The news that the Macau Grand Prix is losing its premier Formula 3 (F3) race is the talk of the town.
Global motorsport’s governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), announced yesterday that the F3 event would be replaced with a Formula Regional (FR) championship starting at the next Grand Prix in November.
For the uninitiated, FR is intended by the FIA to “bridge the gap between various national Formula 4 series and the global FIA Formula 3 Championship,” and is currently held in five different series around the world. It calls the FR World Cup, which is bound for Macao, “the FIA’s most prestigious single-event competition in junior single-seater racing.”
[See more: Goodbye, Formula 3. The Macau Grand Prix loses its main attraction]
So why are local racing fans unhappy? True, the name “Formula Regional” doesn’t have the same ring as “Formula 3,” but anyone who thinks FR racing lacks excitement is fooling themselves – and, as always, the truth isn’t black and white.
Macao would probably rather hold onto F3 racing, but if it leans into FR, it could broaden the Guia Circuit’s reputation among a far wider pool of drivers, and cement its role as an incubator of motorsport talent. Read on to find out more.
Let’s be honest. Formula Regional is worse than Formula 3, right?
Well, yeah. But not by much. An FR race car boasts 200 to 250 horsepower, while an F3 car has 250 to 320. FR cars can reach speeds of 260 kilometres per hour, compared to F3 machinery, which can attain 300. That’s a big deal in competition, but compared to how we mere mortals drive – and from the perspective of the spectator stands – it’s a nuance.
According to motorsport website Feeder Series, “Formula Regional cars share many of the design features of the F3 2019. Most of them are the same length as the cars raced in F3 and include all the same safety features.”
[See more: Guangzhou looks set to get its own Formula 1 racetrack]
There are also clear benefits for young drivers. Feeder Series quoted Gianfranco de Bellis, the CEO of FR chassis manufacturer Tatuus as saying “Formula Regional is a very important step for the drivers. Drivers can learn a lot from driving a car that has low downforce, that has a very efficient braking system and also an engine that delivers a lot of power.”
Still, FR is a “junior” competition. That’s bad.
News flash: Formula 2 is a junior competition. So is F3 and, for that matter, F4. In fact, for a brief time in the early 1960s, both the F2 and F3 categories were replaced by something called Formula Junior. In the elite world of Formula motorsport, anything below F1 is “junior.”
Historically, the Macau Grand Prix has been all about junior competitions.
Are the drivers happy about the change?
Not exactly. Those who crave adrenaline rushes may not welcome these changes and anything that reduces their top speed is going to have them voicing concerns.
Prema driver Gabrielle Mini told autosport.com that “In Formula Regional, the car is really heavy compared to the power you have [in F3]” and “in F3 there is much more aero while in Formula Regional, there is much less.”
He added: “It will be much less fun compared to the car we ran [in Macao] last year. I don’t know if we will go there.”
[See more: Everything you need to know about the Guia Circuit]
At the same time, for every driver less inclined to go to Macao, there are many who will jump at the chance. The FIA says FR will make the Grand Prix “more accessible than ever, opening it up to a broad pool of potential drivers competing at regional level.”
One of them could be Russian F3 racer Nikita Bedrin. “I wouldn’t mind doing it,” he told autosport.com. “Just because it’s a cool track, I would do it.”
Still, we’re all going to miss F3 in Macao. Those were some glorious years, right?
For sure. The first Formula 3 race was in 1983 at the 30th Macau Grand Prix. And the winner was none other than the late Ayrton Senna. The Brazilian legend had just claimed the British F3 title before heading to the SAR, where he raced for Theodore Racing in their iconic Ralt RT3. Senna moved to Formula 1 a year later and today is considered one of the greatest F1 drivers – racing for Toleman (1984), Lotus (1985) and McLaren (1988).
[See more: Macau Grand Prix organisers shrug off the loss of Formula 3 racing]
Another F1 legend to win in Macao is Michael Schumacher. The German is one the most decorated F1 drivers, with a joint-record seven World Championship titles. Schumacher raced at the Macau Grand Prix in 1990, where he competed with fellow rival and legend Mika Häkkinen. The German beat him on the last lap. It was also the same year the infamous Häkkinen-Schumacher rivalry began. Fun fact: Michael’s younger brother Ralf Schumacher won the Macau Grand Prix in 1995.
Some of the current F1 drivers that have raced in F3 cars on the Guia Circuit, but did not win, are current and three-time F1 champion Max Verstappen, joint-record seven World Championship driver Lewis Hamilton and fellow Brits Lando Norris and George Russell.
Wow. When you put it that way, losing F3 sounds like a real blow for Macao
The timing isn’t great. Macao is on the make and trying to establish itself as a centre for top-level, global sporting events. It’s going to be hard to sell FR as one of those. The loss of F3 racing is also not what the government wanted to hear in a year when the Macao Special Administrative Region celebrates its 25th anniversary.
But it’s all a matter of give and take. The Macau Grand Prix needs the support of the FIA and the FIA has decided that this is the best move for the Grand Prix.
[See more: A car that raced in the first Macau Grand Prix is up for sale]
Francois Sicard, the FIA’s single-seater strategy and operations director, put it this way: “Bringing Formula Regional cars to Macao for the FIA World Cup is a natural consequence of the evolution of the junior single-seater landscape over the last couple of years and is a logical step in the pyramid.”
He added: “Macao’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 Macao.”
Let’s see if he’s right.
– With reporting by Erico Dias
