The Macau Grand Prix has become famed as the single most prestigious race for up-and-coming Formula 1 wannabes in the world. But, after an unbroken 37-year run as the blue-riband of Formula 3 competition from 1983-2019, this year it is contested by competitors from the Chinese Formula 4 Championship, owing to Macau's very strict quarantine measures in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

But we wanted to wallow in Macau F3 nostalgia, so we dug out a feature that ran in Autosport in November 2002 celebrating some of the more dramatic Macau GPs, and updated it with happenings from the Guia circuit over the past 17 runnings since then.

Marcus Simmons

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Marcus Simmons is the Deputy Editor of Autosport magazine. As a child he was a regular on the chalk banks of Thruxton – hence his unhealthy obsession with 1970s Formula 2 and F3 – before he became an MSA timekeeper at the age of 17. At 19, his reporting debut for Motoring News arguably overshadowed Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal as the sporting moment of June 1986, and he joined the staff in 1990 after graduating from his degree course in Plymouth. A parallel Formula First career – which was as incident-packed as his childhood exploits in show-jumping and hunter trials – finished when he wrote off his car and put himself in hospital in 1991.

Marcus moved to Autosport in the summer of 1996. Since then he has had two stints as a freelancer and a brief spell as editor of Motor Sport magazine, during which the revered green cover was revived, before he rejoined Autosport in 2008. He lives in Teddington with his wife (who, gratifyingly, grew up within earshot of Castle Combe), daughter, stepson, dog, cat and guitars, and additionally has an adult daughter and stepson.