Martinius Stenshorne on the 2026 season, life with Rodin, rebuilding confidence and F1 hopes

Martinius Stenshorne has had a mixed season but he is determined to end it on a high after the summer break.

The Rodin Motorsport driver made a fast start to the campaign, qualifying in the top four in each of the four rounds – even converting P3 in Montreal into a maiden victory.

But since finishing fifth in the Monte Carlo Feature Race, Stenshorne’s results have dipped – he scored no points in Barcelona, Spielberg and Silverstone.

However the Norwegian bounced back with a podium at Spa-Francorchamps, finishing second in the Sprint Race.

With more positive results, Stenshorne is ninth in the Drivers’ Standings with 59 points, and speaking before the break, he reflected on his rookie campaign.

“Recently, it’s not been very good, I must say,” says Stenshorne. “We did three rounds without scoring any points. We were a bit disappointed with that after having such a good start to the season, scoring very often and when we didn't it was because of crashes.

“I think we can be extremely happy with the first four rounds, then from round five to seven I think, it was not very good. But I think we know now what was wrong, so I think we can be still happy with what we've done.

“We did some big changes for Spa and it helped. I think I had a bit of margin there and the races again were good.”

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NEW LIFE AND REBUILT CONFIDENCE AT RODIN

Stenshorne and Rodin is a new partnership for 2026, and so far, he is enjoying the experience.

From nicknames to the atmosphere within the group and the performance of the car, the 20-year-old is happy to be a part of the team, which includes good friend Alexander Dunne.

“I have enjoyed it so far,” he says. “Obviously, me and Alex, we've known each other for a long time. So we were already very good friends before I joined Rodin.

“But the team in general is really chill. Everybody's quite relaxed, and of course, the car is fast as well. So far, it's been great. Obviously, it helps when things are going well as well.”

This season with Rodin has also helped Stenshorne contend at the front more consistently after a tough two years in Formula 3.

The Norwegian finished 13th in his rookie campaign and fifth in his second, scoring three victories across both seasons.

But Stenshorne felt he never consistently showed his best self in F3, and he is glad to be able to do so this year.

“Obviously, we got the first win in Canada, the first podium as well,” he continues. “I think it's been possible for a very long time especially this year.

“I always thought I was capable of doing these things. But to finally show it with the speed we've had so far this year feels good. Obviously in F3, we were there sometimes, there or thereabouts, but never fully at the front.

“You get a bit frustrated because you know that you can be there. Seeing people you fought with before doing well and you are not able to do the same, it hurts a bit.

“But I knew what I was capable of, and I feel like so far this year, we've shown what we can do, even though the results have not always been the best. But if you look a bit behind the results and see our pace, I think we were very good.”

GOAL FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON

Stenshorne also gave a little insight into his career goal, with his eyes, like most of the grid, set on Formula 1.

The 20-year-old feels to get to that level results have to be good, and while he acknowledges that his have not been the best recently, he says “even though the results haven’t always been there, I hope that they still see that the pace has been there. So I hope that's enough.”

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Stenshorne is still keen to get his results back to where they were at the start of the year following the summer break.

“For sure the goal is just to win races like we did in the beginning of the year,” he concludes. “I want to fight for podiums more regularly, also in the Feature Races, so for sure that's the goal now.

“Hopefully we finish well in the championship, that's of course also the goal, but short term focus is on each race and just trying to end the season on a high.”