Victor Martins was almost caught up in a horrifying moment on Sunday as he came within inches of driving into two fire marshals at high speed. The incident unfolded during the F2 race in Monaco, with fans left divided by the near-miss on social media.
Martins failed to slow under a yellow flag and was forced to react in a split-second when he came around the corner to see two fire mashals tending to Jack Doohan’s car. The Australian’s vehicle set on fire following a crash on lap 22.
Swerving to the right at the last second, Martins narrowly avoided the marshals in an incident that could have ended horrifically. Martins, who competes in F2 with ART Grand Prix, was subsequently given a drive-through penalty.
Having failed to slow down under the yellow flag conditions, however, many fans felt that the French-Portuguese youngster should have been disqualified.
“They only game him a drive-through [penalty]?” wrote @itsIightsout on Twitter. “That must be a harsher punishment because what the f***.” Meanwhile, @flybry9 added: “Should be WAY more than a drive thru penalty, hooooly s***.”
However, others took aim at the FIA for failing to red flag the race when marshals were out on track. “In what UNIVERSE is this acceptable?” wrote @DanTheStripe.
“Yes, he should have been going slower but if you’re putting human beings out on a live racetrack you RED FLAG IT IMMEDIATELY!! FIA have been pushing it with safety recently and it’s really angering me.”
Martins ultimately finished P8 in the F2 feature race, which was won by Prema’s Frederik Vesti. The 21-year-old triumphed in last season’s F3 Drivers’ Championship and he has notched two podiums since stepping up a division.
His near-miss on Sunday gave fans cause for concern ahead of the F1 Grand Prix later in the day, with Max Verstappen qualifying on pole earlier this weekend.
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