2023 Macau Formula 4 Race

The qualifying race to set the main race's starting order began at 08:00 local time on 12 November and was scheduled to last eight laps.^[6][9] Rain and winds hit Macau that morning,^[20] causing standing water and a lack of grip on the wet circuit.^[18][21] Race organisers permitted drivers to conduct additional sighter laps to assess the conditions.^[22] Because of the weather and the large amount of spray, it was decided not to begin the race with a standing start but to hold the first two laps under safety car conditions,^[20][21] which made judging braking and turning into corners difficult when the lap began and ended because water could accumulate from being drained from other parts of the track.^[23] Liu spun into the pit lane straight barriers at the start of the second lap, causing damage to his front wing.^[20][21] Liu stopped against the wall at Reservoir Bend,^[21] extending the safety car period by one lap as it was tended to.^[20] The safety car led the field through the pit lane at the conclusion of the second lap and was withdrawn at the end of the following lap, during which time some water was removed from the course and spray levels fell.^[20]

At the start of lap four, Lindblad led Slater and David (who avoided an accident by regaining control of his car's loose rear at Fisherman's Bend turn and nearly losing third place to Leong) and drove away from the rest of the field.^[20][21][24] Daryanani retired after hitting the R Bend turn barrier before crossing the start/finish line, triggering the safety car's second deployment. To enable the recovery of Daryanani's stranded car, each driver had to go through the pit lane again.^[21][24] After Daryanani's car was removed from the track,^[22] the race restarted on lap six with Lindblad again leading from Slater and David.^[21] Lindblad pulled away from teammate Slater, while the other drivers chose alternative paths through the first sector to avoid spray.^[20][22] On the same lap, under pressure from Leong, David made a driver error and crashed into the barrier at the exit of Dona Maria corner. Leong was promoted to third, and the safety car was deployed for the third and final time on lap seven.^[21][24] During the safety car period, Stenshorne stopped on track at San Francisco Hill because of a mechanical issue and could not restart until the whole field had passed him.^[20][21]

The race concluded under safety car conditions due to the time limit expiring, and Lindblad led every lap of the qualification race to secure victory, ensuring he would start the main race on pole position.^[20][21][23] Slater came in second position, 0.758 seconds behind, and Leong finished third. Al Dhaheri, Beeto and Ho finished in positions four through six. On the final lap, Narac's front wing was damaged, and he was shown the mechanical flag (black and orange). As a result, he was unable to enter the pit lane for repairs and finished in seventh.^[20][21] The final classified finishers were Rodrigues, Bustamante and Yeh, Koyama, Xiao, Chui, Cheong, Leung, Dragon, Siu and Lau;^[25] Siu and Lau received drive-through penalties, which were converted into 30-second time penalties and added to their final race times, dropping them to 17th and 18th place, respectively.^[25]

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid
1	23	Arvid Lindblad	SJM Theodore Prema Racing	7	25:39.046	1
2	27	Freddie Slater	SJM Theodore Prema Racing	7	+0.758	2
3	11	Charles Leong	SJM Theodore Prema Racing	7	+1.628	4
4	14	Rashid Al Dhaheri	Prema Racing	7	+2.663	5
5	45	Jack Beeton	AGI Sport	7	+3.405	6
6	68	Ethan Ho	Team KRC	7	+5.913	10
7	1	Raphaël Narac	R-ace GP	7	+53.246	7
8	7	Tiago Rodrigues	Asia Racing Team	7	+53.699	8
9	19	Bianca Bustamante	BlackArts Racing	7	+54.869	11
10	77	Enzo Yeh	Asia Racing Team	7	+55.712	12
11	8	Miki Koyama	Super License	7	+56.977	14
12	96	Kevin Xiao	Asia Racing Team	7	+57.537	16
13	16	Chui Ka Kam	CHAMP Motorsport	7	+59.950	18
14	4	Marcus Cheong	Asia Racing Team	7	+1:01.616	17
15	22	Thomas Leung	H-Star Racing	7	+1:05.809	22
16	30	"Dragon"	B-Max Racing Team	7	+1:09.367	19
17	28	Vivian Siu	CHAMP Motorsport	7	+1:35.309	21
18	53	Marco Lau	H-Star Racing	7	+1:58.554	20
NC	34	Martinius Stenshorne	Pinnacle Motorsport	7	+1:42.043	9
Ret	2	Hadrien David	R-ace GP	5	Accident	3
Ret	88	Kai Daryanani	Pinnacle Motorsport	2	Accident	15
Ret	72	Liu Kaishun	Pinnacle Motorsport	1	Accident	13
Fastest lap: Arvid Lindblad, 2:40.400, 85.3 mph (137.3 km/h), on lap 6
Source:[25]

The 12-lap final race began 29 minutes after its planned start time of 15:40 local time on 12 November.^[6][9][26] The grid was dry prior to the race due to improved weather conditions, albeit some dust patches were set on the circuit to dry spilt oil.^[26][27] Lindblad held off a challenge from teammate Slater to sneak around on the outside into the braking zone for Lisboa corner, causing his teammate to turn in later than usual despite locking his tyres and weaving left and right to try to get the latter out of his slipstream.^[26][28] Behind them, Koyama lost control of her car into Lisboa corner.^[27] She spun against the outside tyre barrier, causing her vehicle's rear to bounce back onto the track and obstruct the outside line. Bustamante was sighted and hit Koyama's rear before Xiao lightly struck her.^[18][26][28] Cheong and David were forced to halt because their pathways were obstructed,^[21] and the safety car was called in to help officials clear the collision scene.^[29]

At the lap three restart, Slater pushed Lindblad for the race lead until a suspected electronic control unit problem in his car in the centre of the Solitude Esses caused him to fall to the back of the field.^[21][28][29] This promoted Leong to second, Al Dhaheri to third and Beeton to fourth.^[21] Stenshorne had advanced from 19th to seventh place after passing Rodrigues on the fourth lap when the safety car was deployed for the second time when Lau crashed at Paiol corner and spilled oil on the track.^[21][26] Due to the oil on the circuit, the safety car was deployed for three laps before the race resumed on lap eight.^[28] Lindblad again maintained his lead and was briefly challenged by Leong in second before being pressured by Al Dhaheri in third due to a lack of pace, allowing Lindblad to move away to 2.7 seconds by the end of lap nine.^[26][29][30] David had overtaken Daryanani and Chui to move into tenth.^[28]

Leung collided with Liu on the way to Lisboa Corner, driving the latter into the outside wall.^[26][28] Instead of deploying a safety car for the accident,^[26] yellow flags were waved at Lisboa corner, stopping drivers from overtaking.^[21][30] Stenshorne collided into the Fisherman's Bend turn barrier, removing his front wing on the straight and promoting everyone behind him up a position.^[26][28] On lap ten, Xiao collided with the wall at Dona Maria corner, resulting in the safety car's third and final deployment.^[29] Lindblad won the race under safety car conditions, having led every lap of the weekend.^[26][31] Leong finished 0.274 seconds behind in second and Al Dhaheri was third.^[26] Beeton finished fourth, ahead of Ho, Rodrigues, David, Yeh, Slater and Daryanani.^[21] The final finishers were Chui, Cheong, Dragon and Siu;^[26] Narac retired from eighth on lap ten due to car damage.^[26][28]

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid
1	23	Arvid Lindblad	SJM Theodore Prema Racing	12	37:28.517	1
2	11	Charles Leong	SJM Theodore Prema Racing	12	+0.274	3
3	14	Rashid Al Dhaheri	Prema Racing	12	+0.992	4
4	45	Jack Beeton	AGI Sport	12	+1.177	5
5	68	Ethan Ho	Team KRC	12	+2.666	6
6	7	Tiago Rodrigues	Asia Racing Team	12	+3.560	8
7	2	Hadrien David	R-ace GP	12	+3.807	20
8	77	Enzo Yeh	Asia Racing Team	12	+4.236	10
9	27	Freddie Slater	SJM Theodore Prema Racing	12	+4.527	2
10	88	Kai Daryanani	Pinnacle Motorsport	12	+5.812	21
11	16	Chui Ka Kam	CHAMP Motorsport	12	+6.571	13
12	4	Marcus Cheong	Asia Racing Team	12	+7.334	14
13	30	"Dragon"	B-Max Racing Team	12	+29.607	16
14	28	Vivian Siu	CHAMP Motorsport	12	+2:02.952	17
Ret	1	Raphaël Narac	R-ace GP	10	Accident	7
Ret	96	Kevin Xiao	Asia Racing Team	9	Accident	12
Ret	34	Martinius Stenshorne	Pinnacle Motorsport	8	Accident	19
Ret	72	Liu Kaishun	Pinnacle Motorsport	7	Accident	22
Ret	22	Thomas Leung	H-Star Racing	7	Accident	15
Ret	53	Marco Lau	H-Star Racing	3	Accident	18
Ret	19	Bianca Bustamante	BlackArts Racing	0	Accident	9
Ret	8	Miki Koyama	Super License	0	Accident	11
Fastest lap: Arvid Lindblad, 2:24.791, 94.5 mph (152.1 km/h), on lap 10
Source:[32]