Tyres squealing, a puff of smoke from his rear brakes, Victor Martins is facing the wrong way on track at Melbourne's Albert Park circuit.

A moment of calm as the car's motion comes to a halt, a pirouette to the left after hitting the curb at turn seven and launching three wheels of his ART Grand Prix car into the air. Then, the opposite lock comes, a desperate attempt from the French driver to stay out of the concrete barriers, and the car completes another complete rotation, this time to the right, whipping the driver through the maximum moment of acceleration of the routine before he emerges facing in the direction of traffic once again.

It is a calm incident, with Martins denying the record crowd the spectacle of carbon-on-concrete through a blitzing reaction and whip of the wrists. Zane Maloney pilots his Rodin through the small cloud of smoke and around the stricken car, the red flag falls, and Martins is out of the session.

It is a test of his skill, a successful manoeuvre which has kept the staff of his French team on schedule for their Friday evenings, but it will leave him at the rear of the grid for a race each on Saturday and Sunday as Formula 2 takes to the Australian Grand Prix for the second time in its history.

Victor Martins on Thursday at the 2024 Australian Grand Prix. *(Qian Jun/MB Media/Getty Images)*

The night before, Martins spoke at length at the need to find a path to the front in his second year of Formula 2.

"If I'm honest, it's a big impact, but in the end, if I think like that, if I tried to find excuses […] or think too much about Jeddah and Bahrain, it's not going anywhere," he says after a disappointing start to 2024.

He was 11th in the sprint race in Bahrain before breaking down in the feature race. In Jeddah, he qualified fourth but hit the wall and retired from the sprint race before a frustrating finish in 11th once more, just one spot out of the points.

"I think it's just to try to keep working, having a good communication with the team, being honest with ourselves with what we can do better on both sides."

Victor Martins takes to the Melbourne Walk fan zone at the 2024 Australian Grand Prix. *(Joe Portlock/Formula Motorsport Limited/Getty Images)*

Martins duelled with Oscar Piastri in the 2019 Formula Renault Eurocup, with Piastri taking the title and sprinting away through F3 and F2 titles into the Formula 1 field with McLaren.

Taking the Renault title a year later before moving to Formula 3, Martins looked set to follow a similar trajectory. Certainly, he was able to hold his own against the Australian Formula 1 driver in their many wheel-to-wheel battles.

In Formula 3, Martins impressed as top rookie in the 2021 season before taking the championship in 2022 and a mandatory promotion to Formula 2. Here he was again the top rookie, a win and nine podiums taking him to fifth in the standings and his teams' first title.

In his sophomore year, the expectation is that Martins would be a contender, but he has languished without a championship point after two rounds.

"I'm not concerned," he says, giving an honest reflection on the challenge ahead.

"We have 12 races to go… so I'm more seeing a 12-round championship for me than a 14."

"Last year, I didn't start really well in the championship with some mistakes, so I was not having so much more points than right now. But we'll get there for sure."

"I'm really confident in the team, in myself, I know what to do."

"It's down to this weekend, we need to start now, and I believe we will do it."

He has succeeded, in keeping his car out of the concrete, but he will start from the rear of the 22-car grid in both races ahead of him.

Starting on the back foot is something he is getting used to this year.

"I know I could have done better in Bahrain, in qualifying I think I had the wrong approach there. The sprint race, it didn't go well for sure, we know why."

"We then took a direction to go into the feature race, and I think we were doing quite a good job honestly."

Jeddah saw a much-improved qualifying result, starting from fourth on the grid.

"It started well […] but I think we missed something there. Of course, when you don't feel good in the car, you don't drive well, you don't extract 100 per cent of it, and you don't get the results you want."

"But there is no specific thing. We don't need to reinvent the world, we don't need to do anything magical, just do better things, which are small things."

Martins on the Formula 2 podium at Monza during the 2023 season. *(Alpine F1 Team/Supplied)*

Saturday arrives in Melbourne, an overcast morning with a more humid air than the days before.

The French driver rolls out from 22nd on the grid to start the warmup lap, and Enzo Fittipaldi pulls into pit lane. One position gained.

Five red lights on the starting gantry turn on in sequence then off as one, the sign for the race to begin.

The Campos Racing duo of Isack Hadjar and Josep Maria "Pepe" Martí have an incredible launch from their positions on the second and third rows of the grid. Beside Hadjar, Gabriel Bortoleto baulks, and Martí goes for the gap between the two drivers ahead of him.

He catches the rear right wheel of his teammate and becomes airborne, his momentum firing him off the right-hand side of the track, taking Bortoleto with him. Two more positions for Martins.

The French driver passes one, two, three more rivals in the congested opening lap before the safety car emerges. Sixteenth in the order; six positions gained just for keeping a cool head.

Victor Martins after qualifying on Formula 2 pole at Silverstone in 2023. *(Formula Motorsport Limited/Supplied)*

"On the fundamental things, being able to race, being able to do what I love, being able to come to Australia, is probably at the moment more important than thinking about the title and the championship in the end," said a pensive Martins on Thursday.

"I'm confident and happy to be here and I just want to drive. And I'm looking forward to the weekend and I believe it's going to be a good one. So that's my approach and my mindset at the moment."

Martins is racing now. Midway through the sprint race after a long safety car, and Roman Stanek is second, his Trident lacking the pace of the race leader. The Czech is doing his best to defend but there is a group of hungry Formula 2 drivers pulling up behind him.

Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli, one of the superstars of the Formula 2 grid, is the most eager, attempting a move on the outside of Richard Verschoor. Too ambitious, he spins off into the gravel, with Verschoor stepping on the brakes heavily in avoidance and spinning in sympathy. Paul Aron, the Estonian member of the pack, collides with Verschoor. Three more positions for Martins.

"I'm only seeing an opportunity [in F1] if I succeed, if I do well in F2," says Martins of his position in the Alpine F1 academy.

"So, I'm not actually focusing on it right now. I’m just trying to do the best job possible in my second year; to show my potential and I know that if I do the things I do and the results we all set, I will have an opportunity, I will have a chance for sure."

"Twelve rounds to go, I'm trying to get back into focus on the fundamental things which are taking pleasure, to be able to drive and do what I love, and I know these things will bring everyone back up to the top of the field."

Martins on track during free practice at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this year. *(Formula Motorsport Limited/Supplied)*

Martins holds off his teammate as the pair pick off Zane Maloney, the championship leader looking squirrelly after his own trip through the gravel. Martins is up to seventh, taking two championship points as the chequered flag falls.

What could have been if he had started further up the starting order.

The 22-year-old said he has tried to avoid these thoughts, but it would cross the mind of any racing driver, especially after a performance like this.

Saturday in Australia, earning his first points in the season the hard way, a steady recovery. Living in the moment might just be starting to work in his favour.

Watch every race of the FIA Formula 2 season on Kayo Sports.