The annual Macau Grand Prix in November has replaced the Monaco support race as the most important Formula 3 race of the year. Ever since Ayrton Senna won the first F3 race in 1983, it has been the unofficial World Cup for the category, pitching the best European runners against their Japanese counterparts. Despite changes in Macau’s landscape and the return to Chinese rule in 1999, the circuit has remained remarkably unaffected. Statue Corner at the start of the lap is a tight right-hander that has often been the scene of a pile-up. It follows a fast main stretch (which used to pass between the sea and a reservoir) and leads onto the twisting, narrow return leg. When Michael Schumacher clashed with Mika Häkkinen late in the 1990 Macau GP, it hinted at F1 battles to come.
