Pepe Martí delivered a commanding performance to take his third win of the 2025 F2 season during the Hungarian GP Sprint Race, asserting himself once again as one of the grid’s most composed racers. Despite late pressure from Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne and an early challenge from teammate Arvid Lindblad, Martí controlled the race from the front in what he described as “pretty chill” conditions—apart from two hair-raising moments.
The Spaniard, driving for Campos Racing, started from pole thanks to the reverse-grid format after qualifying tenth on Friday. He made a clean getaway off the line, fending off a Turn 1 lunge from Lindblad and retaining his lead after an aggressive early duel.
“I mean I only really had two moments where I was doubting if I was going to win,” Martí admitted post F2 Hungarian GP Sprint Race. “First was when Arvid launched in T1 and then when I decided to go skating into T5 in the last lap. Other than that the race was pretty chill. I mean I was pretty much in control the whole way. I knew what pace to run and more or less what I should do to defend well from the guys behind. But yeah, just had two small moments.”
Familiar faces on our #F2 Sprint Podium in Budapest! 👊✨#HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/UGNoDVQluJ
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) August 2, 2025
Fighting teammates and tyre deg
A particular highlight of the race was the wheel-to-wheel scrap between Martí and his Campos teammate Lindblad. The pair traded places and danced with the limits of grip as tyre degradation increased throughout the 28-lap race. With Dunne in hot pursuit behind them, Martí revealed how he kept his cool under pressure.
“I don’t know which [radio messages] were heard but I don’t know, I was just looking in my mirror and I saw Alex was like 1.5 behind us and Arvid was literally on my gearbox for most of the race,” he explained. “And we know it’s a deg race so I wasn’t really worried in that sense. I knew that if Arvid was wanting to push a lot at the beginning then I knew that it was going to be okay for me at the end. But yeah, then when he made a move, it was a solid movement to turn one and I just recovered it well in T2.”
When asked by Pit Debrief about executing overtakes at a notoriously tricky circuit like the Hungaroring, Martí described his opportunistic response to Lindblad’s attack:
“Well, I broke for T2 and I think because of, I don’t know, I think he just went a slightly bit deep and it gave me the opportunity to just sort of get alongside and in front, um, by the exit and then, yeah, just get the position back. I didn’t think it was anything, maybe it looked more spectacular from outside, but on the inside of the car, it was quite calm.”
Strategy and precision over sheer speed
Tyre management was a crucial factor in Martí’s win, and he explained that it was his feel for rubber degradation that helped him keep his rivals at bay.
“You start the race and you feel the tyre is shredding in lap one and you just say, ‘okay, there’s 28 laps, I probably should slow down otherwise I’m not going to make it,’” Martí said. “It literally comes down to feeling. I think that’s why I normally do really well when there’s quite a high deg because I’m able to understand quite well what the tyre needs, what it doesn’t need and just drive around the issue.”
Investigations and potential penalties
The race was briefly neutralised late on by a Safety Car, which closed the field up and set the stage for a dramatic restart with just three laps remaining. Martí led cleanly off the restart, but came under attack from Dunne in the dying moments.
“Honestly, with all due respect, I think the guidelines are quite clear in Formula 2” Martí said when asked about a post-race investigation into alleged erratic driving under Safety Car conditions. “I think I followed exactly what they’ve told us to do from the stewards room and the F1 guidelines. So I don’t know exactly at what point I was erratic.”
On a related inquiry about accusations of a brake check on the restart, Martí added: “I think it was never a brake check. It’s just the delta is changing like that. And every time we go to a different track, the delta behaves differently… If I slowed down too slowly, I got a penalty. If I slowed down too quickly, I might brake check Alex. So, yeah, I don’t know. I think it’s quite clear what I’m saying.”
Championship implications ahead of the Feature Race
Martí’s third win of the season places him 27 points behind the top three in the championship standings. But while this sprint race win adds to his growing list of achievements, Martí was quick to downplay its importance in the broader title fight.
“Unimportant, for the end of the year,” he said bluntly. “As I mentioned before, tomorrow’s 25 points to play for; today’s 10 points to play for. So, um, obviously whilst I like to win and it’s cool to stand at the top of the podium and whatsoever, I’d rather take a fourth on Sunday and earn 12 points if that makes sense. So yeah, I’m just looking to sort of, um, just, yeah, do it on Sunday.”
Respect and rivalry
When asked how he managed the final lap pressure from Dunne, Martí emphasised the mutual respect between the drivers, rooted in years of competition stretching back to karting.
“Yeah, I mean, obviously we know each other from go-karts,” Martí said. “So, I know how Alex races and obviously I think here we all respect each other a lot… No one’s dumb. And, uh, no. Okay, if I just pushed him off, I knew he wasn’t going to kill me, you know, so, so, yeah, it’s motorsport. Oh, well, but he didn’t, so I trusted him not to, it’s okay.”
