Martin Molnár finished his second race weekend in British Formula 4 with three top 10 finishes and two podiums in the rookie classification. The Hungarian driver of Virtuosi Racing once again proved to be the best performer for his team.
Following the season opener at Donington Park, the British Formula 4 Championship continued at Brands Hatch, with Molnár Martin being the sole Hungarian in the field. The 15-year-old driver completed all races this time – with favorable weather allowing all three races to proceed – securing two podium finishes in the rookie classification and finishing in the top 10 on all three occasions. Molnár emerged as the top performer for Virtuosi Racing in both qualifying and races.
As a driver under the Hungarian Motorsport Academy, operated by the Széchenyi University Group and supported by HUMDA Hungarian Mobility Development Agency Zrt., Molnár set the 13th fastest time in qualifying. With a slightly better luck and just 12 milliseconds faster lap, he could have secured pole position for the second race.
Starting 11th in the first race, he finished in 9th place, earning points and being the third best rookie. On Sunday, he faced two more races, improving his performance in the first one to achieve another top 10 result. In the second race, he advanced further to secure his second rookie podium, finishing third.
“In the first race on Sunday, I had a better start than on Saturday, but another driver stalled in front of me. Then, I had a slight contact in Turn 2, which caused the driver behind me to hit the brakes. As a consequence, he got hit from behind, leading to the deployment of the safety car. Similar to the first race, we spent quite some time behind it, but the restart went better this time.”
“Throughout the race I was closely following the car ahead, but it turned out to be very difficult to overtake on this track, and the turbulent air greatly affected the grip of the following car. So, all I could do was to drive without errors and bring the car home in 10th place,” evaluated Martin.
In the closing race of the weekend, the Hungarian driver made his best start yet, ultimately finishing in 10th place once again, securing the third best rookie position.
“The rookie podium was within reach already at Donington, and it felt like we belonged there. Now, we achieved it twice. In the entire weekend, I had the best start in the third race; I had no wheelspin, and I nailed the launch. Unfortunately, I locked up one of the tires quite heavily later on, and then that wheel locked several times, so I mostly focused on defense. In terms of results, I think we had a good weekend.”
“It’s positive that we improved in starts, tire warming, and managing race situations. There was nothing wrong with them initially, but with experience, everything becomes smoother, and we’ll be even better in the next races.”
Thanks to his weekend results, Martin climbed to 17th place in the overall standings and stands fourth in the rookie classification. The British Formula 4 championship will continue on May 25th and 26th at Snetterton.
