F3: FIA could apply Piquet ruling to Macau

The FIA has left the door open to giving itself the right to veto drivers for the Macau Grand Prix – as it did with Nelson Piquet Jr.'s entry for the Formula 3 European Championship round at Pau.

The Far East event is best known by the "Macau GP" name and is coordinated by Motor Race Consultants' Barry Bland, but it also comes under the jurisdiction of motorsport's governing body, which awards the FIA F3 Intercontinental Cup to the race's winner.

In the wake of the decision to exclude Piquet – who wants to compete in Macau with Carlin – from Pau, FIA Single Seater Commission president Stefano Domenicali told Autosport: "Generally speaking the situation of the [Macau] race is getting stronger. Therefore I would say that maybe in future we need to revisit the [entry] situation. It's not yet on the agenda but I think the Commission will discuss it."

When asked whether drivers such as Daniel Juncadella – who made a surprise Macau comeback in 2015, four years after winning the race – could be turned away in the same way as Piquet was from Pau, Domenicali said: "It's not a championship, so it's a different story; so, I want to have a discussion with Commission members to see what is the role of this race in the structure."

Piquet's participation in Pau would have qualified him for Macau on the criterion that a driver must have contested two F3 races in the same calendar year, but he could achieve that goal by competing in a round of the Euroformula Open series, in which Carlin also runs a team.

MIXED REACTION FROM TEAM BOSSES

While F3 team bosses understood the FIA's decision to stop Piquet racing in Pau, some also confessed to being disappointed.

"In some ways I think it's good that the FIA sticks to its plan for the championship," Motopark chief Timo Rumpfkeil said. "Nevertheless, I think it would have been good to have him racing here – it would increase the field to 22 cars and it would have given more attention to the championship. But the question is if this is the sort of attention we want."

Hitech GP director Oliver Oakes added: "I understand it genuinely from both sides. The FIA does a very good job of making things as fair as it can, and it has to keep its ethos of training tomorrow's F1 stars, but if an ex-F1 driver like Piquet wants to come in it's a great challenge for the drivers to try and beat him.

"From my side, fair play to Nelson for having the balls to come and take it on – I don't think there are many guys who'd want to do that."

T-Sport head Russell Eacott said: "Hats off to him for wanting to have a go – what a great bloke. He probably had more to lose than he had to gain."

Originally on Autosport.com