Truffle pasta, Motocross and a lucky bracelet: Getting to know the real Victor Martins

14 June 2023

Joining the 2023 grid as the reigning Formula 3 Champion, Victor Martins set out to impress on his step up to the second tier and certainly did that with back-to-back Barcelona podiums last time out.

One half of an all-French lineup at ART Grand Prix, we thought it was high time we got to know the Alpine Academy junior a little better, who discussed trying to savour his most successful moments, his pre-race hype tunes and his request for his dream birthday cake this month.

WHERE DO YOU CONSIDER HOME?

“I live in my house in Paris with my parents, near my friends. It’s really nice, I love the city and the atmosphere. You can do a lot of things there and I have all my friends, so I can relax a bit and have a good time with them. It’s the city of love!”

OUTSIDE OF MOTORSPORT, WHICH SPORTSPERSON DO YOU ADMIRE?

“I have many – Cristiano Ronaldo for football, Rafael Nadal for tennis. Then there are a few others, I watch a bit of boxing with Anthony Joshua and all the GOATs of their sport. I love sport anyways; I like to watch and practice every sport.”

WHO ARE YOU FRIENDS WITH ON THE GRID?

“Arthur Leclerc and some of the guys in Formula 3 like Caio Collet. From F2, Juan Manuel (Correa) and I’m also friends with Clément (Novalak) and I’ve known Isack (Hadjar) for a long time. I know a lot of them, but a proper friendship I would say Arthur and JM because I was teammates with him last year. I also know Ollie (Bearman) and Théo (Pourchaire) a bit, who’s my teammate so we can share moments together. Clément – he’s French and I go for dinner a lot with him.”

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CHEAT MEAL?

“Any fast food or pasta – particularly anything with truffle. Truffle pasta is honestly one of the best meals.”

IF YOU COULD GO BACK TO ANY MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD IT BE AND WHY?

“Monza last year when I won the F3 Championship. I would go back to a good moment because in racing, the good moments are a lot less often than the bad moments and it’s not everyday that you succeed. So, I would go back to Monza and enjoy the moment more. With everything that happened, I enjoyed it but not fully because of what happened in the last round. I would enjoy it more myself and with the team, and look back at what I’d done in my career until that point where I won the F3 title, which I knew was a stepping stone towards F2.”

IF YOU WEREN’T A DRIVER, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

“I would be a sportsman. I couldn’t choose any single sport because I love the atmosphere, the determination, and the motivation you get from sport. Every day you need to dedicate to your sport and you need to put everything together. I would maybe say skiing, I’ve always said in the past and even today, that if I was living in the mountains, I probably would have done a ski sport. I’ve also done gymnastics and Motocross; I would have done everything to be a Motocross rider. I’m not saying I would have been one, but I would have done everything daily to become a professional rider.”

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE MOVIE AND TV SERIES?

“For a TV series, I would still say it’s Prison Break. It’s a long, old one, but a good one. A movie is difficult to choose, but I watched Interstellar again not a long time ago and I really like Inception, as I love those kinds of movies. I watched a French movie a while ago – Masquerade. People are telling me to watch Tenet because it’s a crazy movie. It’s long, really hard to understand and it has the same mindset as Inception and Interstellar that by the end, you start to understand what really happened in the movie.”

WHAT WAS THE LAST SONG YOU LISTENED TO?

“Honestly, I listen to music but I never remember the name and the artist. I like old school American rap and one that I listen to quite often is Champion by Tyrone Briggs. It gets you in the mood, so it’s the one that I listen to when I warm up before a session. In the past few weeks and the beginning of the season, I listened to this song the most because we’ve had quite a lot of rounds and warm-ups. Even when I train, I like to put on some motivational songs.”

WHAT IS YOUR DREAM BIRTHDAY CAKE?

“Strawberry and cream. That’s the one I want for my birthday and it’s quite soon – so be ready please, I want to see a cake that’s strawberry and cream for my birthday. My mum is already making something, it’s not a cake, I don’t know if it’s an international thing or only in France, but it has cream with biscuits and strawberries. Even if it’s not my birthday, my mum is making that one and I love it! I thank my mum for making that because I enjoy being at home for that.”

FAVOURITE RACING MEMORY?

“When I got pole position in Jeddah, it was a very nice moment. Today when I look back at it, I didn’t enjoy it enough because you’re in the moment. It’s the race weekend, you have two races after that so you cannot release the pressure and you need to stay focused. I didn’t enjoy the pole enough and I know how hard it is to get one – same with the title in Monza.”

WHAT’S YOUR MOST TREASURED POSSESSION?

“I have a lot of things that mean a lot to me, but I would say the bracelet I have from my brother. I can’t wear it whilst driving because we’re not allowed, but I try to bring it with me all the time outside the car and wear it as much as possible. I don’t want to lose it at any time! I also have my notebooks where I write a lot of things inside about my racing, what to improve, what were the good things I did and the mistakes. I will keep them with me all my life to help me make a step forward every time I go out.”

BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN?

“It’s difficult to choose one, but it’s to do with your work ethic – always work as hard as possible. Also, it should be quality work. If you work 24 hours out of 24 hours but it’s bad quality work, you will not make a step forward, but work as much as possible to get what you want and if you do so, it will pay off. Everything that you put in place daily will pay off, it’s quite simple. I think everyone’s heard this sentence, but it’s really powerful and I like to keep it with me – if you don’t believe in it, no one can believe in it for you. For example, if I don’t believe that one day I could be a Formula 1 driver, no one can believe it for me and it won’t work out.”

FAVOURITE PLACE YOU’VE BEEN TO AND ONE PLACE YOU’D LIKE TO VISIT?

“Last year I went to Corsica, it’s a part of France. It’s a nice place and I enjoyed my holiday a lot there. I’ve travelled to many places with motorsports, but I never visit everywhere we go because we don’t have the time, so I’d say Corsica.

“I would like to go to Bali, the Seychelles or the Maldives, I think they would be nice. I’m going to some of the islands in Spain later in the summer for a holiday with some friends, but I want to go to Bali.”