The Spanish driver returned to the podium at Red Bull's home, securing second place in the weekend's sprint race after a great performance.
Martí leaves Austria with his sights set on the next race, which will take place at the Silverstone circuit next week without a break.
“Second place feels like gold after the tough rounds we've had. Additionally, it gives us a boost of confidence for the second half of the championship.”
After several races of bad luck, Pepe Martí has returned to the podium and he did it at Red Bull’s home. The Spanish driver never stopped working hard day after day to continue showcasing his talent as he did at the season opener in Bahrain with a double podium. This weekend at the Austrian Grand Prix, he crossed the finish line in second position in Saturday's sprint race. Martí reaches the midpoint of the championship eager to continue with the goal of scoring points in his debut year.
“It has been a very positive weekend. On Friday in free practice, we were able to understand the car well and we were fast. In qualifying, we could have been higher up but an eighth position, coming from the bad luck we had, was a decent result,” says Martí.
In the sprint race, he started from third position and after a good start, managed to overcome all the adversities and take the lead, fighting for victory until the last lap. Finally, he finished in second place, returning to the podium in the best possible setting: the Red Bull Ring.
“Saturday's race was good. We started third, and after a good start, we were three wide and I ended up being the middle driver. I had contact and lost a part of the wing which caused us to lose a bit of grip but we had good speed. We were able to maintain the pace and have a good race. Second position feels like gold after the tough rounds we've had. Besides, this gives us a bit of confidence for the second half of the championship.”
For Sunday's feature race, Pepe started from eighth place on soft tyres and had another great start, climbing two positions in the first few corners. The Red Bull Junior Team driver did a great job managing his tyres throughout the race. He was the first to pit for hard tyres, intending to keep them until the end. He occupied the virtual lead for many laps and was fighting for victory until he finally crossed the finish line in fourth place. After the race, the stewards decided to penalise him with 30 seconds, because he happened to make his pit stop just as the virtual safety car was activated due to an incident on track. Thus, the fourth place became 16th, leaving him out of the points.
“In Sunday’s race, we struggled a bit more than we would have liked, I didn't feel as comfortable with the car. We were lacking a bit of speed, we were overtaken and then, when I was running second, we made a technical decision to move to third place. Subsequently, there was a misunderstanding, and another driver with better tyres arrived and we lost the second place. In the end, fourth, which ended with a penalty and no points, but we’re satisfied with the points gained on Saturday which we needed, and eager to come back stronger at Silverstone,” concludes Pepe.
Formula 2 doesn’t stop and will finish the triple-header at Silverstone next week during the British Grand Prix of Formula 1.
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