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Adapting to the car and learning from a teammate: How I Race with Josep María Martí
Every driver on the grid is unique and each of them has their way of going about things that is a culmination of all their time spent racing, from karting to Formula 2.
So, we have sat down with some of our current crop of drivers to talk all things car setup, braking styles and much more.
First up is Campos Racing’s Josep María Martí, and the Spaniard takes us into his cockpit to tell us How he likes to race.
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“I mean, my setup direction is quite straightforward. I like it when I have really good front in the mid corner, so it allows me to get the car rotated and to have the car pointed quite well for the exit, so the rear doesn't have to do extra work.
“But at the same time, I also like having quite a stable rear at the entry phase, so you can be really precise and you can try to get the max out of the car and the tyre.
“I think the more aerodynamic you go, especially from F2 to F1 – I haven't driven an F1 car but I’ve seen it – it's harder to drive. The more aero you have, the harder it is to drive, so the more front you have in the high speed, when the car goes, it goes a lot more.
“So, I reckon in the high speed you want to have a neutral, stable balance, but then in the lower categories, you can handle more oversteer, because the car is a bit lighter.
“In F3, you can play a bit more with the car. In F2, you have to be a lot more precise, and pinpoint where you are braking, how you are braking and your turning points, so I would say it's a mix. You more or less get away with a similar balance but still you probably want it at a lower magnitude.
“I'm more naturally exit focused in my braking, not extremely but naturally exit focused. So, I am quite a strong braker, a consistent braker in everything.
“I try to be as precise and stable as possible in my braking zones, so that you can change stuff or at least you know how to change things.
“By that I mean if you are a bit all over the place in the braking zones, or if you have a disparity in your braking points lap to lap, then it's obviously harder to understand where you have to improve, so I try to be as precise as possible with my brake strength and my brake line.
“I think braking is something you learn more from F4 and F3, than in karts. In go karts, you really just go to the limit of the locking, so that's really what you learn, the feeling of when the kart is about to lock.
“For me I really learned the most about braking in F4 and F3, probably F3, because you actually have to apply more brake pressure in F3 than in F2. You are a bit more on the limit and you learn more about brake shapes, and how you need to apply each and then in F2, you just keep that same style more or less.
“So, for example, Bahrain is a very stop and go track. They have low speed corners, especially in the case of T1, and it's followed by the second DRS zone, between T3 and T4, so then you really need a good exit.
“So, you take T1 a bit different to other DRS zones. You aim to brake as efficiently as possible, as late as possible, then you can have the sharpest corner angle quite early on, and you go very deep into the corner, very aggressively, so the car is as well prepared for T2 as can be.
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“But there is obviously a compromise as to how much entry speed you want to put into the car and how much track usage you want exiting T1. So, like everything, you win and you lose at some places.
“So if you want to go for a really good exit because your car is weak on traction, you prepare it a bit more so you can suffer less, but it's the opposite for the other side.
“If you have really good traction, you will try to push the entry phase a bit more, so you can take advantage of the all-round capacity of the car.
“You usually have a very good idea of what you want ahead of the weekend because we have a lot of simulator driving, rather than on track driving nowadays, so you have a pretty decent idea.
“So for example, going into Turn 1 or Turn 3 in Australia, you have quite a good idea of what braking shape you want to have, how much entry speed you want to have, and what you want to focus on.
“But it is hard to change a lot of things during Free Practice. It's a 45-minute session, so we don't have times to do major setup changes, such as roll bars, front wings. Front wings are quite quick but if you go into a lot of details, they are quite hard, so we try to stay with superficial stuff.
“You have a good idea of what you want, and you try to execute it as well as possible and then you keep on learning. You maybe start by giving yourself five or 10 metres of margin, and you slowly build up to it as the tyres get into a working window.
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“I think you learn stuff weekend to weekend. For example, Isack was really strong in a particular corner phase which I will not disclose for his performance in F1.
“He was really good, especially in one corner phase where he was a tiny inch above me. Across the year I slowly learnt how he was doing it and what his baseline feeling was.
“In the end, to be quicker across that corner phase consistently, it's just down to a feeling. I tried to incorporate the same techniques into my driving and slowly adjusted and by the end of the year I was quite competitive and close to him.”