Williams has signed former Alpine junior driver Victor Martins to its academy.
Martins, who is currently in his third season of Formula 2, will take part in a test for the team this weekend. Williams will run a 2023-specification FW45 at Monza under Formula 1’s Testing of Previous Cars rules.
Williams sporting director Sven Smeets said Martins “has repeatedly demonstrated that he is a talented driver who is capable of winning championships.”
The 23-year-old won the Formula Renault Eurocup with ART in 2020, then clinched the FIA Formula 3 title with the team in 2022. After finishing his first season of Formula 2 in fifth place he fell to fifth in the standings last year, taking a single win in the partial-reversed-grid sprint race at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Martins took pole position for the first Formula 2 feature race of the new season in Australia. However the race was abandoned due to rain on the morning of the Australian Grand Prix.
He will join fellow F2 driver and Williams Racing Driver Academy member Luke Browning in the Monza test this weekend.
Martins’ move comes two months after Franco Colapinto switched from Williams to join Alpine as one of its four reserve drivers.
“Williams is an iconic team with an incredible history, and I’m confident this is the best place to be to help me achieve my goals,” said Martins. “This year, I’ll put all my focus into winning the Formula 2 drivers’ championship with ART Grand Prix and maximising this opportunity with the Driver Academy both on and off the track.”
He is the ninth member of Williams’ Driver Academy. Along with Martins and Browning, the others are Lia Block, Alessandro Giusti, Oleksandr Bondarev, Sara Matsui, Dean Hoogendoorn, Will Green and Lucas Palacio.
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