The 66th Macau Grand Prix and the 37th running of Formula Three main event was once again a cliff hanger and a genuine spectacle of unpredictable world-class racing from the creme de la creme of the future of the sport.
Since Ayrton Senna won the first F3 race back in 1983, the circuit has never changed course in all those years. The cars and speeds have got quicker and quicker with the outcomes even less and less predictable. The city itself has changed from a sleepy Portuguese enclave to China’s gambling capital of the world. In any other location, this may have taken away from this premier motorsport event, but at Macau it seems to have enhanced the essence of the event as an enticing and alluring prospect for teams and drivers alike. Now a World Cup final for Formula 3, this 6.1 km street course is a MUST for aspiring F1 drivers and in many ways a “rite of passage” on the ladder to fame and fortune.
It has been make-or-break of many young drivers future and while it is only one race weekend it can be so often a breakthrough weekend of many a relative unknown driver. Yet, it has also been the heart-breaking nemesis to many who have tried and failed to tame these unforgiving and often brutal streets.
It remains today the most unpredictable race on the F3 calendar and the ultimate challenge of man, woman and machine. It is an absolute lottery and gamble that keeps drivers coming back year after year, long after their F3 days are done.
This year was no exception and in many ways it had more imponderables than ever before. This was the first-time we saw a new FIA F3 combo of the former GP3 and new F3 era of cars come to the tiny island perched on the pearl river estuary.
A huge leap in horsepower to 380 BHP from the former F3 cars, an added halo and the addition of DRS for the first time in the race’s history. It was also based primarily on the 10 teams entered in the FIA F3 Championship and not a combination of invitees from around the world with different engines and chassis. The cars were all the same with the Mechachrome 6 cylinder 3.4-litre engine and the same Dallara chassis’. Therefore in many ways a more level playing field than in previous years.
That said there were several ringers. There are drivers from other Formulae with massive experience of the race and in one case massive success at the ‘Mighty Macau’, returning to prove themselves again on the world stage. Yet this year there was a real sense of vaunting into the unknown.
Some teams had 20 years or more experience at running at Macau while others had never seen the place. The bigger faster cars with all the modern gizmos and now part of the Formula One under-card had never hurtled through the bumpy tunnel-like streets of the island.
So as Thursday mornings first practice came around there was a palpable sense of curious anticipation and apprehension in the air. The field was packed with personal stories of why they were there and what they had to prove.
To name, but a few:
Briton Dan Ticktum was there for two reasons. To rebuild on his career thrown in tatters after being let go by the Red Bull Junior team and secondly to try to become the first man in history to win the race three times in a row. Having never raced the car and been out of a seat most of the season this was huge challenge even for a driver of Ticktum’s indisputable talent.
The FIA F3 champion Robert Schwartzman of Russia was there to add the final touch to his brilliant year, by claiming the ultimate World Cup prize to set up his 2020 in Formula two campaign.
Callum Ilot of the UK, on the other hand, was back from Formula two for his fifth attempt at a win and a chance to enter the history books or at least improve on a best of fifth in previous years.
Marcus Armstrong and Liam Lawson were two Kiwis on very different missions. Armstrong the Ferrari Academy driver was back after claiming top rookie honors in 2018 with the sole intention of winning after finishing runner up to Schwartzman at Prema in the F3 championship.
Lawson, at 17 years-of-age, one the youngest in the race was a rookie in a rookie team and just wanted to get through the weekend unscathed at a venue he’d coveted for many a year from the couch at home.
Then there was perhaps most talked about return of 18-year-old Sophia Florsch of Germany. Returning to the scene of the accident that could have taken her life were it not for the safety standards of modern motorsport. Crashing into a solid photographers tower post at the most famous corner on the Macau circuit Lisboa at over 175 miles per hour was one of the most horrific sights and crashes I have ever witnessed in motorsport. Amazingly she suffered some broken vertebra in her back and after 6 months of intense rehabilitation, she was back to face her demons and take on the famous race again in a car she too had barely driven.
There are many,many more stories like this as every driver has a personal reason to want to wrestle with the formidable streets. As the history books show it is not always the obvious favourites or those that are now F1 stars who manage glory at Macau.
Macau has made and claimed great drivers in equal measure. World Champions Hamilton and Rosberg didn’t win it. Bottas, Vettel and Le Clerc also came up short. Antonio Felix de Costa, Felix Rosenquist and Dan Ticktum have all won it twice.
This year would once again have same roll of the dice for all competing.
In qualifying Armstrong became the first driver to go below the 2 minutes and 6 seconds mark after 20 minutes of final qualifying. However, hitting the famous barriers of Macau and crashing out put him on the back foot from there on in. Dan Ticktum too would crash out when he slammed into the back of the already parked David Beckmann. Two of the favourites were now battling against the famous odds.
Juri Vips was the quickest of the weekend with several excellent and quick sessions topping the sheets twice and more importantly taking the pole for the qualification race.
He dominated the qualification race and won in style looking like a man on a mission. In fact, he was. Finishing fourth for the year behind the three Prema drivers, the Red Bull Junior member missed out on enough super license points to be eligible to test or race an F1 car. He was here at Macau to win it all and prove he was as good if not better than any of his peers and few were doubting his intent.
If Formula One potential is anything to go by then the Qualification race had the bookie’s form guide perfectly spread. The top three drivers on the podium were all Junior F1 associates. Red Bull Junior Juri Vips the winner – Ferrari academy driver Robert Schwartzman 2nd and Renault F1 Junior Christain Luundgard of Denmark 3rd. The top rookie and former Red Bull Junior Richard Vershoor of the Netherlands in 4th and current Ferrari academy driver Callum Ilott of the UK in 5th.
The Main race though would have its usual “Kingmaker and heart breaker” twist. Juri Vips was bound to be favourite especially after Schwartzman picked up a puncture after touching with Luundgaard on the first lap that would end his hopes before the first lap was over.
Juri Vips was flying out front and was odds on for his second win of the weekend. But this is Macau and Juri wasn’t expecting the unexpected. After another Macau safety restart the dice was rolled brilliantly by the rookie in the rookie team.
Richard Verschoor of MP Motorsport had had a brilliant run to second from fourth at the start. Then at the final restart he had his tyres at optimal performance to make an audacious run on the Estonian.
Flying into the flat out Mandarin Curve at close to 300 KM the Dutchman summoned up the courage to go around the outside Red Bull Junior leader Vips and then out brake him into Lisboa corner to take the lead without the use of DRS.
It was a fantastic and awe-inspiring piece of driving worthy of the famous event and its history. Once in the lead, he would never relinquish it despite several attempts by Vips to use DRS and pay back the move into Lisboa. To add to matters Vershoor had also hit the wall bouncing off safely, but bending the steering wheel in the process.
It was a stunning performance by the Dutchman who took the checkered flag to become the first Dutchman to ever win the event and the same was true for MP Motorsport who were racing Macau for the first time. Liam Lawson also of MP motorsport was a brilliant seventh in his first attempt, holding off the hard-charging fellow kiwi Marcus Armstrong who recovered well from his qualifying crash to finish eighth.
I spoke to Richard Vershoor after his first practice on Thursday where he admitted:
Richard Verschoor :
“I’ve never experienced anything like this when I stepped into the car for the first time for P1 I was very nervous and after the first flying lap quite honestly I was dizzy. Everything went so fast, I just wasn’t used to it. Yet once I was dialed in I was enjoying every second. The sounds of the engine echoing off the walls and the speed and the bumps its incredible everything altogether its actually the reason why you race.”
After his historic victory for Holland and himself at just 18 and a rookie, nothing had changed in his appraisal of the ultimate race weekend.
Richard Verschoor:
“I started the weekend feeling dizzy and I ended it feeling dizzy as well. It is so mentally destroying and physically hard so I’m extremely proud for myself, for my country and for my team.”
Vershoor may not be a Red Bull Junior anymore, but this teenager he has now won two Grand Prix in his fledgling career. As well as Macau he also won the 2018 New Zealand Grand Prix (2018). In fact, he has been on New Zealand’s motorsports radar for quite a while now as he was third in the Castrol Toyota championship in 2017 and runner up in 2018 to Robert Schwartzman. Four of the top eight at Macau were all TRS graduates and that bodes well for this year’s championship as TRS remains a crystal ball to the future of single-seater racing world-wide.
So once again Macau was perhaps the turning point of one young man’s career and also a heart breaker for the likes of Juri Vips and countless others.
For Verschoor his poignant words to sum up his weekend echo all the way back to the first winner of this now-famous race Ayrton Senna in 1983.
Verschoor :
“I hope this opens doors again for me and for my future. I hope I’ve shown that I’m one of the guys that can be up there and one that is really quick. I really believe in myself and my team so I hope this opens up the doors for my future.”
I have no doubt it will. I also think that many more who were thwarted by its famous blind corners last weekend will also have the same opportunity in the future as only the best get to even take the grid at Macau.
Even though Macau is the ultimate gamble of speed, skill and daring for any young driver, there can be only one winner each year. Every field at Macau is packed with the future stars of motor racing and I have been very honoured to have been part of it for the best part of 30 years and counting.
If you missed it this year tune in 2020 when its bound to be another roller-coaster ride and another new name will make his or her mark on “Mighty Macau”.
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