Victor Martins has revealed Lewis Hamilton was the Formula 1 driver he always watched when growing up and takes inspiration from the background of the Mercedes driver.
Martins, who is currently racing in the Formula 2 Championship, was a late starter to motorsport, having driven a kart for the first time at the age of 12.
The Alpine Academy driver turns 22 years old in June, so has seen Hamilton go from a rookie to seven-time F1 world champion.
“Hamilton has always been the guy I’m watching but I didn’t have any like proper idols,” Martins exclusively told Total-Motorsport.com.
“How he has done his path to F1, his situation and how he started, I’m the same. I’m not from a wealthy background, so it was a difficult decision to start motorsport because of the budget and Hamilton has been a good example of [doing] that.”
Formula E to F1?
Martins took part in the Berlin Formula E rookie test in April, ending the day in third place behind F2 champion Felipe Drugovich and Zane Maloney.
The call-up came through Renault and Nissan‘s alliance, plus Martins‘ impressive performances in F2, even if he has not had the results to show it.
Nyck de Vries made the jump from Formula E to F1 by joining AlphaTauri at the end of last year.
Asked whether he looks at De Vries path to F1 and whether that’s something he will look at, Martins said: “You never know what’s going to happen in the future. You need to accept things.
“Maybe the way to F1 will be Formula E, then F1, or maybe the other way around. It’s a matter of opportunities, timing, results and expectations from the people around you.”
