Victor Martins has no regrets about the Renault split

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Alpine academy driver Victor Martins has no regrets about his decision to leave the program briefly in 2020.

The Frenchman joined Renault’s academy in 2018 but after being narrowly beaten to the Formula Renault Eurocup by Oscar Piastri in 2019, he chose to stay in the league for another year rather than move up to Formula 3 as the team wanted, leading to two parties splitting.

He went on to win a Eurocup title in 2020 and so was brought back to the academy, now rebranded to Alpine alongside the Formula 1 team, and secured a place in F3 for 2021. With as things have worked out, he is happy with his conclusions.

“A driver always wants to move on to the next level. It was a difficult decision to make with my personal management, ”he told the French version Motorsport.com.

“Of course, I knew I could already have the opportunity in F3 for 2020. But when I think back today on how I was, I tell myself it wasn’t this was just the right time and I still had a lot to learn.

“I may not have had the opportunity to be in a senior team that would allow me to show myself at the very beginning. We have to go through difficult times. It strengthened my mind.

“Today, I am much more proud and I tell myself this is the right path to take.”

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Martins has been driving alongside Piastri’s Alpine peers and Christian Lundgaard several times while the trio have made their way through the ranks.

While it is only entering F3, the other two will be in Formula 2 in 2021 and are widely believed to be contested for an F1 seat.

Martins admits that can be difficult, but he tries not to pay much attention to it.

“In the 2020 season, I learned how important it is to focus on myself and not others,” he said.

“I can be sad to see Christian and Oscar in Formula 2 while I’m still in Formula Renault, but I think the most important thing for me to focus on myself is to keep going. continue to develop my skills and develop myself well as a person and as a driver as well.

“I tried to tell myself that this was an opportunity to go through situations I hadn’t seen in previous years – driving the tree instead of being in second place and running another driver.

“I am very proud of what we have achieved. I can almost be more prepared [for the step up] than I am today. “

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