Nissan shot could be next step in Williams F1 test driver's future

Victor Martins will rejoin Nissan to drive one of its Gen3 Evo cars at next week's Jarama test in a move that appears to reignite his interest in racing in the all-electric world championship.

The three-time Formula 2 race winner could soon be in the frame to join the Formula E Gen4 grid next season, having recently learned that his plans to concentrate on endurance racing with Alpine beyond 2026 will be cut short due to Alpine's cessation of its Hypercar project.

Martins has previously tested for the Nissan team, at Berlin and Valencia in 2023, and The Race can reveal that he will do so again in the post-race Jarama rookie test.

That agreement came late after Martins became available because the Qatar World Endurance Championship prologue has been cancelled due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Though the cancellation of the prologue test has not yet been announced, it is expected to be confirmed officially later this week.

That triggered Martins to re-engage in dialogue with the Nissan team last week, and an agreement was quickly found for him to drive in one of the team's Gen3 Evo cars on March 22.

But it is the bigger picture of Martin's future that is interesting right now. His route to Formula 1 effectively ended during his three-year F2 stint and with his exit from the Alpine Academy in late 2024.

Although Martins switched to the Williams F1 driver academy stable in early 2025 and was promoted to test and development driver in January, his chances of racing for the team in F1 are scant.

That is why Martins and his manager, former racer Sebastien Philippe, engaged with Nicolas Lapierre at Alpine last autumn and secured a deal to race one of the manufacturer's Hypercars this season alongside Jules Gounon and Frederic Makowiecki.

But unbeknownst to Martins was the decision for Alpine to cease its A424 Hypercar programme at the end of 2026, a decision which The Race broke earlier this year, and which is believed to have come as a surprise to Martins, as well as the other drivers.

Now, Martins is pursuing Formula E with renewed vigour and could be a clear option for Nissan as it looks to form its first Gen4 attack at the end of 2026. Oliver Rowland is signed up to at least 2028, but Norman Nato is on a rolling one season at a time deal. 

Nato has had a difficult start to the present campaign and has scored just a single point, while defending champion Rowland has accrued 49, a ratio largely in keeping with last season when Nato came under pressure for the lack of points gathered.

Even if Nato's points scoring vastly improves, The Race understands that Nissan has a genuine interest in Martins, who could also sample the Gen4 test and development car this summer.

Team principal Tommaso Volpe and senior team members were quick to back Nato at the end of last season despite his 163-point deficit to team-mate Rowland. A deal to continue with Nato, who is in his second stint with Nissan after an initial season in 2023, was completed just before the season-closing London E-Prix last July.

That move came as a surprise to many in the Formula E paddock, but came after Volpe stood down Sacha Fenestraz 12 months earlier. It is understood that Nissan wanted to resist a kind of revolving door policy at the team, something which has beset teams such as Andretti and Maserati MSG (now Citroen) in recent seasons.

Speaking to The Race at his second Formula E test at Valencia in October 2023, Martins was initially impressed with the all-electric world championship, which by then was building up to its second Gen3 season.

"I put it as the second-best category in motorsport," he said.

"So of course, it's a professional world and I think it's a place that you should be always looking at and having good relationships with some factory so it was quite natural with Nissan."

Why Martins is a Gen4 attraction

At the Berlin rookie test in 2023, The Race spoke with several drivers, among them Jack Aitken, Robert Shwartzmann, Luke Browning and Martins. But it was only the last of them who seemed genuine when speaking of his interest of racing in Formula E in the future.

Martins was "really capable" and "displayed a very strong attitude" according to Volpe, team principal then and now. This was evident and despite the faintest of possibilities in F1, primarily as a reserve driver, Martins was open to Formula E. You'll be amazed how many others then and even now at tests are not!

Martins was fully committed then. And now the same is being emitted from the Alpine team in WEC, where he has impressed many with his initial testing performances ahead of his Hypercar debut at the 6 Hours of Imola next month. 

There has been no hint of any residual resentment about not getting into F1 from Martins, and that is a very strong sign for Formula E teams, which are already looking at their driver line-ups for the dawn of the Gen4 era later this year.

Martins and his team will be very aware that getting onto the Formula E ladder early in a ruleset is key. Look at how Rowland got it quickly at the start of the Gen2 or how Taylor Barnard performed as a stand-in during Gen3's second season. The level of knowledge is one thing, but consistency in technical understanding is another.

That is why Martins feels like a driver ripe for a Formula E move for next season.

It's still early, but in a sense too it really isn't. The number of drives available for next season will diminish quickly.

Experience will not be as valuable as it is within this set of rules. The start of a new cycle is a natural starting point for rookies, and the more Martins gets familiar with Formula E, and with this test he is parachuted back into the fold, the more likely he will be slap, bang in the middle of the radar for a transition to a race seat later this year.