Dan Ticktum holds provisional pole position for the Macau GP Qualification Race after edging out Callum Illot and Mick Schumacher during the opening FIA F3 World Cup qualifying session.

The scheduled 40-minutes of running was interrupted by two red flag periods and was eventually denied a final lap shootout when TODA Racing’s Sena Sakaguchi crashed towards the end of his final lap.

Motopark Academy’s Ticktum and Carlin’s Illot traded blows throughout much of the session with the former eventually getting the better of his fellow Briton by just 0.132s.

Schumacher joined the front-running party relatively late after a low-key start to proceedings for the German. The reigning FIA Formula 3 European Champion found his groove in the closing minutes to move into third.

The Hitech GP pair of Hon Chio Leong and Enaam Ahmed endured almost identical accidents, as both got things wrong through Police Corner in separate moments.

Ahmed’s impact looked to have ensured a final lap shootout with the session restarting with a little less than five minutes remaining. The tension was mounting as Ticktum and SJM Theodore Racing by Prema’s Schumacher left the pits for one final time, but any chance to improve was unfortunately scuppered by Sakaguchi’s off, which brought out the yellow flags in the final sector.

When the dust settled, Jake Hughes made it three Britons in the top four as he fared far better than his Hitech GP team-mates.

Yuhi Sekiguchi impressively proved to be Japan’s highest challenger with fifth place as he pipped Pau street circuit race winner Sacha Fenestraz.

Motopark Academy’s Joel Erikkson was running well in the early minutes, but eventually had to settle for seventh, whilst B-MAX Racing’s Alex Palou was next up in the order.

Ferdinand Habsburg made it three Motopark cars in the top nine with dominant Japanese F3 Champion Sho Tsuboi in tenth.

All 28 drivers competing for this year’s prestigious FIA F3 World Cup in Macau will have it all to do again tomorrow with Free Practice 2 and then Qualifying 2 ultimately deciding the grid for Saturday’s Qualification Race. The finishing order on Saturday will then determine the starting order for Sunday’s Final.

Mick Schumacher's climb up the motorsport ladder could take a big step next season with a move to ART Grand Prix in Formula 2, according to a German media report.

The son of seven-time champion Michael is enjoying a strong year in European F3 with recent wins at Spa, Silverstone and Misano leaving him fourth in the championship, 36 points behind leader and Red Bull junior Dan Ticktum.

However, according to the Kohlner Express, while at Monza last weekend, the 19-year-old was reportedly talking with Nicolas Todt, son of FIA president and former Ferrari boss Jean, who has built his own career as a driver manager and is a co-founder of the ART GP squad.

Though unconfirmed, it would be a key move as Schumacher looks to eventually make it to F1 with even one or two years in the series offering the chance to gather the crucial points needed to qualify for a superlicence.

This weekend, Mick will be performing a demonstration in a Mercedes DTM car at the Nurburgring as part of the WTCC's program on the Nordschleife.

It will mark the first time he'll have driven one of the German touring cars, with the opportunity created by former F1 driver Gerhard Berger, who now runs the series.

Long-time European Formula 3 championship leader Dan Ticktum has questioned the sudden dominance by Mick Schumacher after he took two wins and stormed clear in the standings last weekend in Austria.

The Red Bull junior was leading by over 100 points at one stage this season but five consecutive wins, including a clean sweep at the Nurburgring and the first two races at the Red Bull Ring have seen Schumacher take a 49-point advantage into the final three races to come at Hockenheim.

Ticktum, who is the running for a seat at Toro Rosso in F1 next year, needs the F3 title to qualify for a superlicence and made the since-deleted claims of a conspiracy on Instagram.

"Not ideal is the best way I can describe the weekend here in Austria," he wrote having finished eighth, 17th and fourth over the three rounds in Spielberg.

"I don’t like pointing fingers at anyone but to be honest, this weekend the pace in the car was not there. However, compared to the top two, no-one on this grid had a chance.

"Even their other teammates who are good drivers were nowhere compared to them. Interesting is how I would describe their pace and I am confident many people in the F3 paddock will agree."

Though later insisting he was not suggesting Schumacher's Prema team are running an illegal car, the 19-year-old suggested there was a "special engine mode or something" Mick was running.

Also Read:

• Mick Schumacher eyeing F2 seat in 2019 - report
• Toro Rosso not considering Mick Schumacher for 2019 - Marko

Ticktum also refuted comments by followers of being a "sore loser" or "salty", adding:  "I have a huge respect for Mick who has dealt with a lot in the past few years. I am simply suggesting that it seems to have come from nowhere.

"I appreciate I have lessons to learn still. I’m not denying that. You don’t know the real story because you are not at the track looking at everyone’s data. So I’m afraid I have to tell you that your opinion is invalid under these circumstances.

"I’ll say it only once more unless you have something constructive to say, leave your useless, all thought comments off my page as they have no evidence to ratify the truth. If you want to talk to me, DM me, as I can answer your questions if you may have some!

"Unfortunately, however, I am fighting a losing battle as my last name is not Schumacher."

Perhaps showing greater maturity in response, Schumacher kept his response short and to the point.

“I do not listen to something like that. The car is terrific to drive. We’ve evolved as a team, while others may have stopped at one point," he told Speed Week.

“I wish him good luck that he stays in the title fight. But I focus on myself, that’s my key.

“Everyone evolves during the year. We never stop working and learning. After my win at Spa, it was not easy, but we managed to be consistent, especially in qualifying, with good lap times.”

Following the meeting of the World Motor Sport Council today, 9 March, in Geneva, the FIA can confirm that the Formula 1 group of companies has been selected as the promoter for the new FIA Formula 3 Championship, which will begin from 2019.

The international championship will be hosted on the FIA Formula One World Championship platform and feature an all-new car, with a single supplier for chassis, engines and tyres to be selected by the FIA in collaboration with Formula 1.

The introduction of this new FIA Formula 3 Championship will benefit both competitors and fans, providing the unparalleled platform of F1 for young drivers working their way up the FIA’s single-seater pyramid, which now spans the full spectrum of the discipline from karting to FIA-certified Formula 4, FIA-certified regional Formula 3, Formula 3, Formula 2 and Formula One.

Having the top three tiers of FIA single-seater competition together at the same events will make it easier than ever for fans to follow the careers of aspiring young drivers and see the dramatic journey towards Formula One unfold.

An exclusive grid of no more than 30 cars will be accepted, with the championship planned to run between nine and ten events, with two races per event.

The new car will integrate the latest FIA safety technologies, making it the benchmark in safety standards for the F3 category. It will feature increased chassis strength, increased cockpit rim height and strength that will be the same standard as in F1, the Halo frontal impact protection device, and will be the first car to feature a frontal anti-intrusion panel.

Cost control is key element of the new FIA Formula 3 Championship, and in addition to the use of common components, there will be limited, regulated testing, as well as limitations on trackside personnel and the use of electronics and sensors.

The FIA Formula 3 Championship will sit above the recently-introduced Formula 3 regional championships, certified by FIA, as a first step into a global racing series. Two of these regional competitions will begin in 2018 in Asia and the Americas, and it is anticipated that more F3 regional championships will be proposed by ASNs, which will again feature a single-make car with a single-make engine. The ASN will be free to choose from the homologated FIA suppliers, subject to compliance with the FIA regulations and cost guidelines.

The chassis and safety regulations for both FIA F3 and F3 regional championships certified by FIA will be largely the same, ensuring that the young, talented drivers have the best environment to develop their skills before making the step up to international competition.

FIA Single-Seater Commission President, Stefano Domenicali, said: “The FIA has been refining the single-seater pyramid with great care over recent years, and the new FIA Formula 3 Championship achieves an important goal of putting the top three FIA single-seater competitions on the same platform. This has great advantages for fans and competitors alike, as graduates of FIA-certified national and regional competitions have a clear first step into international racing, while spectators and viewers watching Formula One will be able to see a broader spectrum of future stars on their way to the pinnacle of our sport. Formula 3 has a long and rich heritage as a key category where the skills to reach the top are developed, and now with Formula 1 as the promoter, I’m sure it will continue to flourish.”

Ross Brawn, Managing Director – Motorsport at Formula 1, said: “We are pleased to have been entrusted with the organisation of the FIA Formula 3 Championship as from 2019. While race fans can enjoy the spectacle of drivers battling it out at the pinnacle of motor sport, which is the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, one of our objectives is to also provide them with the opportunity of discovering new talent and watching them progress along a clearly defined and high-level pathway. Already, since 2017, this has led to the creation of the FIA Formula 2 Championship and, as from 2019, the Grand Prix weekends will also feature another step on the FIA’s racing ladder, in which the best young drivers from national and regional categories will be able to race on the greatest and most prestigious race tracks of the world, on the same programme as those they might be racing against in F1 in the future.”