“I’m not from a wealthy background”: Alpine junior driver hoping to replicate Lewis Hamilton’s breakthrough in F1

The Alpine junior driver Victor Martins recently stated that he looks up to Lewis Hamilton and finds similarities to the Briton in terms of how he is pursuing a career in F1. The seven-time world champion did not come from a wealthy family and had to fight his way in the world of motorsport in order to get a seat in the single-seater racing series.

While speaking to Total-Motorsport.com, Martins explained how he idolizes Lewis Hamilton and finds his journey to becoming an F1 driver relatable. He stated how he himself is not from a wealthy family, just like Hamilton, but has hopes to shine and race in F1 soon. He said:

“Hamilton has always been the guy I’m watching, but I didn’t have any like proper idols. How he has done his path to F1, his situation and how he started, I’m the same. I’m not from a wealthy background, so it was a difficult decision to start motorsport because of the budget and Hamilton has been a good example of [doing] that.”

Victor Martins is currently participating in the Formula 2 championship. He won the Formula 3 championship in 2022 and the Formula Renault Eurocup in 2020. He is currently in the Alpine Junior Program and is racing for the ART Grand Prix team.

Of course, there are hundreds and thousands of aspiring racing drivers who look up to Lewis Hamilton and dream of becoming as successful as him. The Briton had an extremely tough start to his racing career, both financially and because he was a person of color.

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Lewis Hamilton confident about his and Mercedes' openness regarding contract extension

Lewis Hamilton assures that he will inform Toto Wolff and Mercedes if he is in contact with any other team. He believes that the team will do the same if they are looking for any other driver. The seven-time world champion has not yet extended his contract with the Silver Arrows, and he is in no hurry to do so either. Speaking to ESPN, he said:

"There is no panic [over the contract], we will get to it, neither of us feel pressure, we are always honest. So, if Toto was talking to someone he would tell me and vice-a-versa. I've never ever in my whole time gone and spoken behind a team's back to someone else to see if I can get them to raise the bar so that he has to raise his bar -- I've never played that game, and he hasn't either."

Lewis Hamilton is still very much loyal to Mercedes. The team is well aware that they need to work extremely hard to create a race- and championship-winning car. They are still behind Aston Martin and Red Bull in the constructors' championship table.