the rookie champion in 2023. In 2024, I think I was one of the favourites also.”
A new chapter
Victor Martins’s joining the Williams Academy marks a new chapter in the Frenchman’s career. Martins’ has been connected to the Renault and then Alpine academy since 2018. The French Academy supported Martins through his early F3 and F2 success. So the decision to leave Alpine came as a shock to many.
Martins explained in a pre-season media day that it was from having different goals for Martins’s future. He said, “Let’s say my goal and their goal were not on the same line. And that’s why we wanted to part ways.”
The Alpine F1 team currently have three reserve drivers signed up, with more juniors throughout the various feeder series. With such a large junior program and so many reserve drivers – the opportunities for Martins were few and far between.
In comparison, Martins joins a small cohort of Williams Academy drivers with just 8 other drivers – only two of which are in Formula 2 or 3. With Browning already seeing Formula 1 FP1 opportunities with Williams. It’s no surprise that the Frenchman is looking for similar chances.
Comments from Martins and Williams
Alongside the announcement, Martins said “This is a new chapter for me, but my goal remains the same – to push myself to the limit. Both as a person and as a racing driver, and to make it to Formula 1.
“Williams is an iconic team with an incredible history, and I’m confident this is the best place to be to help me achieve my goals. This year, I’ll put all my focus into winning the Formula 2 Drivers’ Championship with ART Grand Prix and maximising this opportunity with the Driver Academy both on and off the track.
“I look forward to working with everyone at Williams as we embark on this new journey together.”
Sven Smeets, Sporting Director, Williams Racing added: “We’re thrilled to welcome Victor to the Williams Racing Driver Academy. He has repeatedly demonstrated that he is a talented driver who is capable of winning championships.
“We will continue to support Victor’s development on and off the track as part of the Academy and look forward to working with him in 2025.”
The season ahead
The F2 season opener in Melbourne was a difficult weekend for Victor Martins. He suffered and early race incident in the sprint race, which took him out of contention for points. Although he inherited pole for the feature race after Minì received a penalty. But he was never able to capitalise on it with the race cancelled due to the heavy rain.
However, with the competitve nature in Formula 2, Martins knows that it is a long season ahead and in Australia he showed the pace to be fighting for the title.
He will have his first Formula 2 race in Williams colours in Bahrain. He is coming off of a successful in-season test at Sakhir, where Minì and Martins topped the time sheets on the first day. This new partnership marks an exciting future for the Frenchman and an opportunity to get closer to his dream of Formula 1.
