Fifteen of 22 drivers on the current 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship grid can reflect on the role of Macau as part of their rise to the top.

While for many it is a step to a Formula One drive, the demanding Guia street circuit remains a fond memory.

Topping the podium of this year’s Spanish Grand Prix, F1’s youngest race winner Max Verstappen was on the grid in Macau less than two years ago. Racing with Van Amersfoort, Verstappen recorded the fastest race lap and seventh place, capping a year of F3 racing that saw him finish third in the FIA European F3 Championship. 

Months later, Max sat in the sixth row as the lights went out at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, making the then 17-year-old the youngest ever driver in F1.

Verstappen’s great F3 rival, Esteban Ocon, made his Formula One debut at the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix with the Manor team. After a rookie attempt at Macau yielding tenth place, Ocon would arrive at the 2014 edition as the FIA F3 European Champion. The young Frenchman would qualify second, and finish fourth in the qualification race, but ultimately crashed out of the main race while dicing for the lead.

Twenty-one-year-old Manor driver Pascal Wehrlein placed fourth at the race in 2012. At the 2011 Macau GP Carlos Sainz Jr ran 17th, with Kevin Magnussen 14th and Felipe Nasr second.

In the lead-up to the 2016 European Grand Prix, Sainz Jr expressed hope to the Grand Prix Times that Azerbaijan’s Baku F1 circuit would live up to the pundits’ comparisons with Macau.

“I've never been [to Baku]. I just hope it’s actually as nice as Macau which I’ve always regarded as the most iconic track, and it would be great for Formula One to have a circuit like it.”

The 2010 GP saw now Williams driver Valtteri Bottas clutch third, improving on the Finn’s fifth placing at Macau in 2009.

Daniel Ricciardo raced against Bottas for Carlin in 2009, confessing to a love affair with the Guia circuit in an interview with Red Bull.  

“Just hearing the name gets me excited. I love street circuits and Macau is the ultimate street circuit. It’s big, it’s ballsy. It’s like Monaco but twice the length and even crazier. I like that a lot. It’s good fun,” he said.

“If Formula One never races there then I’m going to try to get as many F1 drivers as I can to enter one year and just do it, because I have to race on that circuit again … Once is not enough.”

Marcus Ericsson competed in the 2008 Grand Prix, with Haas driver Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenberg running as team mates for ASM Formule 3 in 2007.  

Frenchman Grosjean ran fifth for Signature in 2006, improving on his ninth place from 2005.

Four-time F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel is also a Macau veteran. Third outright in 2005, Vettel was a threat to win the following year’s race prior to suffering a ten-place grid penalty and taking 23rd.

Pitpass asked Ferrari’s future leading man before he started the 2006 Grand Prix: “What would a win at Macau on Sunday mean to you?”

“A lot,” replied Vettel. “It’s a very tough race; a big race. It’s the best track in the world, so it would be a real pleasure to win here.”

Mercedes F1 team mates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg twice faced off at Macau, in 2003 and 2004, showing hints of the rivalry to develop. Contrary to present expectation of Silver Arrow-dominated podiums, both drivers failed to achieve strong finishes at either race.

In 2004 both the current reigning and aspiring World Champion were on a hot streak, with a Hamilton-Rosberg one-two in the qualification race, leading to a Hamilton-Rosberg front row for the main race.

In the main race, however, Nico was forced to retire early after crashing his Dallara-Opel at the Lisboa corner on the second lap. Lewis, who was in Rosberg’s slipstream at the accident, fell through the order to finish 14th.

In an interview on Twitter in 2014, Lewis told fans Macau was his favourite track.

“My favourite track, really, is Macau. It’s a street circuit, at least twice the length of Monaco and it’s just never-ending streets and then you have a really long straight for two kilometres. It’s amazing.”

The oldest Macau competitor on the 2016 F1 grid also has claim to equal highest placing. Racing for Promatecme UK, Jenson Button narrowly missed victory at the 1999 Macau GP. Button did not miss a beat, jumping from the second step of the Macau podium straight to F1, and ten years later claimed the 2009 World Championship.

Check out our gallery on F1 stars in Macau