Charles Leong
Just a few years on and reigning Asian Formula Renault Series and Chinese Formula 4 champion Charles Leong is set to make his Macau Grand Prix debut in the FIA Formula 3 World Cup race. To race in his hometown sporting annual event is the dream of any young driver from Macau, and Charles is no exception.
“I’m really looking forward to this race. It’s an old dream come true,” he says.
The 17-year old karted in Macau and all over Mainland China before stepping up to single-seaters in 2016, taking a win in Chinese F4 and finishing seventh in the Formula Masters China. For 2017 he graduated to the Asian Formula Renault Series and dominated both that and Chinese F4.
He was originally supposed to make a switch to Europe, to take part in the Formula Renault Northern European Cup this year but he chose instead to enter the inaugural season of Asian F3 with Hitech Dragon Racing team. A regular on the podium, he lies fourth in the championship standings with only one event to go – but this is a different challenge.
As per tradition, the cream of young talent from around the world will contest this year’s FIA F3 World Cup. The race is still the ultimate test and talent contest for aspiring Formula 1 drivers. Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher and Lucas di Grassi have all won the Macau Grand Prix and the victor from this year’s stunning capacity grid is sure to become a global star of tomorrow.
Leong, who has never raced the Guia Circuit before, knows he has a tough mission ahead but says: “To be honest I don’t have a target or a goal. I’ll just try my best in the race.”
The life of a racing driver is much tougher than it looks from outside. Leong divides his time between his studies at The International School and racing, and sometimes it is difficult to reconile both.
“Before I didn’t care much about missing school but now it is different because the marks affect my future. Every time I miss school to go for a testing session or a race event, I need to catch up,” he says.
Being the home-crowd favourite is never an easy ask. Macau is a small city where everyone knows each other, and everyone will be eager to see the local boy perform well. He is, however, relaxed and motivated. “I honestly don’t feel any pressure from the home crowd,” he says. “I’ll just focus doing my thing and push hard.”
Leong is following in the footsteps of other Macau racing heroes like André Couto and Rodolfo Avila. The last Macau driver to compete in the Grand Prix was Andy Chang Wing Chung, who finished 12th overall in 2016 with ThreeBond with T-Sport team and retired from racing right after.
To prepare for his first appearance at Macau he has been testing in England, and also spending time at Hitech GP’s simulator. In the summertime he took part in the Silverstone round of the FIA F3 European Championship, getting the opportunity to drive the Dallara F317 – Mercedes, a much different beast compared to the Tatuus-Autotecnica car he drives in Asia.
“The European F3 car is a lot faster. It has a better top speed. Even if the engine has less power the car is a lot lighter. There is also a lot more downforce in the car”, he explains. “For me there is no such thing as a big step. I think it is mainly about the time I spend driving and the experience gathered. It just takes time, miles and a lot of money.”
This year, Leong received financial support for the first time from the Macau Government sports fund, although it is still not enough to aim for a full time seat in the FIA F3 European Championship, the pinnacle of Formula 3 and one of, if not the most competitive, motor racing junior series. A full time drive there costs MOP7 or 8 million a year, with a single day of testing in the range of MOP120.000. Unfortunately, these kinds of budget are not available to Macau motorsport’s biggest hope.
Leong will arrive at the Macau Grand Prix with much less drive time, experience and times than his rivals, but he has been surprising half the world since his karting days with his solid results and performances so we have reason to believe he will not disappoint!