Victor Martins delivers verdict on 'Max Verstappen' rival: 'It's started to be like a comedy'

Victor Martins has likened his and Alex Dunne's recent collisions in F2 to a "comedy" double act, with the duo having had contact on consecutive weekends.

The first, at the opening corner of the feature race in support of the Monaco Grand Prix saw the McLaren junior, who had started on pole, lunge up the inside of the Frenchman in a bid to recover from a poor getaway.

It triggered a crash between the pair and Martins was pushed into the wall, in turn causing both cars to block the track, instigating a multi-car pile up and red flag.

Afterwards, Martins was seen remonstrating about Dunne with fellow F2 driver Pepe Marti, where he was caught exclaiming: "Who does he think he is, Max Verstappen?!"

Then, just five days later, Dunne ran into the back of the Williams Academy driver in the entry to the pit lane during practice at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Martins can see the funny side of the situation, but maintains he is focused on "forgetting" about the twin incidents.

"It's started to be like a comedy like we are, just the two of us," he told media, including RacingNews365, with a small laugh following his first F1 practice session for Williams, where we finished P19.

"I feel like I couldn't do anything in Monaco, I couldn't do anything again now [in Spain]. I'm just forgetting about it."

'Otherwise he will just keep doing what he has been doing...'

Both shunts were deemed the fault of Dunne, with a combined 16 places-worth of grid penalties and five points on his FIA super licence handed out by the stewards.

Martins feels the punishments awarded to the Irishman are "deserved", and hopes they serve as a lesson learned for the Rodin driver.

"He got a penalty for it, for both races," the 23-year-old added. "I think it's fair to say that he deserved it, if I'm honest - from what we have seen in the past, also.

"So I'm happy about what the FIA choose as a decision, because otherwise he will just keep doing what he has been doing since a few weekends back."

Reflecting on his dual duties at the Spanish Grand Prix, Martins spoke about balancing both responsibilities, something made more difficult to navigate by his unexpected trip to the stewards with Dunne.

"It was a bit of difficult situation to deal with," the ART Grand Prix driver explained. "I was not expecting to go into the stewards' room... so I had to be a bit delayed to the briefing. But I think we did quite a lot.

"For sure, Thursday was quite busy with... the pressure, the doubt that you have sometimes going in the car for the first time, you want to know everything, you want to go through everything. Every bit of every information that you can have, you want to know it.

"And it felt like on Thursday, I did half and half, and not one proper category correctly.

"When you have only F2, for example, on Thursday we are not busy, and I leave the track probably at 5pm and I know everything I need for the next day.

"I just felt Thursday was so busy that I knew maybe 50% of what I should have known about the F1 session and F2 service. But in the end, I think the most important things I needed to know, I knew before the session."