Molnar beats McLaughlin in first Zandvoort race to retake British F4 lead

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Martin Molnar won the opening British Formula 4 race of the weekend at Zandvoort to reclaim the points lead.

The Virtuosi Racing driver snatched the lead off the line and was unchallenged throughout the 12 lap race.  Championship leader Fionn McLaughlin held onto second ahead of polesitter Henry Joslyn.

From second on the grid, Molnar got the best start to dart into the lead while McLaughlin battled Joslyn for second. A few positions back, Adam Al Azhari spun before the first corner, coming to a stop on track and bringing out the safety car.

Molnar spent a lap behind the safety car before the track went green again with 16 minutes on the clock. He managed to hold onto the lead ahead of McLaughlin and was unchallenged throughout the remainder of the race.

The top three drivers slowly broke away from the rest of the field, building a gap of over three seconds to Jimmy Piszcyk. In the closing stages of the race, Molnar also separated from the two drivers behind him to finish 1.127 seconds clear of McLaughlin. Joslyn stayed on McLaughlin’s tail, but there were few opportunities to overtake.

After the opening lap, there was little movement elsewhere in the field. Piszcyk led a train of 10 cars in fourth but, despite the close proximity, there were few overtaking attempts. In the closing stages of the race, the main battle was that between Ella Lloyd and Ary Bansal over seventh. Lloyd managed to hold onto the position, taking the chequered flag just 0.357s ahead of the Chris Dittmann Racing driver. 

Ahead of them, Ethan Jeff-Hall took fifth, behind Piszcyk and ahead of Chase Fernandez.

After his difficult start, Al Azhari was able to continue, but came into the pits four laps down. Thomas Bearman was also forced to pit early. The Hitech GP driver stalled on the grid but was able to get going again. Not long after the safety car restart, Bearman slowed and came into the pits to retire. 

Theo Palmer also ran into problems while battling for position, locking up and running straight on at the first corner. He continued along the escape road but dropped down the order to finish 20th.

One of the closest battles on track was that between Yuhao Fu and Rowan Campbell-Pilling for 11th. Having managed to find a way through, Campbell-Pilling was running just outside the top 10 on the final lap when Chloe Chong spun just ahead of him. Her car hit the rear wing of Campbell-Pilling’s as he passed the incident, taking both drivers out of the race. Fu came through to take 10th, just behind Tommy Harfield.

Race results (12 laps)