Martin Molnár shone at the Knockhill round of the British Formula 4 Championship. The Virtuosi Racing driver achieved a career-best overall second place in the final race, increasing his podium count for the weekend to two, as he had already secured third place in the first race. The 15-year-old also took the lead in the rookie standings.
After claiming his first overall podium in British F4 at the previous round at Zandvoort, Martin Molnár continued to make history for Hungarian motorsport by finishing second in the final race of the Scottish weekend at Knockhill. Prior to the success in the Netherlands, no Hungarian driver had ever stood on the podium in an FIA F4 series. By finishing second, the Virtuosi Racing driver raised the bar even higher, amassing significant points with his double podiums – he finished third in the first race – and taking the lead in the rookie standings.
The weekend got off to a strong start for Martin, as he set his best-ever qualifying time, securing 3rd place. He also ranked 3rd in the classification of the second-best laps, meaning he could start both the first and third races from this position. Although he lost part of his front wing in the third corner of the first race, the red flag restart gave him a chance to recover. After slipping to 4th place at the first corner, Martin spent the entire race chasing the much more experienced Alex Ninovic, who is fighting for the championship title, even coming close to overtaking him at one point. He eventually finished the race in 4th place closely following the Spanish driver. However, due to a 10-second penalty for jump-starting, Rowan Campbell-Pilling, who had finished second, dropped down, allowing Martin to move up to the third step of the podium. Among the rookies Martin won by a large margin as Campbell-Pilling, the second-best rookie, fell to 7th place.
There was more to come
Two races remained on Sunday. Due to the reverse grid format – where the top 12 finishers start in reverse order – Martin started from 10th place and finished in the same position. However, the final race was Martin’s time to shine again: with a great start he left Campbell-Pilling behind and turned into the first corner behind championship leader Deagen Fairclough. Although his rookie rival managed to dive inside at the last corner, Martin chose to avoid a collision and left space for Campbell-Pilling. He then pursued the Argenti Motorsport driver keeping him under constant pressure, which paid off: the driver in second place widened the track three times, earning a 5-second penalty. Since Martin finished just over 2 seconds behind him, he secured second place.
“In the reverse grid race, we saved the tires with the final race of the weekend in mind, and Martin maximized his potential by finishing 10th,” said Tamás Pál Kiss, the operational manager of MOTAM and Martin’s coach and mentor. “As for the third race, his start was sensational, which I’m very pleased with, as we have worked a lot on this. I had asked him to focus on a good start and then simply stick to Fairclough. The race didn’t go exactly as planned because Campbell-Pilling dived inside at the last corner, but Martin handled the situation brilliantly, as he did with all the race situations over the weekend, without unnecessary aggression.”
“I’m very happy with the new podium finish and that this weekend we were able to compete in the leading group with our dry track pace. It feels completely different from racing in the midfield,” reflected the Hungarian driver, who jumped to 9th place in the overall standings. “I approached the third race with the mindset of taking more or less risk depending on the situation. In the end, it proved beneficial to let Campbell-Pilling through because I think the constant pressure I applied contributed to his excessive track limits violations. I didn’t push too hard, just kept a consistent pace, which worked, as my display showed constant 49.0s. It felt good to be faster than Alex Ninovic, who is second in the overall standings, throughout the race. Overall, this was my best weekend of the year, which makes me optimistic for the future, and the most important thing is that I’ve taken the lead in the rookie standings.”
The driver, part of the Hungarian Motorsport Academy operated by the HUMDA Hungarian Mobility Development Agency, leads the rookie standings with 262.5 points, just ahead of Yuanpu Cui with 262 points. He currently sits 9th in the overall standings with 77 points.
The British F4 Championship continues on August 24-25 at Donington Park’s Grand Prix circuit in England.
