After a strong qualifying session on Saturday at the F2 Saudi Arabian GP that earned Victor Martins a P2 start, Martins ended a strong weekend with a P3 finish at the Feature Race. This gave him his first podium finish of the 2025 season.
Martin’s tyre struggles and strategy switch up at the Saudi Arabian GP
Having started the race in P2, Victor Martins aimed to convert his front-row start into his first win of the season at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. However, he began to struggle with tyre degradation early in the race. As a result, the team opted for a strategic switch and took a series of calculated risks following the deployment of a Virtual Safety Car on Lap 9, brought out to clear debris from Bennett’s damaged front wing. This moment presented an opportunity for the Frenchman to seize the race lead.
“I think it was a good race, of course we wanted more starting from P2, I was targeting the win, but I think how the race went it was quite difficult at some point to think about winning today.”
“I think I got a good Option stint, I was quite close to Jak trying to put pressure on him after I struggled a bit with the tyres and I said to myself, we need to do something different with the strategy just to try and get an opportunity. It’s what happened.”
“I took the risk when I saw the debris on the track, I stayed on track because I wanted to make that overcut which kind of worked because the VSC came after and I managed to stay in front.”
A missed opportunity for Martins at the Saudi Arabian GP
After engaging in several wheel-to-wheel battles with Jak Crawford—who ultimately finished second—Martins lost his grip on the race lead. Aware that reclaiming it was unlikely due to renewed tyre struggles, he found himself on the back foot. Furthermore, he and his team misjudged Richard Verschoor’s strategy, which provided the Dutch driver with the perfect opportunity to capitalise and secure a commanding victory.
“After the Prime tyre, even though I tried to put temperature in the tyres, I think during the VSC you can’t really build up into the tyres. So he got in front of me again after that and then after I was just trying to get close but not too close because I think you struggle in Sector 1 quite a lot.”
“It was just a waiting race I’d say. At some point I knew I had no opportunity anymore. If I knew he was going to get out this close in front, Richard, I would have maybe pushed a bit more.”
“I was a bit upset to my team because they were also thinking that he wasn’t going out in front. I think with the pace, he would have gotten me at some point.”
On track battles with Crawford
Despite losing the race lead during his wheel-to-wheel battle with Crawford, Martins enjoyed the battles and spoke about what was going through his head during the race.
“Yeah, for sure, it was nice. I don’t know in my head there was like two things going on, do I break late... I just said ‘I’m going to break later than him’ then he just managed to bring some good speed and then of course I’m trying always to leave space.”
Martins added, “I was hoping he was going to leave space on the outside because last year I got squeezed into the wall. But it all went well, it was nice.“
