Alpine will be surprised by how Williams staff have reacted to Victor Martins joining their driver academy

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Victor Martins was cut from Alpine’s driver academy ahead of the start of the 2025 Formula 2 season and spent nearly a month in darkness.

That was until Williams realised that they needed an able deputy for their two Formula 1 drivers in the case that either were forced into absence.

They were unbothered by Martins being abandoned by Alpine and rushed to sign him and the super licence that he comes with.

The 23-year-old has lots of experience testing older cars and is competing in his third Formula 2 season with ART this year.

Alpine considered Martins a longshot for a 2025 seat at one stage, which proves how keen they were on his talents.

The F2 star was meant to be Alpine’s ‘perfect candidate’ if he could win the title last year, but fell well short and only finished seventh.

READ MORE: Britain’s next Formula 1 hopeful has just suffered a major blow after Williams signs ‘seriously quick’ junior champion

Alpine may be surprised that Williams engineers think Victor Martins signing was a ‘good idea’

Alex Albon has enjoyed a terrific start to the 2025 season, sitting inside the top 10 of the drivers’ championship.

He has proven that the team is still on the right path towards achieving more. They want to be world champions down the line.

As such, signing the reject of another team may not have pleased their staff. However, Joe Saward reports on his joebloggsf1 green notebook that Williams engineers backed the idea.

“The logic of this seemed a little bizarre until I was told that Williams’s other Formula 2 driver Luke Browning does not have a superlicence and that Martins has a lot of F1 miles under his belt after a programme of TPC testing with Alpine.

“There are a lot of ex-Alpine engineers now working at Williams and they all seem to think this is a good idea, while Alpine said that it was happy to see rivals take its cast-offs…”

READ MORE: Williams boss James Vowles explains why he has ‘mixed emotions’ after already equalling 2024 F1 points tally

What will Victor Martins’ role be with Williams’ F1 team in 2025?

After signing with Williams, the Frenchman was thrown straight into the deep end and tested at Monza alongside Formula 2 rival Luke Browning.

He still has aspirations of making Formula 1, but whether or not that will be possible with Williams is tricky to tell at this stage.

He has practice sessions, test days, and simulator work to look forward to and will become an important part of the Grove-based outfit’s puzzle.

Both of their main drivers are under contract until the end of 2026 and maybe beyond that if they are happy with the direction of the project and perform well.

Martins will have to do something spectacular in Formula 2 or behind the scenes in the simulator and in tests to earn a surprise nod before 2027.