After an impressive and strong start to the Formula 2 season. Pepe Martí left the 2025 Imola GP empty-handed for the first time this season. The Spanish driver found himself struggling to extract pace out of the Campos car.
Martí had qualified P11 in Qualifying. The session ended with 6 minutes left on the clock after a red flag brought out by Kush Maini. The Campos driver finished the challenging Sprint Race in P16. He had been handed a penalty for his collision with Gabriele Minì, at the exit of Turn 6 on Lap 1. This dropped the Spanish driver from P14 to P16 after the five-second penalty. He finished the Feature Race in P14.
Reflecting on the Imola GP and moving forward into the Monaco GP
Having left the weekend scoring no points in both the Sprint Race and the Feature Race. Martí was asked about his mindset moving into the Monaco GP and the rest of the triple header. Especially since the weekend after would be in Barcelona for the Spanish GP. Martí’s home race.
The Spanish driver spoke on how a bad race weekend was bound to happen. He drew comparisons to Max Verstappen’s dominant 2023 F1 season.
“Basically for me, I think that it’s not really a mindset issue in the sense that I think we’ve performed really well at the start of the season. Obviously, I think for Joshua [Dürksen], it’s probably the same in the sense that I think we’ve been fast in some places and in the end, there’s always going to be a bad weekend. I mean, if you look historically, I don’t think a driver has had a perfectly clean season.“
“So even Max [Verstappen] in his 21 race win season, he also has some mistakes and he didn’t win all races. So I think in the sense that there’s bound to be something going wrong at some point. For me, it was qualifying in Imola.“
He continues to reflect on the potentials of having the full qualifying session saying:
“In the end, when qualifying was cut short with six minutes to go, there was not really much more we could do. I think we were quite limited by that. I think if we’d had the second run, I’m very confident that we would have been in the top eight. So I think it’s not really that everything went wrong. I think it was just a small mistake that it being in Imola has massive consequences and obviously we came away with zero points.”
Moving forward in the triple header
Martí expressed his excitement on racing in Monaco for the Monaco GP. The Spanish driver even joked on how busy he’ll be in Barcelona for his home GP.
“But I think Monaco can be a very good weekend and I’m super excited as I think everyone is because it’s a very nice track.”
“And I think Barcelona will be an amazing weekend. I think I’m going to have more media than I’ve ever had in my life. So I’m going to be quite busy.“
Taking inspiration from Isack Hadjar
Pepe Martí’s first teammate for his rookie Formula 2 season in 2024 was Isack Hadjar. They were teammates under Campos Racing and were both apart of the Red Bull Junior Team. Hadjar would go on to finish the 2024 season second in the championship standings. He graduated F2 in 2024 and is currently a Formula 1 driver for Racing Bulls.
When asked if he looked at Hadjar as an inspiration since he currently has a strong season start. The Spanish driver spoke on how the goal was to do a season as well as Hadjar and try to finish better than he did.
“Well, obviously, in a way I have. But to be honest, the target anyways was to do a season like his. And obviously, the season has started off really well.But I mean, Isack’s season really, really came alive. Like halfway through the season, I would say you know. With Spa, a really good job in Spa.Then obviously as well. It was quite competitive elsewhere. But generally, I would say the mid-season as well, he was really strong.”
“So I think it’s a very different situation. I think he obviously has very different strengths to what I do. And yeah, obviously, I want to do as good as he did. He finished P2. So at the same time, I also want to do one step better and keep pushing in the right way.“
Chances of fighting for a title
Martí had a strong start to the season and was second in the championship standings before the Imola GP. Currently he is P6 with a total of 41 points, 23 points behind current championship leader Alex Dunne. Despite this, he is confident that he will be fighting for the title again soon.
“Yeah, I think. I mean, I think the season started off really well. I think we’ve been competitive.I think it’s clear that the car is good. Looking back, I don’t think we had the quickest car in Bahrain, because Alex [Dunne] was super, super fast. I don’t think we had the quickest car in Canada, because Verschoor was really fast.But we’ve been a top three car up there.“
Racing in Monaco
Monaco is known for the prestigious lifestyle and is often characterized by luxury, glamour and opulence. The Circuit de Monaco is also one of the oldest track on the Formula One calendar having been apart of it since the first Formula One World Championship in 1950. The first ever Monaco GP was held in 1929, so the track is rich in history.
While there may be a chance of getting carried away by all the glitz and glamour. Martí says he treats the Monaco GP like every other grand prix weekend.
“Yeah, you over-exaggerate. It’s not at all that physical. [In response to Dürksen‘s answer] I think Monaco is a fantastic weekend. “
“And I think everything that envelopes Monaco is really, really cool. But for me, honestly, in the end, it’s one more weekend. That’s, first of all, the first thing. You know, I had a lot of talks with my psychologist, people in Campos and everything. And in the end, everybody says the same thing and comes up with the same answer.”
Speaking about points
“The feature you see gives 25 points, and it does as well give 25 points in Imola , and it also gives 25 points in Barcelona. So you have to treat it as one more race. In the end, there’s not much more to it than that. And to be honest, for us in F2, it’s not so glamorous.We’re in a parking lot. The view is fantastic, but it’s not so glamorous for us. And in the end, to be honest, we’re really focused on our job. And I also agree with Joshua [Dürksen]. I think when you do qualifying, you do your debrief, you finish off your notes, and the first thing you want to do is get in your car and go back to the hotel.“
Is Monaco boring for the drivers ?
Many spectators and drivers alike have called the Monaco GP boring in recent years. With the narrow streets making overtaking difficult and many blaming it on the size of the recent cars. The Monaco GP lacks the speed and excitement of the tracks of the other tracks on the calendar.
With many drivers including Verstappen making comments like “This is really boring… I should’ve brought my pillow “ at the end of the 2024 Monaco GP.
Martí speaked on the question saying the Monaco GP only gets boring on Saturday. He spoke on how the races are slightly boring. However, the weekend can be stressful with the limited laps they do during Qualifying. Yet also enjoyable when strategy comes into play, bringing in Zak O’Sullivan’s 2024 Monaco GP win in the feature race as an example.
Qualifying is the crucial event
“I mean, I think it only gets really boring on Saturday. Friday is really cool with qualifying. I mean, we only do four laps in the whole day, but those four laps are probably the pressure laps you do in a championship, I think for me up to date.”
“And in free practise, honestly, you do so much, such little running anyways. You do 45 minutes and you’re pretty much always on track. And you want to get through as many things as possible. So you’re always really always on the edge, trying to do as best as possible. You always keep on finding more and more lap time. So it’s always interesting to keep on pushing a bit more. And you find a bit of time there. So you’re always almost experimenting as you go. “
“And then to be honest, Sunday was, of course, it is a relatively boring race. If everything goes normal, you can play with strategy. I mean, we saw with Sullivan last year with Zak that, you know, he stayed back for the first 10 or 15 laps or something. Then he was a rocket for 20 laps and had luck with the safety car and he won the race. So I think last year is proof that Monaco is more than just a sitting behind race and things can happen. And I think we’re about to have a nice weekend.”
The demand for precision in Monaco
The Circuit de Monaco is a demanding track especially with the narrow streets, tight corners and elevation changes. With a lack of run-off areas, being precise and accurate is key in racing during the Monaco GP.
Pit Debrief asked Martí what area could be the difference maker in his Monaco GP performances. To which he jokingly replied “a great engine”. Before listing confidence and being comfortable with the limits as the most important factors.
“I think the biggest factor here is having a great engine, you know, with the long straights. No, I’m joking.”
Martí explained, “I think the biggest thing here is I agree with Joshua [Dürksen] for sure, getting a good confidence, especially getting comfortable with the limits. I think in my experience with street tracks, you know, Jeddah, Macau especially, they’re tracks that you have to get comfortable with being close to the walls, being, almost even touching. You know, touching a wall sometimes is not bad. You can get quite lucky almost with walls.”
“And here in Monaco, you can actually get away with taps at a few of them. So in that sense, it’s a bit more comforting than a track like, I don’t know, Baku, where you really don’t have so much margin. And to be honest, I think that’s probably going to be the main factor, confidence. If I had to say a part of the track, I’d probably go with Sector 3, because I think that’s where you can almost make the difference.“
The new Monaco qualifying format
To reduce traffic during qualifying especially in regards to the 22 car grid for Formula 2, qualifying for the Monaco GP will be split into two sessions, (A) and (B). Martí spoke on how this new Monaco GP qualifying layout and only having 4 laps meant being able to put more focus into his laps.
He also covered how he and Campos Racing are at a disadvantage for Free Practice. Since the team is last in line at the pit lane. Especially since he knows there will be driver who will try to get more times.
“From my side, I think, honestly, the worst day for that sense is Thursday. Because we’re all trying to get clean laps, and in the end, the track is 80, 83 seconds long for us. And we’re 22 drivers in qualifying pre-practise, so it’s like 40 seconds of track for each of us. So there’s always going to be some cheeky guys that want six seconds, and then some guy will try to get four seconds as well, and for sure the guy in the front will get traffic.”
“Especially for me this weekend, at least for Campos, it’s going to be a little bit tougher for us in FP, because we’re dead last in the pit lane. So we’re going to have to manage that really well. We’re going to have to be quite aware of our mirrors and in good contact with our engineers. So yeah, it’s quite important, but at the same time, I think you really have to approach it the same way in qualifying.”
“Like I said, in the fact that we only have four laps, and everybody’s pretty much in sequence, traffic is not really an issue, so you can really focus on your performance.”
Constant performance and potentially being in F1
Coming back to the constant stellar performance by Martí since the start of the season. He could potentially be in a Formula One car for an FP1 session. His former teammate Hadjar had done two FP1 sessions for Red Bull in 2024 before joining the grid himself.
However, the Spanish driver says he is not too focus on getting a seat for a FP1 session even though he would want to do one. He believes that he would rather focus on perform well. Saying Red Bull will call him when they think he’s ready for the seat.
“In my personal opinion, I think it’s quite insignificant as of right now. I think it in the end, what counts to get into Formula One is to be close to the top of the standings, or at the top of the standings in December. “
“And I think there was quite some drivers in the past that got into Formula One without doing FP1s.Some did many FP1s and then didn’t do amazing in Formula One. So I think it’s a little bit, I forgot the word in English, but basically, I don’t think it’s as important as people pointed out. Obviously, I would love to do six FP1 sessions or two FP1 sessions or jump in an F1, whatever.”
“But in the end, it’s down to my performances and Red Bull will call me if they feel I’m ready. And to show that I’m ready, I must perform. So I’ll focus on that for now.And I think that’s the best way for me to be in conversation at the end of the year.“
Overcut or Undercut ?
Strategy is essential in any race. It is, however, especially significant when it is difficult to overtake on the narrow streets of Monaco. The question of preference of an overcut or undercut strategy was asked to Martí for the Monaco GP. He shares that it would come down to the situation on track and brought in Ferrari’s performance in the 2024 Monaco GP.
“I think neither, it depends a lot on your race situation. I think if you’re in the back, normally what tends to work out is the undercut. But looking at last year, and especially with the way that the Ferrari tyres work, where, you know, if you do a good job with them, literally what Joshua [Dürksen]was saying in the sense that if you have to fight, your tyres will so much more, you will struggle a lot more with surface temperatures, pressures, even tyre wear as a whole.“
“So you almost have to like, not necessarily underdrive, but know very well what you want at each point in the race. So I think it depends a lot on the situation. I think both can be useful. And I think, yeah, on Sunday, I will think of what I want to do. So hopefully, I only have to defend and I don’t really have to attack.“
