It was a bittersweet weekend for Josep María “Pepe” Martí at the 2025 F2 Spanish GP. The home favourite departed Barcelona without a single podium finish, despite strong pace throughout the weekend. Instead, his best result came in Sunday’s F2 Feature Race where he finished P6. He had earlier qualified P11 and crossed the line P14 in the Sprint Race.
Reflecting on a weekend at home
While the results may not have matched his hopes, Martí remained upbeat about Campos Racing’s pace and development, and was grateful for the opportunity to compete in front of a home crowd.
He was however still happy to be racing in front of his home crowd despite the struggles.
“Obviously it’s great to race in front of a lot of fans and a home crowd, but obviously quite disappointed with the outcome. Unfortunately, on Friday, I just was not confident. I was struggling quite a bit with the car, and on the last lap of Qualifying I didn’t have enough. Just wanted that extra lap to perform. Finished up 11th, one-tenth shy of P6 and then, yeah, the weekend was harder to do from there.”
A miscalculated Sprint strategy
Martí narrowly missed out on the reverse grid advantage, starting Saturday’s Sprint Race from P11. After a Safety Car was deployed on Lap 18 due to a collision between Gabriele Minì and Sebastián Montoya, Martí stayed out on worn hard tyres. He restarted in P7 on Lap 20 but dropped down the order as others with fresher rubber overtook him, finishing the race in P14.
In hindsight, the 19-year-old believed pitting could have changed everything.
“Yesterday we were very, very competitive. We were sitting in P7 and the Safety Car came out and there was just a small misunderstanding between myself, the team and of the situation. Obviously we didn’t box and were the last of the top eight not to box.”
“We went from possibly winning a race to finishing out of the points. So it’s a bit of a shame, because I genuinely felt that if I boxed, we would have won the race. I have trust that my mechanics would have done a great pit stop, and that we would have been fighting for that win. So it’s a bit of a shame. “
Playing safe for the Feature Race
Starting P11 once again for Sunday’s Feature Race, Martí and the team opted for a conservative strategy—one he hoped would offer consistency and minimise risk.
“We decided to go on the normal strategy, because to be honest, every single time I’ve used the alternative strategy, I’ve either had a Safety Car come in the middle of the race or something happened to me. So we were like, ‘Look let’s not just gamble on luck, let’s just go for it.’ We had a good start.”
From there, the Spaniard executed a clean, composed drive. Campos held him out longer to create an overcut opportunity, which worked to perfection.
“Then, tried to get to a move done on Luke Browning and wasn’t really able to, and then the team decided to hold me out for quite a while, and to be honest, it was a great strategy call. We managed to come out right ahead of Luke and Joshua Duerksen, and then obviously extended the gap to them. Got past Roman Stanek with a really good move, and then he was caught up by the guys in the Options.“
Positive takeaways from the weekend
Despite walking away without silverware, Martí believes he and the team made the most of what was available. He also took time to celebrate his teammate Arvid Lindblad’s victory in the Feature Race.
“So bit of a shame, to be honest. Looking back, I would love to go with the Prime, but to be honest, you can always say that in hindsight. You can always dream about it. I think we maximised what we had today.We maximised our grid position, this isn’t a place like Bahrain where you can go for moves and we managed to do some good ones anyway.”
“So I’m quite proud of the team. Very happy for Arvid’s win. I think the team deserved it with how good of a car we had this weekend. Obviously not too happy, because I genuinely thought it could have been me up there today. So I’ve got to bounce back soon.”
Looking ahead to Spielberg and Silverstone
After the intense European triple-header, Formula 2 enters a brief pause before heading into another back-to-back: Spielberg and Silverstone. Martí is already preparing for what he calls one of the season’s most exciting double-headers.
“I’ll be doing a lot of sim, a lot of prep ahead of the next race. It’s a back-to-back with Red Bull Ring and Silverstone, so I’m going straight to the UK after to prepare with Red Bull. I’m super, super excited. If I’m honest, I think it’s one of the most exciting double-headers of the season.“
“Both tracks are really racing-focused. You can actually go for side-by-side moves on both tracks. So I’m excited, and I’m keen. Last year we had a very competitive car on both tracks, and I’m confident that coming off the high of the win, the team will be super motivated, and we’ll be able to have a very strong performance.”
With renewed determination and a competitive Campos package beneath him, Martí will look to turn missed opportunities into redemption in the races to come.
