For the second time this year, the British Formula 4 field is visiting one of the most famous racetracks in the world. Silverstone will host the penultimate round of the 2024 season, and Martin Molnár, who performed well in the pre-race test, is focused on winning the rookie championship title.
The British Formula 4 championship is returning to Silverstone, where the first-ever Formula 1 race was held 74 years ago, to kick off the season finale in Northamptonshire. There couldn’t be a more fitting venue than this track, with its rich history and proximity to the bases of several Formula 1 teams. However, this time, the young drivers will be racing on the shorter National Circuit, which is just 2,639 meters long and features six corners, rather than the full Grand Prix circuit.
“This track feels like a really wide go-kart circuit. I wouldn't say it’s my favorite, but it’s still a fun track, and I actually prefer it over the Grand Prix layout. It’s exciting, and there are two heavy braking zones at Maggots and Brooklands where overtaking is possible” said Molnár, a driver from the Hungarian Motorsport Academy, operated by HUMDA Hungarian Mobility Development Agency. ” We’ve already completed Thursday’s collective test, which went really well. I was in the top six all day, and at one point, I was in third place. We have good pace.”
On test days like this, Virtuosi Racing typically use 2-3 sets of tires, but this time, they put 5 sets on the car to help Martin get a better feel for tire management. In the morning, they tried a new setup concept, and the 16-year-old Hungarian driver completed laps with a harder, more aggressive setup before returning to the usual setup in the afternoon to have a point of comparison for the race weekend.
“The car was completely rebuilt, with all worn-out parts replaced, and the exhaust system was thoroughly checked. The team has always prepared the car impeccably, but
now they paid extra attention to exclude any cracks, faults, or leaks that could potentially cause a loss of performance," said Tamás Pál Kiss, MOTAM’s operational manager and Martin’s coach and mentor.
“We also arrived at the venue earlier so that Martin could participate in a four-hour simulator session at a serious simulator center nearby on Wednesday, which proved to be very useful.”
Clear goals
With Molnár currently standing second in the rookie rankings with 310.5 points, just 18.5 points behind leader Yuanpu Cui, the team and driver are both aiming to win the rookie championship. "One always strives to raise the bar higher. Earlier, we set the goal for Martin to be among the top three rookies. Unless something drastically changes, that goal is very likely to be achieved. But seeing Martin’s development and performance, our goals have shifted a bit. A month and a half ago, I still said that we aim to finish in the top three among rookies, but now it’s clear that both the team and we want to win the rookie championship. We are doing everything we can to achieve that, and we are preparing accordingly for the remaining two race weekends” said Tamás Pál Kiss.
“You can see that Martin is maturing in every way. I see this in him week by week, he is becoming more and more grown-up. The end-of-season rush is very intense, even
though there was a three-and-a-half-week break, but it wasn’t spent idly, of course. Martin attended sponsor events, trained a lot, and school also started, so there were plenty of challenges. But both the team and we have made it clear that the goal is to win the rookie championship.”
“Martin has been preparing daily with Fit4Race and visited 321Perform last week. We have tried to prepare him both in the simulator and through physical training to bring out his sharpest and most powerful self. It’s hard to set expectations for this weekend because there’s a 50-60% chance of rain on Saturday and Sunday. But we’re not afraid of rain, as we have good wet-weather setups, and Martin has already proven he can perform well in such conditions. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and we’ll see how the weekend unfolds, but we are paying extra attention to react as quickly and as best as possible to everything.”
The schedule for the 9th round of the FIA British Championship is as follows (times are in local time):
Saturday
09.10 – 09.30: Qualifying
14.25 – 14.45: Race 1
Sunday
09.25 – 09.45: Race 2
13.30 – 13.50: Race 3
