Forget Monaco, Baku, Singapore or Las Vegas. If you asked Formula 1 drivers past and present to vote for their favourite street track, Macau would most likely come out on top.
In fact, for some, it is not just the best city venue. Former F1 racer and this year's Le Mans 24 Hours winner Robert Kubica has said many times: "It's my favourite race track of all."
The unique challenge of Macau's Guia circuit - with its high-speed, flat-out straights twinned with a tight-and-twisty city section - leaves even seasoned F1 drivers reminiscing fondly about an experience that they do not get anywhere else.
Max Verstappen, who raced there in 2014, labelled the layout as "quite insane. A lot of fast corners, blind corners. Very challenging to master".
In a world where vast runoff areas have become all too common at F1 circuits, and going off track often only results in a track limits penalty, Macau stands apart in offering no room for error.
It is, according to former F1 racer and current president of the FIA single-seater commission Emanuele Pirro, a reminder of old-school risk and reward values.
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- Qualification race
- Macau Grand Prix
Speaking to The Race about the challenge ahead of this weekend's Macau Grand Prix, Pirro said the circuit prompts memories of a conversation he had with the late Stirling Moss once.
"I once asked Stirling Moss about the challenges in his time, and he said it's like walking on a tightrope," explained Pirro, twice a winner of the Macau Guia Race when it was run to DTM (Group A) touring car regulations.
"He said in his time they were walking over the Grand Canyon, whereas now we are doing it with a net.
"The difficulties can be similar, but the reward is not the same. I think this can apply somehow to Macau."
But that tightrope analogy isn't just important just for making it a track that drivers love; it has value in developing the next generation on their path towards F1, too.
A different mindset
For young drivers, repeatedly racing at tracks that are ultra-forgiving when it comes to errors fuels an approach of being able to push flat out all the time without much worry.
Drivers can climb the motor racing ladder not needing to leave the kind of margins that were needed in the past, or that are required at street circuits where barriers line the track.
It is for this very reason that Pirro said the FIA views Macau as something to be cherished, as it has huge value for the future.
This weekend's Macau GP is the 72nd in the event's history and is the second to run with Formula Regional cars, rather than the various iterations of Formula 3 machinery that were used from 1983 until 2023.
Last year's first Formula Regional event was chaotic, as a combination of bad weather and youthful exuberance triggered a spate of red-flag interruptions over the weekend.
This time around has been slightly better, with Theo Nael's pole position for Saturday’s qualification race coming after three red flags in final qualifying - a not unknown number for the tricky street circuit.
As European Formula Regional champion Freddie Slater, who has taken second on the grid for his second attempt at the Macau GP, said: "Last year was a lot more hectic with the rain. But this year we seem to be a bit luckier. The track is ramping up, and we can actually enjoy the circuit."
The change of category was about laying foundations for a long-term future for Macau on the international racing calendar, amid absolute conviction from the FIA that its supreme challenge is something to hold on to.
Asked about Macau's value, Pirro said: "For me it is very, very important for more than one reason.
"One is a circuit layout, because really there are places that can never happen again. You could not produce a second similar Macau, and they would never be homologated and would never get permission now.
"So circuits that have been around for such a long time and they manage to still be accepted, it's incredibly important to keep them alive.
"The pleasure of driving close to the walls, the pleasure of knowing that a few inches more you are done and that means your race is over, the ability to try to drive as close as possible to the limit, but never beyond, is an ability that is no longer very important in today's motorsport."
Pirro said one of the results of clinical modern circuits is that young drivers are brought up with a mindset where they only know about pushing 100% all the time, because the consequences of going beyond it are so small.
He said such a trait was not ideal for helping create the very best drivers, as an essential skill for those who make it as high as F1 is to understand your own limits and operate in a world that is not just about abandoning any thoughts about the consequences.
"The more and more this mindset is developing, the more and more it is difficult to pace yourself," added Pirro.
"It is why, when a circuit driver goes rallying, he crashes so many times, because you cannot go at 100% every corner."
For Aston Martin junior driver Mari Boya, who has stepped back from F3 to race the Formula Regional (FR) cars this weekend, Macau adds a critical requirement beyond just being fast: it's about having command of the car.
"This track is just unbelievable," he said. "This is a track where your head needs to be constantly thinking about how to improve, but always being on the limit and in control of the car.
"I feel this is the most important thing. Fast drivers, I feel there are many. But being able to be in control all the time, I think is the difference here."
A duty for the future
Pirro said that because the FIA has a duty to help prepare the next generation of F1 drivers, it needs to give juniors experiences such as Macau - which from this year also has a Formula 4 race on the undercard - that help make them better all-round competitors.
"Every F4 driver, every FR driver, is aiming to go to F1," he said. "Their whole career is designed to get to F1, and the chances are extremely slim.
"The [racing] pyramid is not designed to develop an all-round driver. This is something we speak about when we create the calendars, because drivers only want to run at F1 tracks.
"But if you keep racing on this bunch of race tracks, your development as a driver, and as a human being, as an athlete, will be somehow limited, because the ability of adapting yourself to different situations will be jeopardised.
"So in my perfect world, I would like to see F4, F3, even F2 deliver a portfolio of situations.
"This is why Macau is very, very valuable beyond the personal satisfaction. This is why we should preserve it."
The Race will have live coverage of this weekend's Macau Grand Prix and F4 qualification and main races - head to our YouTube channel to catch all the action from the unforgiving confines of the Guia circuit!
