Victor Martins completed his first laps behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car with Alpine
Victor Martins, the reigning Formula 3 champion, conducted his first Formula 1 test yesterday with Alpine at the legendary Monza circuit.
The 21-year-old Frenchman drove the Alpine A521 car, which was raced by the team in F1 in 2021, and he took to Twitter after the race to share his joy about the experience.
I just drove a Formula 1 car 😍
Today I realised one of my dreams, you can’t imagine how happy I am right now, I enjoyed every second of it!
A huge thanks to @AlpineF1Team and everyone involved for giving me the opportunity!#VictoryLane #Formula1 #Alpinef1team #motorsport pic.twitter.com/QKKFVKfhB6
— Victor MARTINS 🇫🇷 (@VictorMartinsFR) May 8, 2023
The young driver from the Alpine Academy is racing in Formula 2 this year and is currently in 15th place in the rankings.
He is handing over the A521 today to another F2 driver, Jack Doohan, who is currently in 11th place in the championship with a podium finish in the first eight races. The next F2 round will take place in Imola from May 19th to 21st.
Half of this year’s F2 drivers are juniors from F1, and only a handful of them are currently scheduled to test in F1 cars. However, several of them are in contention to make appearances during Grand Prix weekends in F1 practice sessions, as teams are mandated to provide two sessions per season for “young drivers” who lack F1 experience.
