In three races, Molnár Martin secured three rookie podium finishes during the fourth round of the British Formula 4 championship at Thruxton. Virtuosi Racing’s Hungarian driver tasted the podium’s second step for the first time in his career during the weekend’s final race, achieving his best overall result so far as the second-best rookie. The 15-year-old’s performance boosted him to third place in the rookie standings.
Martin started the weekend with his best qualifying performance of the year on the ultra-fast circuit, clocking the ninth fastest time. This allowed him to start from the fourth grid spot in the reverse grid second race. In the first race, starting from 13th (in this race the second-fastest laps in qualifying determine the grid order) he delivered his best start, gaining three positions. However his progress was cut short as one of his competitors cut his tyre.
“The first race was a bit unfortunate. After one of the drivers flipped, they didn’t immediately stop the race but sent out the safety car instead. By then, I was already running with a flat tire, and when the red flag was shown, I could have changed the tire without a penalty. However, the marshals mistakenly directed me into the pit lane when I should have lined up on the grid. As a driver, you have no choice but to follow instructions, so I did. But because of this, I could only restart from the pit lane. I managed to catch up with the pack in five laps and even overtook one car. The race director later admitted that the marshals made a mistake, but there was nothing more to be done,” summarized Martin, who still finished on the rookie podium with the fastest rookie lap after two drivers being disqualified post-race.
In the second race, starting from the fourth grid spot, there was an opportunity for the Virtuosi driver to finish among the leaders. Due to an accident, the field had to start twice, and Martin engaged in intense battles with his rivals, but his pace wasn’t optimal, causing him to fall back. Nonetheless, he secured another rookie podium.
“I made some mistakes, and the setup wasn’t perfect, so I couldn’t drive the pace I expected. I’m sure there will be another time when I can start from such a good position, and we’ll make the most of it,” said the Hungarian driver, who finished eighth in the weekend’s final race, achieving his best result of the year so far, which translated to second among the rookies.
“Unfortunately, the last race was quite short as it was cut to 15 minutes due to delays, and we started behind the safety car because the cars from the BTCC race were still being cleared. I had some good battles, but when the race leader Deagen Fairclough dropped out, the safety car was deployed again, and the race wasn’t restarted.”
The Hungarian Motorsport Academy driver, operated by the HUMDA Hungarian Mobility Development Agency Zrt., associated with the Széchenyi University Group, moved up from fourth to third in the rookie standings with 117.5 points, trailing the second placed rookie by only 2.5 points and the first placed rookie by 18.5 points.
The next round of the British F4 will be held from June 14 to 16 at Silverstone.
