Molnár Martin is set to race at the legendary Donington Park in the next round of the British Formula 4 Championship. After securing two overall podium finishes in the previous race weekend and taking the lead in the rookie standings, the young driver faces a significant challenge as he has never driven on this circuit layout before.
This weekend, Martin Molnár returns to the track where he made his Formula 4 debut back in April. However, this time the British F4 grid will battle it out on the Grand Prix layout instead of the National layout. The Grand Prix circuit, which is three corners longer, poses an especially tough challenge for the Hungarian driver, who has never driven it in reality.
For Martin, who celebrated his 16th birthday on the Wednesday before the race, Thursday’s practice session – as Friday is a rest day for the F4 drivers at Donington – was all about getting a feel for the corners missing from the spring race. “I managed to recharge during the short break, even visited my grandparents in the countryside, and of course, I trained a lot, so I’m ready for the weekend. Although I had my first F4 race here, the difference is significant because these three corners are the track’s most difficult. Of course I practiced a lot on the simulator, but you can only really get a feel for these corners’ tricks in real life. To give an example, in the virtual world there isn’t that sausage kerb in the chicane, and mastering it is critical for a good lap time,” Martin explained.
“Of the three corners the first is a chicane where we arrive at high speed, then need to brake, but not too much to slow the car down. Part of it is a bit tight with a high sausage kerb you need to hit, so you have to get a feel for this corner. Then in the hairpin you have to brake downhill, and the corner has two apexes, which obviously makes it more difficult. You have to be mindful of where you hit the apex and how much you turn. Then the last corner is another tough one. You have to brake with the right-side wheels on the kerb, where there’s obviously less grip, so it’s easier to lock up the wheel. The track slopes here too, the corner is blind, and it has a pretty interesting line. It’s hard to judge when to turn in, and then you have to accelerate out with a big steering angle, making it easy to spin the inside wheel.”
Martin’s breakdown immediately highlights the advantage for those with prior experience at this circuit. The Virtuosi Racing Hungarian driver finished 11th and 13th in the two free practice sessions, which is about as expected. “The gap in the first two sectors was small but we lost significant time in the third sector. I need to improve for Saturday and we’ll also be changing the setup. In this regard it’s not ideal that the next time we hit the track will be for qualifying, as it would be good to try out the changes. However, the rest day is useful because it gives us more time to analyze the free practice sessions,” Martin summarized.
Managing Expectations
Naturally after securing the first podium finish in the history of Hungarian motorsport in an FIA F4 Championship at Zandvoort, followed by two more overall podium finishes at Knockhill – one of which was a 2nd place – many might now expect Martin to consistently deliver these results. But as Tamás Pál Kiss, the operational manager of MOTAM and Martin’s coach and mentor points out, these expectations would be unrealistic.
“We try not to place unrealistic expectations on Martin, just as he tries to view things realistically. Zandvoort was a bit of an outlier in this year’s calendar, much like Monaco in Formula 1, and Knockhill is very far for most teams, so they don’t test there much. Donington, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to this weekend with good feelings because while it’s one thing that Martin was fast from the start at Knockhill and practiced the track a lot on the simulator, that track requires you to have a very high level of car control and feel. The Zandvoort result took a load off his shoulders and gave him an extra boost, and besides gaining confidence, he made the most progress in car handling, driving on the limit without ever sliding into the gravel.”
“As for expectations, I’m most curious to see where we stand after returning to the usual tracks with the experience of the past few weeks. Overall, based on the team’s and Martin’s experience, we’ll likely be at a disadvantage and have more to make up, but at the same time, the balance of power is constantly shifting, especially among the rookies. At Knockhill, Campbell-Pilling and Martin were practically at the same pace, while Yuanpu Cui was slower. It will be interesting to see how this changes at a venue where Cui has tested the most.”
Of course, Martin’s racing instinct tells him that the goal is always to win at every race, but the 16-year-old driver also accepts that he needs to set realistic expectations for himself. “It’s never good to lower expectations, and I don’t like to say that realistically, the podium isn’t our goal right now. It’s not easy to say that after standing on the podium in the last two weekends, but we must recognize that our rivals have done a lot of testing here, and most of them, unlike me, have already raced on the Grand Prix layout,” said the driver of the Hungarian Motorsport Academy, run by HUMDA Magyar Mobilitás-fejlesztési Ügynökség Zrt.
Tamás Pál Kiss set the goal of a top-10 finish overall and a win among the rookies. “The podiums in the last races need to be kept in perspective because these are outstanding, extremely good results for a rookie in such a strong field. If we can finish in the top ten, obviously as high as possible, and lead among the rookies, I will be fully satisfied. And, of course, it’s always important to see what’s behind a given result. The most important thing is to have the pace, and sometimes it just doesn’t come together, and you can’t string together the sectors well, or you get unlucky.”
This weekend, the British F4 grid will complete not the usual three, but four races, as they will make up for the race that was canceled due to rain during the Donington season opener.
The schedule for the 8th round is as follows (GMT+1):
Saturday
10.25 – 10.45: Qualifying
13.50 – 14.10: Race 1
17:30 – 17:50: Race 1 (postponed from the 1st round)
Sunday
10.40 – 11.00: Race 2
15.50 – 16.10: Race 3