Race details Date 20 November 2016 Official name 63rd Suncity Group Macau Grand Prix – FIA F3 World Cup Location Guia Circuit, Macau Course Temporary street circuit Distance Qualifying Race10 laps, Main Race15 laps, Weather Qualifying Race: OvercastMain Race: Overcast Qualifying Race Pole Driver George Russell HitechGP Time 2:10.100 Fastest Lap Driver Callum Ilott Van Amersfoort Racing Time 2:11.445 (on lap 9) Podium First António Félix da Costa Carlin Second Callum Ilott Van Amersfoort Racing Third Sérgio Sette Câmara Carlin Main Race Pole Driver António Félix da Costa Carlin Fastest Lap Driver Felix Rosenqvist Prema Powerteam Time 2:11.080 (on lap 14) Podium First António Félix da Costa Carlin Second Felix Rosenqvist Prema Powerteam Third Sérgio Sette Câmara Carlin The 2016 Macau Grand Prix (formally the 63rd Suncity Group Macau Grand Prix – FIA F3 World Cup) was a Formula Three motor race held on 20 November 2016 at the Guia Circuit in Macau. The 2016 edition marked the first time the Grand Prix was formally called the FIA F3 World Cup. It was also the 63rd running of the event. The 15-lap race was won by Carlin driver António Félix da Costa after starting from pole position. Felix Rosenqvist finished second for Prema Powerteam and Félix da Costa's teammate Sérgio Sette Câmara came in third. Félix Da Costa had won the earlier ten-lap qualification race on Saturday with Callum Ilott second and Sette Cãmara third.
George Russell won the pole position for the qualification race by setting the fastest lap in the event's second qualifying session but lost the lead to Ilott heading into the first corner. The qualification event was neutralised following an accident involving Ye Hongli and Daiki Sasaki, and when the race restarted four laps later, Félix da Costa drafted Ilott and overtook him to take over the lead. Ilott remained close behind Félix da Costa for the remaining five laps but was unable to reduce the time deficit which would have allowed him to affect an overtaking manoeuvre on him who maintained his advantage to win the qualification race.
Félix da Costa's qualification race victory ensured that he started from pole position in the main event. He lost the lead and fell to third, behind his fast-starting teammate Sette Cãmara and Ilott. Félix da Costa was able to reclaim second from Ilott and was 0.7 seconds behind Sette Cãmara before a safety car period neutralised the race. He retook first from Sette Cãmara at the lap-seven restart. He pulled away from his teammate until a three-lap safety car period reduced his advantage to nothing. Félix da Costa fended off an overtaking manoeuvre from Sette Cãmara at the restart to keep first place. Rosenqvist overtook Sette Cãmara for second but was unable to draw close enough to affect a pass on Félix da Costa who remained in the lead for the rest of the race to win his second Macau Grand Prix. There were two lead changes and two yellow flags during the course of the race.
Entry list and background The entry list for the Macau Grand Prix was released on 6 October 2016. Initial entries for the race were so large that the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)'s director of circuit competition Frederic Bertrand stated there was a "pent-up desire amongst all these front-runners to prove their mettle in a face-to-face competition." Confusion arose when the race's qualification standards were published with several illegible drivers entered after they would were not granted an invitation to the event due to non-competition in a FIA-sanctioned Formula Three race during the 2016 season. 27 drivers featured in the initial entry list and included the 2015 European Formula Three champion Felix Rosenqvist, who won the race in 2014 and 2015, returning to defend his title, in lieu of Lance Stroll who had other motor racing commitments, and partnering Maximilian Günther and Nick Cassidy.
Daniel Juncadella returned to drive in the race, replacing Ben Barnicoat, with 24 Hours of Spa winner Alexander Sims, confirmed to participate in the event, after sealing his eligibility in the event by competing at the MotorSport Vision Formula Three Cup season-closing round at Snetterton. Nissan factory driver Jann Mardenborough made his first appearance in the event, while Lando Norris, the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup champion, also made his debut at the track. Peter Li was originally slated to return to racing after a six-month absence following a heavy accident at the Red Bull Ring but his seat was taken by Formula E driver António Félix da Costa on the invitation of Carlin owner Trevor Carlin. Félix da Costa, Juncadella and Rosenqvist tested for two days at the Red Bull Ring to prepare for the event. GP3 Series driver Arjun Maini took over from Niko Kari who had other racing duties while Euroformula Open and former MSA Formula Championship drivers Keyvan Andres Soori and Daniel Ticktum completed the 29-driver entry list. Norris, Ticktum and Jake Hughes competed in the season-closing European Formula Three meeting at the Hockenheimring to prepare for Macau.
The Macau Grand Prix is a Formula Three race considered to be a stepping stone to higher motor racing categories such as Formula One and is the territory's most prestigious international sporting event. The 2016 Macau Grand Prix was the 63rd running of the event and was held on the 22-turn Guia Circuit on 20 November 2016. In September 2016, the race's organiser, Barry Bland, resigned following hurried developments which saw teams not receive the event's regulations until late. That same month, the race was granted FIA F3 World Cup status by the FIA, following a restructure in the wake of Bland's resignation, which meant the FIA became the event's regulator.
It was the first Macau Grand Prix in which Pirelli supplied the teams with tyres, after Yokohama who was the supplier since the event switched to Formula Three regulations in 1983 withdrew. Pirelli's tyre was based on the type used in the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship and were tested at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza to simulate Macau's high top speeds. Competitors were granted a maximum allowance of five sets of tyres during the race weekend, up from three the previous year, following issues with the tyres in testing.
Rosenqvist said that he felt the Pirelli tyres would change the event's aspect drastically and aimed to win it: "The competition in Macau is always super strong, and this year will be no exception. I think really the only one missing is [current European F3 champion] Lance Stroll, but other than that it's as competitive as it could get." Félix da Costa stated he was returning to Macau because of its iconic status and his familiarity with the track. When asked if he felt he could achieve the victory, he replied "yes and no" because of not having had experience in Formula Three cars for the previous three years, but said he would give it an attempt and would be pleased to secure a top-five finishing position. The track's fastest lap record holder Sérgio Sette Câmara said it was "amazing" to compete in the event, revealing that he would carry the experience he had from the 2015 edition and express confidence in his car's set-up.
Practice and qualifying A total of two 40-minute practice sessions preceded the Sunday race: one on Thursday morning and one on Friday morning. Rosenqvist lapped fastest in the first practice session at 2 minutes and 13.099 seconds, which was his final timed lap late on. He was four-tenths of a second quicker than the second-fastest driver Callum Ilott who moved out of traffic to drive with a clear track on his fastest lap. Kenta Yamashita was third-fastest, ahead of Juncadella and Norris; the latter was quickest until ten minutes remaining. Jake Hughes, Félix da Costa, Sims, David Beckmann and George Russell were in positions seven through ten. The session was stopped early for 16 minutes when Ferdinand Habsburg went into Fisherman's Bend corner too quickly and understeered into the turn's barriers, causing his car's left-front corner to become lodged under the wall. Habsburg was transported to a local hospital for a precautionary check-up. Consequently, the session was extended by five minutes to provide competitors with more on-track time. Cassidy stopped his car on the front straight with brake problems and Mardenborough made a pit stop because his car's engine cover detached and slowed him. Tadasuke Makino carried excess speed turning into Lisboa Bend corner and damaged his car's front-left corner in an impact with the turn's exit barrier.
Qualifying was split into two sessions; the first was held on Thursday afternoon and ran for 40 minutes with the second held on Friday afternoon and lasted 30 minutes. The fastest time set by each driver from either session counted towards their final starting position for the qualification race. In the first qualifying session, Félix da Costa set a late provisional pole position lap time of 2 minutes and 11.535 seconds, which was two-tenths of a second faster than Ilott who held the pole until Félix da Costa's time. Rosenqvist was third-fastest, ahead of Yamashita in fourth and Juncadella fifth. Sette Cãmara, Norris, Cassidy, Hughes and Sam MacLeod completed the top-ten provisional placings. Sims was the fastest driver not to record a time in the top ten and was 1.065 seconds off Félix da Costa's pace. He was followed by Maini, Russell, Anthoine Hubert and Günther. Ticktum, Pedro Piquet, Chang Wing Chung, Nikita Mazepin and Joel Eriksson completed the top-twenty fastest drivers. The session was red flagged four times: firstly for Yamashita when his wheel became detached from his car, possibly from a split rim. The second was for Sims who was stranded in the centre of Lisboa corner's run-off area, Norris impacted the San Francisco Bend barriers and Eriksson hit the Solitude Esses wall, triggering the third stoppage. The session ended early when Juncadella crashed heavily into the Fisherman's Bend barrier.
Despite using old tyres, Ilott drafted off another driver on his final timed circuit and lapped fastest in the second practice session at 2 minutes and 10.703 seconds. Maini was half a second slower in second. Yamashita, Rosenqvist, Sette Cãmara, Hughes, Félix da Costa, Norris, Günther and Cassidy made up positions second to tenth. Ticktum hit the Maternity Bend wall and returned to the pit lane to end his session early while Sho Tsuboi struck the Lisboa barrier. Ye Hongli lost control of his car and contacted the exit barriers at the Police bend, stranding his vehicle sideways across the circuit. Yellow flags were shown to warn participants about the stricken car. Guanyu Zhou came across the scene and reacted late, causing him to hit his countryman's car, briefly going onto its side before ending up on the tarmac. Both drivers were unhurt but the incident ended the session prematurely.