On the fingers of one hand you can count the Spaniards who have competed in Formula 1 since the appearance of Fernando Alonso in 2001. Carlos Sainz, Jaume Alguersuari, Roberto Mehri (one season)... and as third-party drivers, in training , Dani Clos, Dani Juncadella and Àlex Palou. Scarce harvest for 22 years. Along the way, many frustrated dreams. It is not always possible to combine an enormous talent and an assorted portfolio, as required by the great circus. The few hopes for the future, more or less solid, of the Spanish quarry are reduced to the American Palou, and a 17-year-old boy from Barcelona who is already a prophet in his land: Josep Maria Martí, Pepe to his friends and the world of engine.
Last Sunday, during the Spanish F-1 GP, the Circuit de Montmeló attended a day that Pepe Martí (Barcelona, June 13, 2005) will never forget: his first single-seater victory at home, also his first in a race long in the FIA Formula 3 championship, the penultimate natural step to reach the desire of every motorsport driver; the pinnacle of the elite.
“Of course my dream is to get to F-1, but first I have to do well in the previous categories, F-3 now and F-2 next year, if possible. I still don't know anything, I focus on what happens on the track: if you don't do well on the track, they don't pay attention to you”, the boy comments with a sensible and mature speech, without wanting to worry about anything that might happen beyond his next race, which will be at Spielberg (July 1-2), the first of the last five finals in his title fight.
With the triumph of Barcelona, plus those added in Monaco and Bahrain, Pepe is already second, 24 points behind Gabriel Bartoleto. The championship is possible. “It has always been my objective”, Martí becomes serious.
Pepe is in good hands. Those of his family, his parents Josep Maria and Montse, those of the RACC as sponsor, and those of Genís Marcó and Fernando Alonso as advisers and managers of his career. Not everyone can have these godfathers in motorsport.
"Suffering is compensated with these joys", commented Father Josep Maria Martí, a businessman from Sabadell, CEO of the Moventia group, of collective and private mobility (with bus, coach, tram, bicycle, vehicle dealer companies...) , who despite the family business, had never been a fan of racing.
"At home, the fans come from Montse," he refers to his wife, Montse Sobrepera, "a follower of Senna and Schumacher since she was a child, of whom I keep the signed cap, and later of Alonso," explains the parent, who He is the person who usually accompanies the kid to the races.
"The passion comes from her," admits Pepe. "At home I watched all the F-1 races and when I was very young I became fond of it, that's why I liked speed," explains Pepe.
Although, curiously, his sporting beginnings were in soccer. "We signed him up for the summer campus of Xavi Hernández [current Barça coach]... but he didn't like it and said he preferred karting," recalls Josep Maria, who made the mistake of inoculating him with the speed bug by agreeing to upload it to a kart at the age of 6 during a summer vacation.
"But it wasn't until he was 12-13 years old that he began to compete", in 2018, quite late for what is customary for prodigy children.
Since then, his progression behind the wheel has been meteoric: Spanish junior karting champion and fourth in the world (2019), jump to single-seaters in 2020 in the F-4 (3rd in the Spanish championship), and in the 2022, Formula 3 with Campos Racing, by Adrián Campos, another of the supports that Alonso had to stand out.
"He is in the best hands, with Genís Marcó and Alonso, who are directing his sports career", through the driver's representation company, A14 Management, Montse explains with the peace of mind of having his son under the ideal supervision in a shark world like motorsport.
"Fernando acts as a teacher and advisor, and Genís is the one who takes care of his day-to-day life since he accompanied him to karting, he acts as a manager," explains the driver's mother, proud that Pepe is still studying (second year of Baccalaureate). "He is the only one on the F-3 grid who studies and drives", also following the historical philosophy of the RACC to support young pilots, so that they have training and education.
The purely sporting aspect, the driving, the management, the behavior on the circuits... Genís Marcó (L'Escala, 1974), who was Alonso's supporter in karting and adoptive family of the Asturian when he started at his kart track in L'Escala. After passing through his hands Alonso, Alguersuari, Juncadella, Clos, Costa or Mehri, Marcó has adopted Pepe as his preferred disciple.
"He is very intelligent; Above all, I would highlight his management of the race and his ability to recognize mistakes and what is wrong with the car”, Marcó details of the young driver at the request of La Vanguardia. "He knows how to manage himself, if he has to be aggressive, he is...", adds the manager, whom Pepe reminds "more of Sainz than of Alonso". And he makes a small prediction about him: “He looks like a great pilot. It is very difficult to get to F-1, but I think he has options ”. Although the F-2 awaits him first (and the joke comes out for a million and a half euros per season). The F-1? Around 2026, if the plans go well.
