From Senna to Leclerc: the Hong Kong racing team breeding stars for 50 years

“It’s paper thin between the three, thousandths of seconds only,” Kennedy said on Saturday.

The talented trio’s exploits have not gone unnoticed. All have been picked up by F1 junior teams – Beganovic by Ferrari, Aron by Mercedes and Mini by Alpine.

“You can only see them at the level they are racing at and sometimes it is hard to see how high that elevator of talent will go,” Kennedy said. “But I can tell you these three boys have a long future.”

The Irishman should know. Kennedy has been associated with Hong Kong businessman Teddy Yip’s family and their Theodore Racing team for almost 50 years, first as a driver.

He has witnessed a succession of world champions, from Senna to Mika Hakkinen, drive in their red, white and orange livery.

Yip formed the team in 1973, first winning the grand prix the following year with Australia’s Vern Schuppan at the wheel.

The team also raced in the US and in 1976 became the first and only Chinese constructor to line up in Formula One.

But it was in Macau, where the team is back this week for the first time in four years because of Covid-19, that Theodore Racing made an indelible mark.

Senna famously took the chequered flag in 1983, and of the 26 drivers who competed at Macau’s demanding Guia street circuit for Theodore between 1978 and 1992, a staggering 25 went on to take a place on the Formula One grid.

Four went on to become F1 world champions: Senna, Keke Rosberg, Hakkinen and Alan Jones.

The team did not race in Macau after 1992 until Yip’s son, Teddy Jnr, revived it in 2008.

It has continued, in some style, to build on the legacy of Yip Sr, who helped create the original Macau Grand Prix, and who died in 2003, aged 96.

In the past decade, eight Theodore Racing drivers – Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Charles Leclerc, Zhou Guanyu, Nicholas Latifi, Antonio Giovinazzi and Nyck de Vries – have made it to F1.

The 70-year-old Kennedy’s route into motorsport is the stuff of legend.

Born in Dublin in 1953, a teenage Kennedy stunned his parents by declaring he wanted to be a racing driver and his determination was unstoppable.

“We didn’t even have a proper circuit in Ireland,” he said. “So I went to the (iron ore) mines in Australia and worked with a pick and shovel for six months. The money I made, I came back and I bought a new racing car.

“I became Irish champion and I went over and won two British championships. Then I knew I was good; before, I only thought I was good. I often say you drive as hard as you work. And I worked harder than anyone.”