Nerea Martí signs with Campos Racing for inaugural F1 Academy season

Nerea Martí is the first driver to be confirmed at Campos Racing - as the Spanish driver joins the inaugural season of the all-female F1 Academy championship

Photo credits: Racers - Behind the Helmet

The fourth driver to be confirmed at F1 Academy slots at Campos Racing – and it’s one of Spain’s most promising talents: Nerea Marti.

The new all-female championship will start in 2023 with a 7-event calendar, each round including three races, aimed at providing young drivers with increased track time and a pathway to advance on the single seater ladder.

Marti, 21, contested two seasons in W Series, after only one year on open wheel racing.

Nerea’s involvement in motorsport started started after her father and her uncle opened a karting centre in Albalat dells Sorells, just outside Valencia. As soon as she stepped in one of the karts herself, Martí soon became official driver for Praga España Motorsport.

She then enjoyed remarkable successes on home soil, winning the Valencian karting championship in 2018 and becoming vice-champion at national level.

In 2019, Marti had the chance to test a formula car for the first time and, always with the support of Praga España Motorsport, she joined the Spanish F4 with Formula de Campeones Praga.

In her first season in Formula 4, Marti scored a podium at debut – and then continued her rookie season with more top ten finishes and, with a strong second half of the season, she finished equal on points with Belén Garcia.

At the end of the year, Nerea was selected for the second edition of the all-female championship W Series, before the campaign was cancelled for the pandemic.

She would finally make her debut in Formula Regional machinery in 2021, where she was among the main protagonists of the season: having finished all the races in the points and scored her first podium in Hungary, Marti was fourth in the championship standings and the best rookie.

Marti kept momentum and claimed pole position at Miami at the first round of the 2022 season – as well as a podium in race 2 – but had a few unfortunate rounds that prevented the Valencian to fight for the title. Nevertheless, she was third again at Le Castellet and finished seventh in the points’ standings.

At the same time, Marti made her debut in touring cars, joining BMW Spain in a factory effort in GT Winter Series and well as CER-Spanish Endurance Championship – where she was crowned champion.

Her passion for karting translated into NM Motorsport – her own karting team where Nerea aims to coach the talents of tomorrow.

With today’s announcement, the young SPanish star will continue her trajectory in single seaters on the F1-launched platform.

“I am very happy to join Campos Racing for the first season of F1 Academy” – commented Nerea. “It is an incredible opportunity to continue taking steps forward in my racing career and I have no doubt that together we will achieve all our goals."

Campos Racing has historically provided opportunities to female racing drivers – including on the F1 ladder – and is one of the five elite teams selected for the inaugural season of the championship.

Contested with Formula 4 cars, Campos will rely on its expertees in F4 Spain, where the same Tatuus T-421 cars are employed – and where the team has secured the title in 2021.

After Léna Buhler (ART Grand Prix), Bianca Bustamante (Prema), Jessica Edgar (Rodin Carlin), Nerea Marti has therefore secured one of the 15 slots on the grid. It will be her second year in F4 machinery – and her first in the new gen Tatuus, but drivers will have plenty of time to adapt to the new cars, as 15 days of collecting testing are expected to be announced.