For the second straight weekend, Campos Racing’s Josep Maria ‘Pepe’ Martí claimed a Sprint Race podium, this time at the Saudi Arabian GP. After a triumphant charge through the field in Bahrain, Martí and Campos arrived in Jeddah in top form. However, despite finishing behind teammate Arvid Lindblad, who stormed through from P6 to take the win, Martí was left hoping for more.
At the post-Sprint Race press conference attended by Pit Debrief, the Spaniard was not satisfied with the result. Reflecting on his race, Martí was relatively harsh on himself. The 19-year-old pointed to a mistake he made as the reason for his disappointment, knowing he had more to match Lindblad.
“To be honest, I mean, it’s a good result P2, but I’m not happy at all. I mean, I would have inherited the lead had I not gone off. It’s true that Arvid [Lindblad] at that point was maybe a bit quicker than me, but I think later on we stabilised and we had a pretty similar pace.”
“So to be honest, yeah, quite let down by my own performance. Obviously, it’s quite good for the championship, like I said before, but I’m not really proud of the result if that makes a lot of sense.”
“I’ll have to look back and analyse” – Martí on T1 incident with Verschoor
After inheriting P3 due to penalties handed to Invicta Racing’s Roman Stanek in both races, Martí’s quick reaction off the line launched him into P2. Starting behind MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor, Martí and the Dutchman traded moves before the Spaniard pulled off an overtake on the outside to take the lead.
However, when asked about the penalty, Martí did not know it stemmed from the scrap they had. Calling the decision “a bit too harsh”, Martí thought it was some great racing but would need to further review the incident before reaching a final opinion.
“I had no idea that that was the reason for the penalty. To be honest, I thought it was on the limit. I thought it was a bit too harsh, but then again, we’re racing. I also gave him just the amount of right space in the exit of Turn 1.”
“So I think you can look at it in many ways, to be honest. If that was the reason for the penalty, then good for me and I think good for the three of us, but I think I’ll have to look back and analyse and then I’ll think about what I think about it.”
Confident but cautious heading into Sunday
With a Campos one-two in the Sprint Race, the team heads into the Feature Race with confidence, though mindful of the competition around them. The Spaniard heads into the Feature Race knowing he’ll need to put everything together for a strong result. Both Martí and Campos know “a small step forward” is needed ahead of Sunday in order to gain an advantage from today.
“I mean, you’re always confident after a podium, but like I said before, I think we have still, and like Arvid said before, I think we still have a car. I think we were not the quickest.”
“Certainly, Richard [Verschoor] was far ahead of us today. And I think, yeah, we have to do a small step forward for tomorrow. I think I also have to be a bit more reliable than what I was today. And then, yeah, to be honest, I’m very certain that we can challenge for a very good result.”
The importance of preparation heading into a track like Jeddah
Martí’s second visit to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit has evidently been better than the last. After spinning out on the first lap of the Feature Race last year, Martí’s true experience of the track only came from the Sprint Race.
Echoing Lindblad’s thoughts on adaptability and the approach to a race weekend like Jeddah’s, the Spaniard expressed his fondness of the high-speed street track:
“Yeah, well, completely agree with what Arvid was saying. Then again, for me last year, I completely missed the feature race because I decided to do a 180 or a 360 in lap one. So I kind of missed 32 laps of racing.”
“But then again, yeah, I mean, this track is quite crazy. You have a lot of high speed corners. And to be honest, this is probably one of the most enjoyable and pleasurable tracks of the season. I mean, you get so close to the walls and so many corners, and you actually gain so much time by being close to these walls. It’s not like any other, I would say, street track.”
“I think here you do gain quite a bit of time getting close. And yeah, to be honest, being in the sim [simulator] can prepare you a lot, but at the same time, you get here and it’s completely different to what any simulator track can give you.”
“And yeah, I think it’s just about trying to get it all together. In the end, we only have 45 minutes. I think we did six, seven laps before qualifying compared to Formula One doing three one-hour sessions. So in the end, we get very little running compared to everyone else. And yeah, it’s just about adaptability and trying to get the most of it as quick as possible.”
Progress for Campos since Bahrain testing
Both Martí and Lindblad remain confident in their abilities in chasing stronger results with Campos. As the new generations of F2 cars debuted last season, several teams struggled to find an ideal setup for both one-lap performance and race pace, an area in which Campos excelled. However, Martí believes the field has now become more evenly matched.
“Yeah, literally, what Arvid said, I mean, we definitely have a good car. We had it last year. I think everybody’s caught up quite a bit. I think last year we had a bit of an advantage when we started the season. I don’t think that exists anymore.”
He added, “I think we’re all quite parallel to each other. I think MP have done a massive step forward, which Richard proved today as well. You know, Carlin’s still competitive, well, Rodin now, like with Alex’s win last week in Bahrain. But yeah, to be honest, I think everybody’s quite, like I said before, we’re all quite even.”
“I think the test was obviously useful, but it was useful for everyone. And yeah, if anything, I think we had a good car in Australia, we had a good car in Bahrain, we have a good car here, and I think we’ll probably be having a good car everywhere else.”
“Certainly cannot afford mistakes like the one today” – Martí on consistency needed to win title
In his second season in F2, Martí holds high expectations for himself. With two Sprint Race wins under his belt, Martí is still yet to win his first Feature Race in F2. Whilst consistency and podiums can secure the title, as seen in previous years, Martí knows he must minimise mistakes and be competitive on Sundays to maximise his points every weekend.
“I mean, it’s obviously important to be consistent, that’s for sure. But to be honest, in this world, you have to win races. You have to do a good job. You have to be competitive, especially on Sundays.”
“That’s where the points are given out. In Bahrain, we did a really good job. I think from 11th, we kind of maximised what we had with fourth.”
“But yeah, I think I certainly cannot afford mistakes like the one today going forward. I think obviously today I got out of it quite happily, getting a second place after going off in T10. To be honest, when I went off in 8th, I was facing the wall and I was still bottoming. And coming out, I was sideways for a whole lap. So to be fair, staying ahead of the pack was already a miracle.”
Following a disappointing rookie season filled with misfortunes, his 2025 campaign so far has evidently been much better. Moving forward, the Spaniard acknowledges the lessons learnt and has his eyes set on the top step of the podium.
“And yeah, to be honest, going forward, I’m just going to learn from that and going to make sure that doesn’t happen again and hopefully be the one sitting in the middle in the next races. But no, I’m quite happy with the start of the season and I just want to keep it going.”
Approach to attacking and defending in T1
When asked by Pit Debrief on their approach to attacking and defending in T1, Martí and Lindblad both highlighted the benefits of the triple DRS zones. Involved in several moves in T1 himself, the Spaniard explained the nature of T1 which allows drivers to master the skill of late-breaking overtakes.
“Yeah, well, I had quite a bit of action with Richard [Verschoor] and myself. Yeah, just pretty much what Arvid was saying. I think you can allow yourself to brake quite late. And because it’s quite open, I would say heading into turn two, you still can manage to make the corner even if you go quite deep.”
Martí highlighted the many areas for racing throughout the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Noting how its layout and DRS zones allow for strategic battles, the Spaniard highlighted how he managed to use it to his advantage when defending against PREMA’s Gabriele Minì.
“So it allows a bit for side-to-side racing. And yeah, then obviously you have T2 where you can maybe even switch back if you do it perfectly right. But yeah, I think it’s quite a powerful corner. And even T27, you can still make the move.”
“And with the double DRS zone, you can do stuff like I did with Gabriele [Minì], where you almost give the DRS away to try to stay ahead. And you can play a bit with it more than even I expected. So it’s quite good.”
Martí will start Sunday’s Feature Race in P7, hoping to replicate similar results once again at the Saudi Arabian GP.
