Ádám Hideg, karting world championship silver medalist, made a strong debut in the Spanish Formula 4 Championship’s first round held in Jarama, fighting in the leading pack and scoring significant points. The Hungarian talent, driving for Cram Motorsport, finished seventh in the third race held on Sunday but was officially classified sixth in a race where the safety car was deployed three times and eventually ended under red flag.
The 16-year-old driver from the Hungarian Motorsport Academy faced a tough challenge in a field of 35 drivers, 24 of whom were rookies competing for positions and championship points, including Ádám Hideg.
Kaposvár-born Hideg finished 23rd in the first race on Saturday and 16th in the second race on Sunday. Starting from P7 in the weekend's final race, Hideg had an excellent start, maintaining his position and keeping the pace with the leading group. During the 25-minute + 1 lap race, the safety car led the field three times due to multiple drivers making mistakes and ended up in the gravel traps, requiring their cars to be recovered. After the last restart, a fierce battle ensued among drivers fighting for positions 5th to 8th. Hideg tried to move up but the race was red-flagged when the leading Spanish driver crashed into the tire barrier. Later, several post-race penalties were issued by the stewards, officially placing Hideg sixth in the race.
“Unfortunately, our Saturday was negatively affected by receiving a set of tires that made it very difficult to maintain a good pace. On Sunday, we were fast in qualifying, partly because we chose a much better tire strategy than the others, and also because the session was held in cooler conditions. The early evening timing of the third race also helped us, but we need to work with the team to maintain our pace in hotter conditions. Overall, I am satisfied with the result, and the team was very pleased with me, they were very happy at the end of the race,” said Ádám Hideg, who was his team’s top performer of the weekend.
“I think this was a good start, and I am really looking forward to the next weekend in Portugal. It is a bit of a disadvantage for us as we haven’t tested there yet, but I trust the team and believe that the conditions will favor us,” stated the driver from the Hungarian Motorsport Academy, which is part of the Széchenyi University Group and operated by the HUMDA Hungarian Mobility Development Agency. His participation in Jarama was also supported by the ZalaZONE Automotive Proving Ground/Hungary.
After the first round, Ádám Hideg stands 12th overall in the championship and 9th in the rookie classification. The Spanish championship continues in Portimão on the second weekend of June.
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