FIA promotes major Grand Prix revamp

The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has announced it will again promote a major revamp to its World Cup for single seaters this year.

According to the FIA, Formula Regional (FR) cars will debut in Macau this year in what is considered by FIA, the world’s automobile racing governing body, to be “the most prestigious single-event competition in junior single-seater racing.”

The former Formula 3 (F3) World Cup will be renamed to the FIA FR World Cup, first held in 2016 at the Guia Circuit as part of the Macau Grand Prix.

The FIA also noted the change – running F3 international cars into running FR ones – is permanent.

The federation said measure will continue “from this year onwards.”

It said there is a need to make the event “even more accessible than ever, opening it up to a broad pool of potential drivers competing at the regional level.”

Launched in 2018, when there was a major revamp of F3, including the transformation that gave way to the F3 International cars, the FR bridges the gap between various national Formula 4 series competitions and the global FIA Formula 3 Championship, which is held on the support bill of selected Formula 1 grand prix.

Currently, there are five different FIA FR series around the world: the championships in the Americas, Europe, Japan, the Middle East and Oceania, with over 90 drivers participating this year.

On the decision, Francois Sicard, FIA Single-Seater Strategy & Operations Director, said: “Bringing Formula Regional cars to Macau for the FIA World Cup is a natural consequence of the evolution of the junior single-seater landscape over the last couple of years. It is a logical step as we progress our plans. Macau’s Formula 3 race has built its legendary reputation as an event that gathered the best junior racers from national series around the world at what is the world’s most challenging street circuit. A move to Formula Regional machinery very much revives that spirit and is an optimal long-term solution for the FIA-sanctioned single-seater competition in Macau.”

Return to a glorious past

Although the details of the new competition are not yet unveiled, the idea of the FIA seems to be grounded on a return to the event’s glorious past, called, until 2015, the F3 Intercontinental Cup. At the time, the event, unlike other races, such as the Masters of Formula 3, was not a part of any F3 Championship but was, instead, a standalone event open to entries from all F3 championships.

With the introduction of the FR World Cup, it is expected this winning formula would return, with the event likely to include some of the best racers from the five different FIA FR series around the world.

Another significant difference is that this series includes less experienced drivers than the F3 International Championship. Effectively, it is a platform for the launch of new names into the crown jewel of motorsports.

‘Junior car’ for junior racers

Another of the areas in which the FR World Cup suggests a return to its past is the cars that will run in this series.

While the F3 International cars, run last year, are larger and have a more powerful engine – 6-cylinders, 3.4 liters, naturally aspirated, and 380 horsepower – the FR cars use a more up-to-date version of the pre-2019 F3 cars. Those cars use a chassis similar to the current F4 cars and a variety of 4-cylinder turbo-charged engines that, according to the region, range from 1.8 to 2.0 liters in capacity and that produce about 270 to 300 horsepower.

In the FR Americas, the Ligier JS F3 chassis is used, powered by a Honda 2.0 L engine, while in the FR European and FR Middle East the Tatuus F3 T-318 chassis is used. In Europe, the 1.8 L Renault engine is used; in the Middle East, it is the 1.8 L Alfa Romeo engine.

The FR Japanese Championship uses the same Alfa Romeo engine but a different chassis, the Dome F111/3.

At the FR Oceania Championship, the Tatuus FT-60 chassis is used, powered by a Toyota 2.0 L engine.

Although there are a wide range of different specifications and manufacturers involved, all the cars, in reality, present very similarly in appearance and performance.

The different championships include the participation of motorsports teams with well-established names, such as Prema Racing, TOM’s, ART Grand Prix, MP Motorsport, R-Ace GP, Trident Motorsport, and Van Amersfoort Racing.

The FR cars weigh almost the same as the F3 International cars (680-690kg) but have about 30% less power.

The most significant difference is in the price tag. The FR cars cost around MOP920,000 per unit, whereas F3 International series cars are priced at about MOP2.2 million each.