Preview | FIA F3 World Cup – The Return of the Champions

This year’s edition of the Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix has a new attraction with the presentation of an all-new trophy – the FIA F3 World Cup.

When the open-wheeled cars hit the Guia Circuit tarmac they will be chasing not only the glory of winning on such a renowned circuit but also the honor of being the first ever F3 World Cup Champion.

Such an opportunity definitely deserves a quality lineup of drivers and racing machines, in a race which has been dubbed the “return of the champions.” Several former F3 Macau race winners are putting their current duties with other series on hold in order to join the event.

The two-time Macau champion Felix Rosenqvist is absolutely the name to top that list, now making an attempt to break the record and win the Macau F3 Race a third time.

Alongside him are other former champions like the 2012 winner, António Félix da Costa who will retake his seat at the wheel of the Dallara Volkswagen from Carlin, and the 2011 winner Daniel Juncadella, racing with a Dallara Mercedes from Hitech GP.

If the return of these three champions was not enough motivation to pay attention to this race, there is also the opportunity to see some of the younger stars shine. A group of new racers are set to make the lives of the former champions difficult on their way to the checkered flag.

Despite the notable absence of the 2016 FIA F3 European Champion Lance Stroll, already on his way to the Formula 1 with the Williams F1 team where he will compete in 2017 alongside Valtteri Bottas, there are other leading contenders just waiting for an opportunity to jump to the top of the podium and take the FIA F3 World Cup home.

Maximilian Günther, second in the European championship, is certainly one of them. The German racer may experience difficulties during the first sessions as he makes his Macau debut, but he has had a great season with Prema’s Dallara Mercedes and hopes to continue on this “Special Season Finale” in Macau.

Sharing the same hopes is the Briton George Russell, third position overall finisher right behind Günther. Russell has also been enjoying a good series, and racing in Macau alongside former champion Juncadella at Hitech GP should bolster his confidence.
From the European side there are a lot of other names to consider like the experienced Nick Cassidy racing once more under the colors of Theodore Racing, teaming up with Rosenqvist and Günther to form probably the strongest team on the field.

Felix Rosenqvist

Felix Rosenqvist

Also returning are two more names to take good note of this year, last year’s podium finisher Alexander Sims on the Double R Racing Dallara Mercedes and the Brazilian Sérgio Sette Câmara.  Câmara, although finishing last in his debut year showed enormous progress over the weekend, ending the race with an impressive lap time and setting a new record at 2:10.186.

On the newcomers field Frenchman Anthoine Hubert, a race winner in the European series, deserves a mention. He is still gaining pace and will debut alongside another Brazilian, Pedro Piquet, the third in a line of racers that started with his father – three-time F1 World Champion Nelson Piquet – and followed by his older brother Nelson Piquet Jr, who also raced twice on the Guia Circuit back in 2003 and 2004.

From Japan’s F3 championship come this year’s top contestants, including the champion Kenta Yamashita who joins Macau’s Andy Chang at the ThreeBond with T-Sport team as well as first runner up Jann Mardenborough, racing a B-Max Racing Team Dallara Volkswagen and Sho Tsuboi, third overall at the Japanese series, racing a TOM’s Dallara Toyota.

A mix of experience and “fresh blood” seem to be the main ingredients of the revamped F3 race that hopefully will glue the spectators to the edges of their seats both at home and in the Guia Circuit stands.

All pieces now seem to be moving into place to prepare a “green-light” for an edition initially marred by the withdrawal of the lead consultant of over 30 years, Barry Bland, from the organization of the event. This was after his disagreement with the “last minute” changes to the race that created delays because of sporting regulations and others logistic procedures. Another cause of the rift was the sudden and unexpected change from tire supplier in a tender put up by the FIA that was won by Pirelli, which had not been supplying tires for any of the F3 series for a long period of time.

As a novelty for this year’s edition, the Grand Prix will for the first time be available to live stream for free on the FIA’s webpage.