Molnár Martin will race at Snetterton for the British Formula 4 series this weekend. Since his team, Virtuosi Racing, considers this their home race, it’s crucial for him to deliver strong results and bring joy to the team members.
Molnár Martin’s season in the British F4 championship resumes at Snetterton, located in Norfolk, East England. The third round of the year takes place at Virtuosi Racing’s home track – the team’s headquarters are just minutes away, allowing many team members to sleep in their own beds during the race weekend – which is one of the most technical circuit that the series visits.
Like many UK racetracks, Snetterton began as a WWII military airfield but was no longer used by the RAF after 1948. Three years later, two motorsport enthusiasts convinced the local landowner to convert the abandoned runways and service roads into a race track, holding the first race in October 1951. Thus, Snetterton’s storied history began.
Over time, the track became a jewel of British motorsport, known for its long straights and fast corners while being relatively safe due to wide-open spaces minimizing collision risks in case going off-track. While Formula 1 and other top series never settled here – despite occasional Aurora F1 series events featuring F1 cars – Snetterton hosted the UK’s first 24-hour race and here was established the first racing school in the late 1950s.
The track layout has changed multiple times, with a significant overhaul in 2011 introducing a new paddock, pit building, grandstands, several corner modifications, and a shorter one-mile circuit. This resulted in today’s Snetterton offering three different configurations, with the longest, the 300 layout hosting the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) and its support series, including British Formula 4.
“This is one of the toughest track on the calendar, featuring all types of corners. It’s very technical, with slow hairpins, medium-speed corners, and very fast, long turns where the wind can easily upset the car’s balance. It even has a banked corner,” said Martin, who tested at Silverstone during the nearly two-week break. “For me, the most enjoyable sections are the hairpins because I love heavy braking zones. The hardest part is the penultimate corner, a very long right-hander where we’re almost flat out before braking mid-corner.”
“As for racing here, I’m cautiously optimistic. At Brands Hatch, I thought overtaking would be possible, but it turned out to be nearly impossible. Maybe it’ll be better here with a few hairpins and heavy braking zones, plus a long straight where slipstreaming is possible, but it’s still a narrow track, which doesn’t favor battles.”
At Brands Hatch, part of the Széchenyi University Group’s HUMDA Hungarian Mobility Development Agency’s Hungarian Motorsport Academy, Martin achieved his first podium finishes in F4, finishing third among the rookies in the first race and repeating the result in the third race.
“The goal at Snetterton is again to achieve the best possible results and secure at least one rookie podium. My aim is to keep improving by each race. A good qualifying session will be crucial because starting higher up can indeed help my chances for strong results. My start in the last race at Brands Hatch was excellent, and we want to carry that momentum into this weekend because there’s always room for improvement,” Martin concluded.
The schedule for the 3rd round is as follows (times are in local time, which is GMT+1):
Friday
09.00 – 09.45: Free practice 1
13.00 – 13.45: Free practice 2
Saturday
11.15 – 11.35: Qualifying
14.55 – 15.15: Race 1
Sunday
09.30 – 09.50: Race 2
13.35 – 13.55: Race 3
