Racing in the rain for the first time in his career, Molnár Martin secured two more rookie podium finishes and outperformed both his teammates in qualifying and both races during the third race weekend of the British Formula 4 season at Snetterton.
The British Formula 4 championship continued at Snetterton, one of the most technical circuits on the calendar. After finishing in the top three among rookies twice in the previous round at Brands Hatch, Martin replicated this performance in the third race weekend of the season.
Following dry free practice sessions, rain arrived for Saturday’s qualifying at Snetterton, making it particularly challenging to find the limits on this track under such conditions. Consequently, there were numerous off-track excursions during qualifying. Martin, however, quickly adapted, maintaining good pace and staying within the top ten for a long time.
Approaching the final stages, he was on a great lap when a red flag interrupted the session. After the restart, there was time remaining only for two timed laps. Unfortunately, Martin was held up on the first one and on the second he made a small mistake, finishing lower than his pace had indicated. “In my last lap, I consciously took more risks, locking up the brakes in Turn 4 and nearly running off into the grass. About 0.6 seconds were lost there, and although I set my best time, 15th place didn’t reflect our true pace. Post-session penalties allowed me to move up a few spots,” Martin assessed the qualifying session.
The races then proved Martin’s pace warranted a place within the top ten. In the first race, starting from 12th, he executed his first-ever wet start and moved up to finish 10th. “Since it was my first race in the rain, I didn’t know what to expect at the start, but the race went well, and our pace remained strong. Unfortunately, I got stuck behind a rival and when the safety car came out towards the end, we only had one racing lap left. I almost managed an overtake but in the third sector I couldn’t get close enough for a move, so I finished 10th.”
This 10th place earned him 3rd among the rookies, marking his third rookie podium of the season. And he didn’t have to wait too long for the 4th – the next day, he achieved another top-three result in the weekend’s final race. In the second race, also held in the rain, his start wasn’t ideal, and when he tried to overtake a rival, he slid onto the grass, finishing 17th. However, he bounced back in the third race to rejoin the top ten.
This race also saw a safety car phase – the championship leader, Deagen Fairclough, collided with Alex Ninovic. Martin, starting from 12th, was already up to 9th at the restart. He finished there as heavy rain in the final six minutes prompted race control to red-flag the race.
“We faced completely different conditions than earlier in the weekend. My start went well, I made some overtakes, then the safety car came out. After the restart, we only had two racing laps before the rain hit hard, ending the race. I’m happy to have made it to the podium in the rookie classification again, but I feel there was more potential this weekend. Considering our performance in Wednesday’s tests, the weekend went well, but it could always be better. The team did a great job, but I know there are areas we can improve, such as practicing wet starts.”
Thus, after Brands Hatch, Martin stood on the rookie podium twice again, defeating both teammates in qualifying and in both the first and third races. Thanks to his two top ten finishes, the Hungarian driver moved up from 17th to 14th in the overall standings and solidified his fourth place in the rookie standings. He is now only 5 points behind third-placed Joel Bergstrom and 10.5 points behind second-placed Rowan Campbell-Pilling.
As a driver under the Hungarian Motorsport Academy, operated by the Széchenyi University Group and supported by HUMDA Hungarian Mobility Development Agency Zrt., Martin will race next on June 8th and 9th at Thruxton, the fourth round of this year’s British F4 season.
