There are plenty of circuits that were once a part of F1, which drivers want to revisit at some point in their lives. When it comes to Asia, Sepang in Malaysia is the name that comes to the minds of most. However, Ferrari‘s Carlos Sainz wants all the drivers on the grid to visit the Macau Street Circuit and participate in F3 spec cars.
Macau hosts one of the most iconic street races on the calendar. Some of the best talents in the world take part in the Grand Prix every year, which plays host to both cars and motorbikes. Unfortunately, the narrow layout of the track means that it has never found its way into the F1 calendar, and likely never will.
During an episode of P1 with Matt & Tommy earlier this year, Carlos Sainz spoke about his desire to race in Macau. Tom Bellingham, one of the hosts, asked Sainz what he would like to change about F1. To this, the Ferrari driver said,
“I think once a year, we should all go to Macau, and race in F3.”
This triggered an astounding response from Bellingham and his co-host Matt Gallagher. It also made the latter ask Sainz, how close he thinks the F1 grid will be if they do race in the same spec F3 cars around the streets of Macau.
Carlos Sainz reveals just how close F1 stars are to each other
It is often repeated how the 20 drivers in F1 are the best in the world across all disciplines. Still, that fact is not visible every weekend when the stars take out to the track, because of the difference in performance between the front-running teams and the backmarkers.
Sainz feels that Macau won’t be the best place to judge how close the stars can be to each other if they race on the same cars. He chose the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona as an ideal venue, under sunny conditions with each driver getting six sets of new soft tires.
Under those circumstances, Sainz is sure the entire grid will be separated by less than 1.5 seconds. Alas, we will never get to know if the Madrid-born driver’s prediction is true. This is because the chances of all 20 F1 stars racing in F3 spec cars in a single race are slim.
Sainz’s choice of racing in Macau was interesting, to say the least. However, it is an iconic circuit, and one understands why he wants everyone to go there at least once a season.
