Pepe Martí "feeling the excitement" ahead of home race in Barcelona

Written by Vyas Ponnuri

Campos Racing's Pepe Martí has been to Barcelona several times in his junior career. Each time, the Spaniard soaks up the support from the loyal fans cheering him and the Spanish marque along as the weekend progresses.

Pepe Martí enters the home stretch at the end of F2's triple header | Credit: Dutch Photo Agency/Red Bull Content Pool

Martí is certainly a driver of note in Spain, having progressed up to Formula 2, remaining only one step away from becoming the country's next Formula One hero. Being under the roster of the country's only F1 world champion adds yet more plus points to his popularity quotient in the nation.

The Red Bull overalls he dons every weekend give him a stronger shot at reaching F1, albeit into one of the sport's most pressure cooker environments. The continued backing Martí receives from the higher ups in the Red Bull Driver Academy gives him a stronger shot at reaching the pinnacle of motorsport, with his Red Bull-liveried Campos one of three such cars on the grid in 2025.

The home favourites do know how to win around this venue. Martí himself emerged on top in the Formula 3 weekend back in 2023 in the sprint race, with Campos Racing holding an unbeaten three-race winning streak in Barcelona's F3 sprints.

Although they haven't been able to translate their success from F3 into the F2 weekends, Martí believes he can certainly put on a show in Spain, and turn around what has been a difficult triple header so far.

"Obviously, I think it's going to be a good point in the season to try to turn around how it's been going in the last two rounds," Martí expressed. "I think we've struggled a bit in Imola and Monaco, but I think we can certainly turn around this weekend and try to get the most of it (the Spanish round)," he continued.

Monaco wasn't one of Martí's finest hours in his F2 career | Credit: Dutch Photo Agency/Red Bull Content Pool

The home favourite qualified outside the top ten for both weekends, caught up in the Monaco melee in the feature race, while damage to his Campos forced him to retire from the sprint on lap 16. In Imola, a lap 1 collision with PREMA's Gabriele Minì at the Villeneuve chicane cost him five seconds in race time at the end of the sprint.

But you know what they say. The home crowd gives you a few extra tenths around the track.

And Martí has once again felt the rapturous reception from his passionate home crowd, being a part of the week-long Barcelona Fan Festival at the Plaza de Catalunya commemorating several milestones in Spain's F1 journey.

"Yeah, obviously, you know, I am feeling the excitement build up here in Spain," the Campos racer expressed. "Obviously, yesterday I was at the Plaza (de) Catalunya, in the centre of the city."

"I think there were about 2000 people (at the fan festival). They had to limit the amount of people that came in, so it was only 2000. But honestly, it was amazing. Seeing so many people there for us, it feels amazing to race in front of the crowd," Martí expressed, beaming with pride.

The Spaniard currently sits seventh in the standings, with 41 points to his name. There's no doubt he will be looking to put the past behind him and deliver on a strong showing for his passionate supporters to cheer on, heading into the weekend's pair of races.

15 Spaniards have raced in F1 in the past, albeit with varying degrees of success, and Martí will be itching to add his name to this fabled list. A stellar F2 season in 2025 will only aid his path to join fellow national heroes Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz Jr. and forming the Spanish trio at the top in the future.

Drivers weigh in their thoughts on a potential F2 docu-series on Netflix

F1: The Academy premiered on Netflix recently | Credit: Formula One

F1 Academy became the latest championship to jump on the docu-series bandwagon, when Netflix's F1: The Academy premiered on Wednesday, 28th May, 2025. The seven-episode docu-series premiered in style, with a live screening in the UK to mark the occasion.

The all-female junior championship follows the likes of more established series such as F1, NASCAR, IndyCar and Formula E, adopting the mode of docu-series on an international streaming platform in a bid to attract newer audiences and reach new heights.

While F2 has its own in-house production, Chasing the dream, with episodes dropping after every race weekend, the Netflix docu-series model has seen plenty of success, especially when it comes to reaching newer audiences outside the realm of motorsport.

Both drivers believe a Netflix web series on F2 would rake in the views and aid promotional efforts for them | Credit: Formula 2 via X

When asked if drivers would be keen to see a similar mode being followed capturing their stories, both Martí and Luke Browning praised Chasing the dream, apart from expressing the promotional aspect of a Netflix docu-series and helping drivers secure more sponsors and backing.

"Yeah, we've got one (a web series). It's going well," Browning expressed. "If you're on Netflix, you will get more views, if I'm honest. But what's quite exciting is, I think they (episodes of Chasing the dream) are only getting more exciting.

"So if you're going to watch the last two races, I think it's obviously taking a heat type of fight. more heated. Covering stuff happening in the championship fight. So it's been interesting watching the last couple of rounds," the Hitech racer continued.

Martí stressed upon the aspect of a Netflix web series on F2 giving them a boost and helping them stand out in a crowded environment.

"Obviously, it would be amazing, I think, with how difficult it is to stand out in motorsport," the Campos racer expressed. "

Obviously, there have been drivers, you know, I'm going to put an example of Kimi (Antonelli), ever since he was in go-karts, he's an ever-rising talent, and obviously he got a lot of promotion (for it).

"But, in these categories, it's all about performance and trying to do our best. And, you know, there's always people that are going to have more or less opportunities on everything," Martí continued.

But, in the end, if we were to have something like that (a Netflix production), I'm sure that it would also help us, you know, have a bit more visual viewing, screen time, and obviously that will help us attract a bit more sponsors in that sense as well," the Spaniard concluded, expressing the upsides of a wider audience tuning in to a potential F2 web series on Netflix.

Would F2 follow the likes of F1 Academy down this route? It remains to be seen. But for now, Chasing the dream is the go-to series capturing the rollercoaster ride of a regular F2 season.

F2 heads into Spain for its annual Spanish sojourn, and this weekend's races are ones you do not want to miss, for it rounds out F2's gruelling triple header in 2025.