FIA F3 World Cup: Six of the Best

A quick glance at the entry list for next month’s 66th Macau Grand Prix suggests the battle for overall honours is wide open, but we’ve decided to take a look at ‘six of the best’ from the star-studded FIA F3 World Cup line-up.

Reigning champion Daniel Ticktum will be aiming to become the first driver in history to win three successive Macau GPs when he returns to the notorious Guia street circuit, and the Briton is there for only one thing… to win!

The 20-year-old’s maiden Macau success came following the famous the last corner collisions in 2017, as Ferdinand Habsburg and Sérgio Sette Câmara crashed out to hand then third-placed Ticktum an astonishing victory.

Ticktum’s second title came in more dominant fashion as he secured a Qualification Race win, before claiming a lights-to-flag triumph in the Final, and now the Carlin Buzz Racing driver is aiming for his hat-trick.

Robert Shwartzman is the 2019 FIA Formula 3 Champion, having secured the title in his homeland Sochi, Russia, last month.

The Russian ace is in fine form and the SJM Prema Theodore Racing driver will be looking to add the icing on the cake in Macau.

Marcus Armstrong – Shwartzman’s team-mate – ensures that SJM Prema Theodore Racing has even more firepower in its armoury as the New Zealander hopes to reverse the results from the regular season.

The 19-year-old finished runner-up to Shwartzman in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, but three wins and seven podiums during 2019 mark him out as a serious contender for Macau GP glory.

Despite graduating to the FIA Formula 2 Championship for the 2019 season, Briton Callum Ilott is stepping back into F3 machinery in a determined attempt to win the Macau Grand Prix for the first time.

The SAUBER JUNIOR TEAM BY CHAROUZ driver has shown serious pace on several occasions around the 6.2km track, but the overall victory has so far eluded him. All that could be set to change next month, however, as the Ferrari Driver Academy star chases a maiden Macau success.

Estonian Jüri Vips scored three victories during the regular F3 season, ending up fourth in the overall standings, and the Hitech Grand Prix driver arrives in Macau as a highly thought of challenger to Ticktum’s thrown.

If testing form is anything to go by then Dane Christian Lundgaard will be one to watch in November, having recently dominated a post-season F3 test at the Circuit de Valencia.

The ART Grand Prix racer topped Days 1 and 2 in the latest F3 specification machinery – cars that will make their Macau debut this year – so the 18-year-old may have just forced his name into the frame of potential winners.

In truth, there are many more candidates on the entry list too, with the likes of Briton Jake Hughes spearheading HWA RACELAB’s challenge, or Habsburg looking to banish the memory of 2017, or even Asia’s great hope in the shape of Japanese Yuki Tsunoda.

Whilst the 2019 FIA F3 World Cup winner is uncertain at this stage, what we do know is that it will be a thrilling and entertaining rollercoaster ride on the way to finding out.

The 2019 FIA F3 World Cup and FIA GT World Cup takes place as part of the 66th running of the Macau Grand Prix on 14-17 November.