The exciting addition to the Macau Grand Prix schedule provided a gilt-edged opportunity for emerging prospects to gain knowledge of the iconic yet demanding 6.120-kilometre Guia Circuit early in their single-seater careers – and delivered two spectacular races.

It was also a chance for the young hopefuls to experience Macau’s legendary street track ahead of stepping up to the FIA FR World Cup in future seasons as part of the sport’s global development pathway.

Nineteen drivers were selected to take part by the FIA, the global governing body for motor sport and the federation for mobility organisations worldwide. It took into account individual performances in rounds of national Formula 4 (F4) championships during 2025 or separate submissions.

The same-specification Ligier F4 cars were centrally run by Mintimes, the organiser of the Chinese F4 Championship, with the support of a 40-strong team of student engineers and mechanics from the Fédération Française du Sport Automobile’s FFSA Academy. This created the ultimate level playing field and allowed the young drivers to be fully focused on demonstrating their potential with many contesting an international event for the first time.

How Jules Roussel won the FIA F4 World Cup
French racer Roussel got the perfect start to lead pole-sitter Emanuele Olivieri through the first turn. Although Roussel briefly trailed Rayan Caretti after his compatriot pulled off a fine overtaking move at Lisboa Bend on the fourth lap, the 19-year-old was back ahead before the Mandarin kink on lap eight as the thrilling battle for victory intensified.

Roussel was still leading when Caretti crashed at the Solitude Esses later in the lap to trigger a second safety car intervention. Despite the best efforts of the volunteer trackside marshals to clear Caretti’s stricken car as quickly as possible, the race concluded under safety car conditions with Qualification Race winner Olivieri finishing second and Rintaro Sato taking third from 11th on the grid.

The safety car was deployed for the first time on lap one after Shimo Zhang spun and collected Itsuki Sato exiting Mandarin before Kyuho Lee hit the tyre barriers at Lisboa.

Racing resumed on lap three with Sato making rapid progress by demoting Kimi Yu Tsai Chan for fifth as Caretti increased the pressure on Roussel in the battle for first.

Behind Japanese driver Sato, American Sebastian Wheldon – who started the Qualification Race from pole position only to crash out on lap one – came through from 15th to finish fourth ahead of Indian Aryaman Bansal, Brit Thomas Bearman, Hong Kong racer Chan, Man Hei Cheong from Macau and Argentine Gino Trappa.

British F4 champion Fionn McLaughlin took the chequered flag in sixth position but a 30-secon penalty for not being in his original grid position by the time he reached the designated line during the formation lap dropped the Irish driver down the order to 13th.

Jules Roussel (France), FIA F4 World Cup winner: “It’s the best race of my life in terms of experience and the result and I see it only as a positive to win this race. We take the opportunity and now I’m a winner in Macau, it’s one of my dreams. It was a very tricky race with lots of changes of position, so I’m very grateful and happy to win. It was quite a big battle with Rayan, there were some calculated risks, but I could stay in front. I’ve been able to learn a lot against the best F4 drivers in the world, the level was very high and I hope this result can help me with a drive for next year.”

Emanuele Olivieri (Italy), second position FIA F4 World Cup: “I can be very happy with the weekend because every session I was in the top three. For sure the final result was not what I wanted it to be after I won the Qualification Race, but I gave my best. I was struggling with the car under braking, so I was trying to keep my confidence. The race was clean, but I had to defend from behind and keep my focus to keep the car on track. It was really important to be here because it’s an FIA World Cup and it’s Macau, you don’t just race here because you want to, you have to be called up, so it was amazing to participate here. It’s one of the best tracks in the world and the atmosphere from the people is really special.”

Rintaro Sato (Japan), third position FIA F4 World Cup: “It was a tough race because I started P11. I was pushing a lot and I managed to stay on track, which was the most important thing. I’m really happy with this result and take part in this race. If I had started P3 maybe I could have had an opportunity to win but this is racing.”

FIA Single-Seater Committee President Emanuele Pirro: “For us as FIA within the Single-Seater Department, we really wanted to bring an F4 race here, and I’m very thankful that Macau wanted to work together in this joint project to host the first FIA Formula 4 World Cup. The weekend is already very full because they are three big races – FR, GT and Touring Cars – and each are potentially three standalone events, so to bring Formula 4 here was a little bit of a challenge we decided to take on because this is not a circuit for beginners, it’s a circuit where experience really counts. I was really trying to share this with the drivers in the driver's briefing and told them this is a track that has to be respected more than anywhere they have been before – it is so important to have a good, clean weekend so that we can preserve this iconic race for future generations of young drivers.

“For me it's really essential for us to offer the young drivers a training run before they come back to tackle the Grand Prix a year two later with a strong package and good experience. This is a driver’s race more than anything so, as FIA, we really tried to bring the top F4 drivers from all around the world and give them the opportunity to learn. I think this package, Formula 4 then Formula Regional, as far as we are concerned, is perfect. We’ve seen some great racing in F4, and I’m sure every driver regardless of their result has learned so much this weekend not just in view of coming back here, but for their careers as a whole.”