Macau blog: see you at the bar

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 17

The emotion was clear for all to see. Alex Lynn couldn't believe it, Prema team boss Rene Rosin couldn't either. Nor could his engineer Jean-Francois Levere. Lynn's dad, historic ace Shaun, stood proudly to one side. His boy had won the Macau Grand Prix.

"I can't put into words how I feel," he said afterwards, before posing for photos with about a thousand Chinese people. "Since I finished third last year I've dreamed of winning this race. I can't believe I've actually done it!

"I had quite a lot of understeer in the qualification race, and on the data it showed that my team-mate Raffaele Marciello was quicker than me in the last corner. Because it can be a disadvantage starting from pole owing to the slipstream I thought I might have to battle through, so we set the car up to have some good front end for my corner exits.

"That meant that in the last few laps the rear end was going away. As the gap came down I thought, 'Hang on, hang on, hang on'. I did it in the end!"

He did. It was a superb win, even if there were hard-luck stories from the other leading contenders. Lynn said yesterday that 'You don't win this race - Macau chooses you to win it'. But he certainly maximised the opportunity from being the chosen one in 2013. Not a dry eye in the house.

****

Ever heard about the Macau Grand Prix podium finisher who steps down a rung on the ladder the following season? Well, step forward Pipo Derani.

The little Brazilian has had a great week in Macau, following on from his good late-season form in European Formula 3.

But, after four years in the category (one in German F3, two in British and one in Europe), budget means he is closing on a deal to move to the States and race in Pro Mazda.

That, of course, puts him on the IndyCar ladder. If he shows the form he's displayed in F3, he'll be a hot title contender in Pro Mazda, would therefore be in line to win the budget for Indy Lights, and will then be a contender for the IndyCar scholarship.

It's a good move for Derani, whose aim will be to get to the top of the American open-wheel tree while veteran compatriots Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves are still in the series, maximising interest from his homeland.

But Fortec will be sad to see him go. Since he arrived at the team for 2012, he has turned from someone who clearly lacked confidence at the wheel to a proper podium contender. There's been one of those special driver-engineer bonds between Derani and Fortec's Mick Kouros, and it's been great to see this friendly chap flourish.

****

Rob Huff has something special around the streets of Macau. Many have tried to unlock the secret, with little success. Before his switch to SEAT this year, Huff had been on pole for the last four straight years.

He demonstrated that magic again in race two, taking a fine win in his final race for the Munnich squad, but appeared to finally have an answer for just where his speed came from in the post-race press conference.

"I've no idea really," he smiled, "but maybe it is the warm-up parties with Tom Coronel on Tuesdays."

Coronel, it turns out, bet big on Number 5 at the Four Seasons on Tuesday, but imposed his own condition - if he won, he had to dance on the table, and in a certain state of undress.

The Dutchman's luck was in - sort of - and he hopped up on the table, did his duty and was duly asked to collect his winnings and leave.

The main problem for Huff is how to repeat the superstition, given Coronel might not exactly be welcomed with open arms in the future...

****

"See you in the Lion Bar!"

That's the most common phrase in the Macau GP paddock post-race Sunday, and by the time you read this AUTOSPORT will probably be in the midst of one of Macau's most popular haunts.

It's always amusing to see young racing drivers, who in their dedication to their craft rarely drink, suddenly start wobbling on their feet when they're just two beers into the night. And even funnier when they carry on drinking.

We won't bring you any stories of drunkenness from this evening as we're a bit too fond of our mates for that. And also because we probably won't be able to remember anything.

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 16

Well, it looked like a clear-cut win for Alex Lynn in the qualification race in Macau today, but the reality is that Sunday's final is wide open.

The expected leading four contenders - Lynn, Felix Rosenqvist, Raffaele Marciello and Antonio Felix da Costa - were incredibly evenly matched in the race, with best times separated by just over a tenth of a second on a 2m12s lap.

As Rosenqvist proved last year and also this afternoon, getting the best start can actually be a disadvantage as it leaves you so vulnerable to towing down to Lisboa. So Lynn's pole position is certainly no guarantee that he will be leading as they run up the mountain on the opening lap.

If Lynn does get in front at Lisboa after the start, then his pace in the mountain sector - just over two tenths clear of anyone else in the race - suggests that he may be able to eke out just enough of an advantage to not get slipstreamed later in the race.

He's also turning out a nice line in quotes, suggesting he's going to be a media favourite as he progresses up the ladder.

Lines like "Sunday is the goal and the rest of the week is just a journey" and "You don't win this race - Macau chooses you to win it" don't sound like your regular 20-year-old from Essex!

Follow the Macau GP as it happens with AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live from 7.15am BST on Sunday

****

We've already made mention of Esteban Ocon in this blog for his fearlessness, but his speed in his first race in a current F3 car was astonishing.

The Frenchman, a protege of the Lotus Formula 1 team and the Galaxy management stable, took his Prema Powerteam car to 10th place, overtaking multiple GP2 race winner Stefano Coletti along the way.

His fastest lap was the sixth best of the race, and he was fifth in the tortuous middle sector - and this from a guy who one month ago was finishing third in the Formula Renault Eurocup.

According to our sources, Ocon is pretty much certain to be with Prema in European F3 in 2014, and he's going to be a real star. Not only that, but even at the age of 17 he's an extremely pleasant young guy. Watch out for him next year...

****

Double R Racing's Macau dream turned sour again in the qualification race.

Well, to tell the truth it had already started to do so when the team's lead driver Kevin Korjus got completely stuffed by the trio of red flags - two of which were caused by team-mates Antonio Giovinazzi and Sun Zheng - in qualifying.

That left the Estonian 12th on the grid although, as team boss Anthony 'Boyo' Hieatt pointed out, that was only one place lower than Mike Conway started when he won for the team in 2006.

From the beginning of the race, Korjus was losing power and had faded to 13th, unable to do anything on the straights.

Then, with a lap to go, a plume of smoke erupted from the rear of the black Dallara-Mercedes at R Bend and he stopped pretty much on the start-finish line.

Hieatt, one of the most amusing blokes in the F3 paddock, pointed to a hole in the block and quipped: "The alternator failed - because of the conrod coming out of the engine!"

At least the team took some joy from the performance of Sean Gelael. He's only just turned 17 and has been commuting from school in Indonesia for his F3 racing this year, so it's been a tough ask.

But this afternoon Gelael, who hasn't put a scratch on the car all week, battled with Giovinazzi on his way to 17th. "I'm so happy with him!" said driver coach Marko Asmer.

****

They can't beat him over one lap; that much was made emphatically clear in qualifying. They might not be able to take him on over nine laps either. But both Tiago Monteiro and Gabriele Tarquini were bullish about their chances against Yvan Muller ahead of tomorrow's opening WTCC race.

The reason? Both figure that they don't need to outpace Muller over a race-distance; or, more accurately, that if they win the race down to Lisboa, they can keep the four-time champion bottled up for the rest of the race.

What's more, the Hondas have precedent - if you haven't seen it, check out Tarquini's Sonoma "masterpiece" here.

Perhaps with knowledge of that getaway in mind, Tarquini pledged to attack Muller rather than focus on preserving second in the points classification.

"Sure our championship position is one goal, but don't forget we are in a very good position for the race," he said. "I think we can try to beat these men beside me [Muller and Monteiro]. Certainly there is no reason to think we cannot beat Muller. Tiago and I must try."

****

Duncan Huisman is no stranger to winning on the streets of Macau. In fact, he's pretty good at it.

So it was perhaps no surprise to see him triumph in the Volkswagen Scirocco R China Masters, which had invited a host of ex-F1 and Macau GP and Guia racers for a special race to celebrate Macau's 60th anniversary.

The 2001, '02 and '03 Guia winner (he also won in World Touring Cars in '05) proved time has done nothing to dull his racing senses as he jumped poleman Alain Menu away from the line - a move he had forecast from first practice - before controlling proceedings from the front.

"All my focus was on the start," he explained. "I knew that only Nicola Larini and I were flat through Mandarin so I knew I had to get Alain there on the first lap. I did seven, eight, maybe even nine practice starts yesterday to make sure I nailed it. It paid off."

Adding to Husiman's delight was the fact he thought he'd spurned a final chance for a fifth victory back in 2007, when he made a one-off appearance in Macau (where else?) for the Aviva BMW squad.

"I was running eighth in race one, which would have given me pole for the reversed-grid race two," Huisman adds. "But BMW asked me to let Andy Priaulx (who went on to win the race and thereby seal a third title) through. So this was unfinished business."

As Huisman prospered, Menu and several others fell foul of a chaotic opening lap. Menu made an awful start - "just shit", in his own words - and dropped to fourth. Emanuele Pirro compounded Menu's woes when he ran into the wall at Moorish, leaving the Swiss nowhere to go. Both men's races were done.

They did at least last longer than Steve Soper and Stefan Johansson, who - having also clashed in qualifying - collided away from the startline. Soper had the better of it: while both were out, he did at least hit the wall and therefore earned a trophy for best crash, much to Johansson's mock consternation.

****

On the subject of triumphant returns, Ian Hutchinson claimed one of the "most special wins of my career" with an emphatic display in the motorcycle grand prix.

It was the 34-year-old Yorkshire rider's first significant win since a horrific accident while competing in British Supersport at Silverstone in 2010. After falling in treacherous conditions, Hutchinson was hit by another rider and suffered serious leg injuries. He has undergone 29 operations in the last three years.

"With everything that has gone on in last few years, it was all a bit emotional," said Hutchinson, who became the first rider to win all five solo TT races in the same year in 2010.

"Hopefully we can put everything behind us and move back to where I was three years ago.

"I had about 10 plans about what to do in the race, but not really anything for the one that did happen. I knew that I needed to try and go with Michael Rutter [when the latter overtook Gary Johnson for the lead]. I put the hammer down but Michael came with me, even through traffic.

"We got the race win though, and I have a lot of people to thank, especially my family, friends and team who have stood by me for the last three years."

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 15

The qualities of Raffaele Marciello are already widely known: the fact that he can find the limit of a Formula 3 car seemingly straight away is what allowed him to be the qualifying king of the F3 European Championship in 2013, and laid the foundations for his title.

But those skills were shown to their most obvious - and startling - effect on Friday afternoon. Quite frankly, he'd been pretty anonymous over the Macau GP weekend, but what he was doing was grafting away, not pushing the limits when it didn't count, and evaluating the work the Prema Powerteam squad had done.

When he got a tow at the start of a lap in the dying minutes of qualifying, it gave him a 0.456s advantage over his previous best sector-one time - which is just the flat-out blast down towards Lisboa.

He then - and this is the amazing thing - found six tenths on his previous best through the 'mountain' sector, which takes you all the way to the exit of the Melco hairpin.

He then nailed the final sector - comprising the tricky Fisherman's and R Bends - two tenths quicker than he'd done before. No build-up, just bang!

But what of his opposition? Three of them will go to bed feeling that they could - or even should - have had pole. Felix Rosenqvist's best lap was three hundredths up on Marciello's by the end of sector two but, as he admitted in our qualifying report, he got a little bit complacent in the last part of the lap.

Alex Lynn's final lap was a blinder, but it came without a tow, and his first sector was therefore 0.384s down on what he did earlier in the session with a slipstream. He missed out on a second consecutive Macau pole by 0.084s...

And then there's Antonio Felix da Costa, whose fastest lap came with a particularly tardy opening sector. Ironically, he got a monster tow - to the tune of nearly half a second - from Carlin team-mate Harry Tincknell after the chequered flag.

If you applied this sector-one time to his best lap, then he'd sneak into second on the grid, just five hundredths down on Marciello.

Instead he's fifth, behind Lucas Auer. The Austrian felt he could have got a better tow, but only lost out by 0.250s, which wouldn't have been enough to move him up the grid. Still, a good effort.

* * *

Auer was one of those to suffer from the AUTOSPORT jinx in Friday free practice. For Thursday's FP1, we'd stood at Fisherman's Bend and watched Carlos Sainz Jr and Jordan King clout the barriers. This time we were at Police, and saw Auer and Stefano Coletti both pile in, with a smaller incident for King (again).

Police is not one of Macau's better-known corners, and it's not even that significant as it leads only to a short chute down to Moorish, but it's damned spectacular.

The cars approach up a small crest through a left kink before immediately committing to the right-handed bend, and the tricky thing about it is that it's ridiculously narrow.

It's a one-way street here, and not a particularly wide one. It's almost as though they stuck Druids from Oulton Park into the tumble drier for too long and then pinned some barriers to the side of it.

The good guys - Antonio Felix da Costa being a master here - stick well over to the left through the kink, maximising their arc through Police itself. The less experienced - and the more desperate - tend to straight-line from the kink to the turn, meaning they're rapidly running out of room on exit.

We knew it was a good place to stand when we found ourselves surrounded by bloodthirsty snappers, and it didn't disappoint. Some great views of lightning hands on steering wheels, and some fantastically exuberant driving, were our reward.

In the latter camp were most definitely Will Buller and fearless F3 newcomer Esteban Ocon, who seemed to have pivots under their cars, such were their angles!

* * *

There are more strings to Yvan Muller's bow than simply storming to pole by a second, it seems.

While the Frenchman is desperate to end his four-year spell with RML on a high this weekend in Macau, he has also been busy helping Citroen prepare for its maiden World Touring Car campaign next year. And, as he told AUTOSPORT, that help extends way beyond simple test and development work.

"My place at the team isn't just as a driver, it's to help with everything," he said. "From race weekend strategy to how you set up for qualifying shoot-outs and the necessary programmes to focus on - all this the team has to learn.

"But it goes beyond that. I'm even helping the team choose hotels, because I know the areas, I know what's important and what to avoid. I'm trying to give them as much of my experience as I can, and as I always have for every team."

AUTOSPORT couldn't help but think of Yamaha's famous video of Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Colin Edwards and James Toseland taking on office jobs in their downtime away from the track. And in case you needed reminding, here it is in all its corny, cringeworthy glory.

* * *

Ask any driver along the pitlane for their view of racing in Macau, and 'special' will crop up more likely than not.

It can also be brutal though, as several of the WTCC field highlighted on an attrition-filled and disjointed first day.

Campos was perhaps the hardest hit. New boy Konstantins Calko lasted all of 12 minutes before his first crash - although he was helpless to avoid it when Ng Kin Veng slewed into the wall at Police - and also had a brush with Stefano D'Aste.

Michael Soong did his best to take off the entire front-left section of his car exiting Melco, and then went one better in qualifying when he hit the barriers at Fisherman's with such force that his car caught fire. And regular Hugo Valente added to the damage toll when he selected the wrong gear at Paiol and hit the wall.

They were by no means the only ones. Tom Chilton almost ruined his weekend with a massive off in second practice, with the team only just able to get him out in time for qualifying - which had been put back by 50 minutes due to a multitude of stoppages in F3 qualifying.

Even then he suffered further problems when his rear wing detached, and it was only in the very final minutes that he was able to win through to Q2.

As team manager Stuart Cowie admitted, without the other red flags Chilton might not have even made it out of the garage.

The situation was even worse at Wiechers, with the team fearing it will be forced to retire from the weekend if Fredy Barth's crash at Paoil has indeed damaged the chassis. The FIA is set to inspect the car tomorrow.

There is at least a small silver lining, in that the WTCC does not run tomorrow, meaning there's plenty of time to fix the cars. The downside? Missing out on day trips to China, hanging out in the paddock or even lazing the day away in the casino. Although missing the last one might actually be a blessing in disguise...

* * *

Michel Nykjaer is back in the WTCC paddock, two months after losing his drive when Nika decided it needed to find drivers with more financial backing.

The Dane had been Yvan Muller's closest challenger heading into Sonoma in early September, and was still a comfortable third in the championship when he lost his seat.

So the reason he's in Macau? Simple really: he'd booked tickets earlier this year thinking he'd be driving, and didn't want to let them go to waste.

"It's strange being back perhaps," Nykjaer told AUTOSPORT, "but equally I'm still trying to be on the grid next year.

"I couldn't have done much more when I was racing - three wins, six podiums, second in the championship - and Nika hasn't had the same success since I stopped.

"I'm not sure what my chances of returning are like because it's so expensive, but this is where I want to be."

THURSDAY 14th NOVEMBER

It's pretty routine for a racing journalist's lot when, using all the information gathered from all your trusted sources in the paddock, together with your own observations, you come up with a firm prediction of something. And get it completely wrong.

So forgive us for feeling a little bit smug that our interview with Felix Rosenqvist in this week's AUTOSPORT magazine made mention of us considering him as the favourite for Macau Grand Prix honours. Of course, it's early days yet, but his performance in topping first qualifying today was pretty convincing.

We stood nursing a pretty serious hangover - the downside of using beer consumption to overcome jetlag - on the outside of Fisherman's Bend in free practice. On one lap, Rosenqvist turned in with the back-end well out of line in a glorious slide. We never saw him again, because he'd hit the wall at San Francisco Bend, so his bounceback in qualifying was impressive.

You may think it's looking pretty grim for Prema Powerteam, with European champion Raffaele Marciello the best of the squad's quartet in eighth, but don't be fooled. None of the Prema guys used new tyres in qualifying - or even planned to.

The strategy should pay off if, as seems likely, Friday is dry, as times traditionally come down significantly as the track rubbers in. Even Alex Lynn, 26th after a trip into the wall at Fisherman's, wasn't too bothered with that in mind.

* * *

There's some pretty serious Macau experience in the top three from Thursday's qualifying. Between them, Felix Rosenqvist, Antonio Felix da Costa and Alexander Sims have racked up 10 starts in the F3 classic.

You have to go all the way down to 13th to find the fastest of the Macau rookies, and that represented a pretty good performance from British F3 champion Jordan King.

Like Rosenqvist, King dropped it in free practice, understeering into the barriers at Fisherman's Bend about halfway through. So to emerge as top of the 10 rookies from Thursday's running was a nice recovery.

It was pretty close though, as Antonio Giovinazzi - the man who finished runner-up to King in the British F3 rankings - was a scant five hundredths adrift. Impressively, Esteban Ocon - the veteran of just one F3 start (and that was the MSV round at Snetterton he had to contest to qualify for Macau) - was third of the 10, and that was despite missing much of qualifying.

That was because he'd tapped the barrier and, after carrying on for a while, had to pull off the circuit. At that point he was running 12th overall...

He's not the first Lotus/Gravity protege to make his top-class F3 debut at Macau. And things haven't turned out too badly for Romain Grosjean, who did exactly the same thing in 2005.

* * *

It's unusual not to get a few surreal moments during Macau Grand Prix week, and we got one on Wednesday when the F3, WTCC and motorcycle contenders were bussed off for a couple of hours of media work, including signing autographs for schoolkids.

With British F3 teams group head Peter Briggs acting as a kind of headmaster, the F3 boys were ushered aboard the bus. Briggsy looked the part, even though he was lacking a register, but at least no one was left behind.

The local bus driver switched on his tiny radio, and 28 F3 drivers and assorted media were deafened by some derivative of 1960s country-and-western. Which considering the oldest driver is 25 isn't really their bag. Cue a bunch of bemused expressions before he switched over to some unlistenable techno/dance stuff.

Talking of bemused, TOCA podium Master of Ceremonies Alan Hyde was with us as we were ushered by the ever-helpful representatives from the Macau organisers through Hong Kong airport, into a car that took us to the jetfoil, and then off the boat when we arrived in Macau itself.

The 'bemusing' thing is that, without really knowing why, for his local TV commentary duties here he's known by his full name of Alan William Hyde. Which at various stages on our journey became Alan William Heidi and then, most memorably, Andy Williams. We'll probably be listening to some 'music to watch girls by' later on (groan...).

* * *

Rob Huff might have new boots in 2013, but his switch to SEAT machinery did nothing to halt his Macau mastery as he once again set the early pace.

The 33-year-old has claimed pole position for the last four consecutive years at Macau, has won five times in the last five seasons, and clinched his first world championship crown on the street circuit last year.

And while SEAT has not been a regular race winner in the WTCC since 2010, Huff edged out the Hondas of Norbert Michelisz and Tiago Monteiro and the Chevrolet of former team-mate Yvan Muller to lead the way in Thursday's test.

"There's something special about Macau, and it seems to me there's something a bit special about what I do around it," Huff reflected to AUTOSPORT. "It's always been a good place for me.

"There's definitely something I seem to have around the circuit; there's something about it that it seems no one else has yet discovered.

"For the last few years I've been anywhere between 0.5 and 0.7 seconds quicker than anyone in the middle sector, but it's difficult to see where exactly I gain the time because there's so many corners.

"You take a bit here and there, and it all adds up. But that's quite nice for me really, because no one knows how I do it; for me, that's perfect."

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