Luck was not on Martin Molnár’s side in any of the races at the third round of the F4 Middle East Championship, but he still managed to put on impressive performances with some spectacular overtakes in Dubai.
The third round of the F4 Middle East Championship took the field to a new venue, following the first two events held at the Yas Marina Circuit, which also hosts the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Dubai Autodrome, though familiar to some drivers, was a new challenge for Martin Molnár, who raced on the 5390-meter-long track for the first time.
During qualifying, the Evans GP driver extracted everything from his potential, securing 12th place. In the first race he finished 11th. However, bad luck struck once again when, right after the start he was forced off track dropping to 17th position. From there he made an impressive recovery, climbing back to 10th, which would have been pole position for the second race but a red flag due to an accident brought the race to an early end. The final standing was based on the last completed lap, and at that point, Martin was in 11th place.
On Sunday the team made significant adjustments to the car’s setup, but it didn’t make much of a difference as the Hungarian Motorsport Academy (HMA) driver was left stationary on the grid during the second race start. He had to chase down the field from 28th, the last position. After catching up to the drivers ahead, he made sensational overtakes to fight his way up to 14th place.
As it turned out, this was the highlight of Sunday, as hopes for scoring points in the third race evaporated in the first lap. During an overtaking attempt one of Martin’s rival didn’t leave him any room, damaging Martin’s front wing. After a nose cone change he returned to the track one lap down, but when it became clear there wouldn’t be enough time to catch up, the team decided to call him in to the pits for tire conservation.
“In the first race a clutch issue hindered me, which caused me to stall on the grid and drop to the back of the field. From there I began to make my way up and the Safety Car could have helped, but it came out just as I had caught up to the pack, so it didn’t play a role in reducing my gap but did take time off the race. Fortunately it didn’t come out again, so I could keep moving up, managing some exciting overtakes,” Martin analyzed the second race of the weekend.
“As for what happened in the first lap of the third race, there’s an unwritten rule in open-wheel racing: if someone gets their front wing alongside another’s rear wheel, the driver on the outside shouldn’t turn in, as it could result in a puncture. My rival didn’t respect that, pulled the steering wheel towards me, and I had nowhere to go. I jumped over the curb, hitting my rival, which caused a wing failure for me and a puncture for my opponent. After changing the wing we waited for the Safety Car, and my engineer advised me to save tires in case there was a chance to continue racing. But when it became clear there wouldn’t be, we decided to box so that my tires would be in better condition for the next round. Overall, I leave this weekend with valuable experience, but I hope this bad luck is behind me for the rest of the year.”
“At this stage of Martin’s career, weekends like this are great for training, learning racecraft, and improving the areas that need the most development, such as battling wheel-to-wheel and making brave, bold overtakes. After reviewing his onboard footage, it’s clear he’s shown some great overtakes, and he’s definitely improved in this area compared to last season,” said Tamás Pál Kiss of Motorsport Talent Management (MOTAM), who also coaches and mentors Martin.
The F4 Middle East Championship will continue next weekend, from February 14th to 16th, with the fourth round at the first two event locations, Abu Dhabi.