Molnar tops British F4’s Knockhill practice as two new drivers join field

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Virtuosi Racing’s Martin Molnar led British Formula 4 practice at Knockhill on Friday, as two new drivers joined the paddock.

There are technically three debutants this weekend, since one of them is Rodin Motorsport’s Guy Albag who drove in the British F4-organised non-championship race event on the British Grand Prix support bill at Silverstone last month.

The 16-year-old Israeli debuted in F4 earlier early in 2025 with a Formula Winter Series cameo, and is currently 35th in Italian F4. When he signed to race with Rodin at Silverstone, his deal included British F4’s later rounds at Knockhill, Donington Park and Brands Hatch.

Hitech GP has added 15-year-old Joseph Smith to its line-up for the rest of the season. The Briton has car racing experience from entry-level sportscar championship Ginetta Junior, which he steps up from, coming fourth in last year’s winter series and making the podium several times in the main series this year.

Haarni Sadiq will also make his F4 debut at Knockhill, and the 15-year-old Pakistani plans to contest further rounds with JHR Developments as he graduates from karting.

The two practice sessions were scheduled to run for 45 minutes each, but a third of FP1 was lost to red flag periods.

First place still changed hands 15 times in the half-hour of track action that did take place, with Argenti Motorsport’s Ethan Jeff-Hall the first driver of the day to break the 50-second barrier.

Fortec Motorsports’ Ary Bansal was briefly ahead of him, before he set two sucessive improvements, then found even more pace 10 minutes later after a red flag stoppage.

His 49.125s benchmark was almost immediately beaten by Bansal and then Hitech’s Fionn McLaughlin, who went sub-49s. There were 10 drivers who surpassed McLaughlin’s 48.973s effort, but only one driver who spent time on top after him as Molnar posted a 48.911s, improved to 48.648s on his next lap then found a further 0.046s on the lap after that to maintain first place.

JHR’s Rowan Campbell-Pilling got within 0.093s of Molnar’s pace, and McLaughlin improved to 48.771s in third but reached his peak 10 laps before the end of his session.

Bansal trailed by 0.28s in fourth, and was just 0.01s ahead of Hitech’s Thomas Bearman. Jeff-Hall ended FP1 in sixth place, with Rodin’s James Piszcyk and Adam Al Azhari also within 0.4s of Molnar. Under half a second covered the top 13, and a second split the top 21.

Half of the field set personal bests in FP2, which was red flagged four times for a total of 18 minutes.

Campbell-Pilling was quickest, setting a 48.726s to lead Molnar by 0.042s. Bearman and Bansal were only 0.079s and 0.089s off the top in third and fourth, and were the top improvers as their laptimes put them fourth and fifth overall for the day.

Xcel Motorsport’s Cole Hewetson was fifth fastest in FP2, 0.133s behind, and his team-mate Chase Fernandez matched McLaughlin’s pace in seventh.

Free practice results