After a detour to the Dubai Autodrome, the F4 Middle East Championship field returned to Abu Dhabi, to the venue of the first two rounds, to compete for the third time at the complex that hosts Formula 1 annually. Martin Molnár’s weekend was plagued by several issues, but despite this, the 16-year-old Hungarian driver managed to achieve his best-ever qualifying result and matched his previous best race result in the second race.
This round of the F4 Middle East Championship saw 27 drivers line up for the weekend on the Yas Marina International Circuit’s Grand Prix layout, a track also used by Formula 1. Evans GP, which secured a seat for Martin Molnár, together with Virtuosi Racing, made drastic and bold setup changes after the Dubai round, some of which proved successful.
The first qualifying session didn’t go well for the Hungarian Motorsport Academy (HMA) driver: he was sent out too early and couldn’t get a clean lap due to traffic, leaving him with the 17th fastest time. For the second session, he requested a slight setup change, which surprised the team with a significant improvement in pace. Martin ultimately set the 6th fastest time, his best to date, securing this starting position for the weekend’s third race.
However, it was the second race that proved to be the most successful for him. After a strong start in the first race – where he had fought his way up from 17th to 14th position before being pushed into the wall by an opponent, dropping back to 19th, from where he fought back up again – he started from the 14th grid spot. After the start, he made up two positions and was in 12th place, then by the end of the second lap he appeared in 11th place on the timing screen.
While he was making his way forward an incident occurred at the front of the field and several drivers cut across the track at the final chicane, gaining a significant advantage. However, the stewards only penalized Yuhao Fu during the race, while Arjun Chedda and Sebastian Wheldon, who were directly ahead of Martin, were not penalized, allowing them to keep the unfair advantage. Meanwhile Chedda held up Martin until the end of the race. Martin finished in 9th place and with post-race penalties for Chedda and Wheldon he gained two more positions and was ranked 7th. This result matched his best finish in the Middle East F4 Championship, just 0.5 seconds ahead of Fu, who had a 5-second penalty added to his race time.
“The first race on Sunday went well. I had a good start then I positioned myself well and overtook quite a few drivers. At the final chicane incident there was enough space on track, but two of my opponents cut the corner and didn’t give the positions back, gaining a huge advantage. In my final laps, I wasn’t lucky because the driver ahead defended so hard that I barely stayed within 5 seconds of Yuhao Fu, who was also penalized,” Martin reflected on his best race of the weekend.
As for the third race, despite starting from 6th Martin was hindered by a technical issue from the beginning. His car switched to safety mode and as a result the engine wasn’t delivering maximum power, causing him to lose time during the start and the entire first lap. Later he struggled with tyre issues as he was on a particularly weak set, but by the end of the race the grip began to improve, and his final lap was the fastest. Nonetheless he brought the car home in 11th place, scoring points.
The F4 Middle East Championship will conclude its fifth and final race weekend in Qatar, with the series visiting a new track from February 26th to 28th.
