Macau GP: Antonio Felix da Costa wins race for Carlin

Rosenqvist (R) gets the jump on da Costa (C) into the first corner at the start

Antonio Felix da Costa has added his name to the illustrious list of Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix winners, thanks to a stunning drive at the tricky Guia street circuit today.

The Portuguese young gun, fresh from testing for crack Formula 1 team Red Bull Racing in Abu Dhabi, started the 15-lap Grand Prix from pole position. However, just like yesterday’s Qualification Race he found himself trailing Felix Rosenqvist on the run down to Lisboa on the first lap.

da Costa celebrates

But a perfectly executed move into the right-hander saw the Carlin-Dallara straight back into the lead, and once there da Costa was able to control the race, a burst of speed following a mid-race restart setting him up for a historic win.

“Every lap we were on the limit," said the winner. “I have to thank my team. They put this amazing package together. There are so many good names on the [winner’s] list, and my name is there too now. It was tight between all of us, but always fair, and I think we put on a really good show out there."

Podium

Rosenqvist finished second, after taking the fight to da Costa right across the weekend. The pair were barely separated by more than a second throughout the race, with the final margin just 1.5s.

Alex Lynn continued to be the best rookie in Macau, shadowing the leaders throughout the race to take a debut podium. But he wasn’t the only rookie to impress; young German Pascal Wehrlein drove a sensible race to cap off his first visit to Macau with a credible fourth place, holding off the more experienced Felipe Nasr, who returned to Formula 3 from GP2 just for this event.

The hard luck story of the race was 2011 Macau Grand Prix winner Daniel Juncadella, who lost any chance of becoming just the second driver to win the event back-to-back when he was forced out of the race with a suspension failure on the fourth lap.

Results