Photo: Macau GP Organising Committee
Ahead of the decisive main races of Sunday, who is feeling confident in Macau’s FRegional and F4 paddocks?
The qualification races for the FIA Formula Regional and Formula 4 World Cups both delivered action and intrigue on Saturday, and have set up what should be an exciting Sunday at the Macau Grand Prix.
In the main event, Theophile Nael set a new lap record for FRegional cars around the Guia Circuit by half a second over his KCMG Pinnacle Motorsport team-mate Mari Boya, but neither driver won as a superb start from Prema’s Freddie Slater put him past poleman Nael into a lead he was able to extend to over five seconds during the 10-lap race.
Slater entered the unknown at the front, as disruptions earlier in the weekend meant this was the first time a run of consecutive laps lasting that long had been completed. While he had also contested the grand prix in 2024, the first time FRegional cars were used, that event ran mostly in mixed conditions so there was still plenty of learning to be done in 2025.
On the grid for Saturday’s qualification race, Slater said to get a good start “was the key factor”, but after he claimed the lead a few seconds in he was “just trying to get a read on balance for tomorrow” thereon.
“We’ve got an extra five laps tomorrow, so we need to know what we need to do overnight to make it even better,” he noted.
“It [the car] has had pace all weekend. The track’s getting faster and faster now, the times are coming down with the race runs, and the track’s getting grippy, so it’s good fun out there.”
Slater was able to have more fun in part due to “understanding the car after a full season in this category”, having won the European championship this year with Prema. And while the racing line was very grippy by the end of the day when the FRegional cars took to track, that had more challenging consequences too.
Freddie Slater
“There’s one line, and if you’re not on it you’re in the wall,” beamed the race winner, before later being more analytical.
“There’s a lot of rubber down there now, but then off-line it’s very dirty. It’s quite a fine line between getting it right and getting it wrong now, which is very interesting. Especially for us [single-seaters].”
However Slater’s race could have panned out differently from the front row. After taking the lead, he was susceptible to the slipstreams down the straights before the first braking zone at Lisboa, and at the high-speed Mandarin corner ART Grand Prix’s Evan Giltaire and Boya tried getting alongside him.
The faster Pinnacle drivers then had to clear Giltaire, with overtaking obviously tricky on the iconic street circuit, before they could show their true pace. By the time they did, Slater’s lead was too large to be extinguished before race-end.
“I know they managed to pass Evan during the race, but it’s not really that normal sometimes. The start was crucial,” reflected Slater.
“I had a really good start, and from thereon you’re trying to manage the slipstream and trying to see where to block people out and make sure they’re not getting too big of a run. And Evan was alongside me as well, so it was kind of two cars in the middle.”
On how close he came to losing the lead he had only just gained on lap one, he added: “I looked in my mirror, Mari was quite far away; I looked again, and he was literally on my rear wing. The slipstream is pretty powerful here and it always makes the racing good fun.”
Boya and Nael also very much enjoyed themselves on track, and had plenty of positives to take away from the results despite finishing behind Slater. While the winner’s buzzword was “fun”, Boya’s was “revenge”.
Single-lap pace
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Session |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Theophile Nael | KCMG/Pinnacle | 2m15.561s | Race |
| 2 | Freddie Slater | Prema | +0.147s | Q1 |
| 3 | Evan Giltaire | ART GP | +0.323s | Q2 |
| 4 | Taito Kato | ART GP | +0.355s | Q2 |
| 5 | Enzo Deligny | R-ace GP | +0.398s | Q2 |
| 6 | Mari Boya | KCMG/Pinnacle | +0.468s | Q1 |
| 7 | Mattia Colnaghi | PHM Racing | +0.475s | Q2 |
| 8 | Rashid Al Dhaheri | Prema | +0.997s | Q2 |
| 9 | Matteo De Palo | R-ace GP | +1.090s | Q1 |
| 10 | Kanato Le | ART Grand Prix | +1.097s | Race |
| 11 |
Enzo Yeh | PHM Racing | +1.123s | Race |
“Yesterday I was a bit frustrated, felt I had a lot more, but today we got revenge, and the weekend is not over yet,” he said after his drive from sixth on the grid to second place. “I felt we had a really good pace, and even for tomorrow we can do better steps. I understand better the car, so now we will analyse and tomorrow we come back stronger.”
Boya admitted to making a “big mistake” on the last lap, pointing to the unknown element of a 10-lap stint, but it was mission accomplished for the FIA Formula 3 regular who finished fourth in the 2023 Macau GP when it ran for F3 cars.
“Since the start I felt I was really on it this race,” he added. “I know what to ask my engineer to maybe be a bit quicker. And being more comfortable on the limit. Because today the last laps were a bit tricky for me. But the beginning of the race was really strong. So happy about the race, and also the conclusions we take for tomorrow.”
While a strong start was as valuable to his result as it was to Slater’s, he claimed his F3 experience worked against him on the run to Lisboa.
“The thing is that I’m not used to racing with these drivers. I’m a bit older than them. So I don’t know really well how to fight with them. Because I don’t know how aggressive they are. So I need to always take a look, like knock on their door, then see what’s next. Anyway I had the pace, I was following pretty easy [with] Giltaire. So I just see where was my strongest points [to attempt passing], and when I see it’s clear I went for it.”
A similar logic was applied by Nael, who graduated from FRegional to F3 this year, in regards to his descent from first to fourth on the opening lap. But he could see the positives, as shown by his first words on microphone post-race.
“To be honest I prefer to start second row for tomorrow. With the slipstream it will help a lot,” he quipped.
Theophile Nael
“I need to work on the start for tomorrow, I will see what happened. But it is [such a long] time that I [have] not drove this car, so the first start is always a bit tricky.”
Nael said specifically “to get used to the clutch was a bit hard”, but he should “be good for tomorrow”. He will be on the same side of the grid for his second start back in the car, and wants to avoid losing out in battle in the all-important main race.
Being on the outside line for turn one proved costly, then to avoid hitting another car “I had to brake, but it’s fair play”. That led to a big loss of momentum down the following straight and he was fortunate to only lose three places.
“The pace during the whole race was really good. I was [able] to improve the two last laps, even the track record I think. So car is feeling good and I’m positive for tomorrow,” he remarked.
Since he bettered his pace as the fuel load lowered and the tyres became more worn, Nael feels confident about the main race’s longer distance but says “there is a lack of bite in the brake” to be aware of at all times as well as tyre degradation.
“I know what to improve on the car as well like Mari with my engineer,” he added. “If we see the pace of today, should be fine.”
Outside of the top three, only ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato in fifth, R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny in sixth and PHM Racing’s Mattia Colnaghi in seventh were within a second of Nael’s pace, with two sub-2m16s laps that were record-setters.
After the F4 race earlier in the day, all the talk was about Emanuele Olivieri’s lap one move for the lead on Sebastian Wheldon around the outside of Mandarina corner. Brave was the word many used to describe the winner’s overtake.
“I got a good jump so I knew I had quite a good opportunity to overtake Wheldon. I thought T2 was easy flat, and also around the outside, but I ended up quite close to the wall. So it was quite a risky move,” he admitted.
Emanuele Olivieri
“After that I just had to manage my tyres. It was quite slippery around, so just bring it to the chequered flag.”
He was chased for most of the race by Fionn McLaughlin, who had fresher rubber after not setting any laptimes in practice, and Olivieri “was quite worried” when “Fionn was so close to me” as he thought he was “struggling around with the rear” tyres and believed the Red Bull junior behind had a pace advantage.
“I think today was the hottest track temperature of the [weekend]. Usually the more hot, the more slippery it is. So we chose to be on old tyres to be all set for tomorrow. I don’t think it was maybe the best choice, but we won the race so I won’t complain too much. But I was quite struggling to actually keep the car on track because I was – I think you can see it on the onboard – really oversteering in every corner. So I was also quite trying to be safe. To not do some silly mistake.
“But the new tyres advantage is giving you quite a lot of laptime, and confidence obviously.”
Olivieri was actually the quickest driver in the qualification race, and took the fastest lap by 0.783s over Yutsai Chan. Wheldon and Kean Nakamura Berta would have been two likely rivals as pacesetters after topping qualifying, but they crashed out at Lisboa on lap one after being passed by Olivieri.
That pair will start 15th and 16th for the main race, while Olivieri goes into Sunday with pole,”a lot of confidence” and has committed to “give it everything” to win the World Cup.
Jules Roussel was runner-up to Olivieri on Saturday, 5.687s behind, after charging up from ninth on the grid and overtaking at the very last corner of the race. To do the same on Sunday if battling for the win would certainly rival Olivieri’s move.