Current season, competition or edition: 2023–24 Formula One Sim Racing World Championship | |
Sport | Esports |
---|---|
Founded | 2017 |
Owner(s) | Formula One Management, Liberty Media |
CEO | Stefano Domenicali |
Countries | Worldwide |
Most recent champion(s) | (Driver:
Lucas Blakeley) (Team: McLaren Shadow) |
Most titles |
Brendon Leigh (2) Jarno Opmeer (2) |
Official website |
f1esports |
The FIA Formula One Esports Series is a professional esports programme promoted by Formula 1. The programme was created in 2017 to involve the official Formula 1 video game and its community of players, providing a new avenue for greater engagement with the sport of Formula 1. In 2018, the official Formula 1 teams joined the programme for the first time to set up their own esports teams to compete in the Formula 1 Esports Series championship. [1]
The first Formula One Esports Series was announced on 21 August 2017, with the qualification and finals stages to be held on the official Formula 1 video game of the 2017 championship. [2] Over 60,000 gamers participated in the inaugural series, watched by 123 countries around the world and generating over 20 million impressions on social media. Brendon Leigh of the UK was the first champion of the series. [3]
2018 was Formula 1's first full season in esports and was split into 2 stages. In the first stage that opened in April 2018, online racers were offered the incredible opportunity to earn a place on the official esports driver line-up for one of the official F1 teams. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, Red Bull Racing, Force India F1 Team, Williams, Renault Sport F1 Team, Haas F1 Team, McLaren, Toro Rosso and Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team all offered positions in their esports driver line ups as part of the series inaugural Pro Draft. [1] Over 66,000 gamers participated to vie for a spot in the official F1 teams' esports team who competed in the F1 New Balance Esports Series and a chance to win a share of the $200,000 prize fund. The series drew a record audience of 5.5million across selected TV networks and live streams online. Mercedes took the 2018 Team Championship and Brendon Leigh became two-time Driver Champion. [4]
On 8 April 2019, Formula 1 announced the third instalment of the F1 Esports Series, with an increased prize fund of $500,000. [5] Ferrari joined the series after choosing not to take part the year prior. [6] The series was won by David Tonizza, driving for Ferrari Driver Academy, with Red Bull Racing Esports taking the Constructors' Trophy.
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 seasons were held remotely online rather than in a LAN setting. Both titles were won by Jarno Opmeer, in 2020 for Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen Esports and in 2021 for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports. Frederik Rasmussen finished as runner-up in both championships. The championship remained online for the 2022 season, when Lucas Blakeley and McLaren Shadow claimed their first titles in the series.
For the next season, the championship would be renamed to "F1 Sim Racing" and was contested across late 2023 and early 2024.
Year | Game | Venue | Driver's Champion | Team | Constructor's Champion | Report |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | F1 2017 | Yas Marina Circuit, United Arab Emirates | Brendon Leigh | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports | Not awarded | Report |
2018 | F1 2018 | Gfinity Esports Arena, United Kingdom | Brendon Leigh | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports | Report |
2019 | F1 2019 | Gfinity Esports Arena, United Kingdom | David Tonizza | Scuderia Ferrari Esports Team | Red Bull Racing Esports | Report |
2020 | F1 2020 | Online (COVID-19) | Jarno Opmeer | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen Esports | Red Bull Racing Esports | Report |
2021 | F1 2021 | Online (COVID-19) | Jarno Opmeer | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports | Report |
2022 | F1 22 | Online | Lucas Blakeley | McLaren Shadow | McLaren Shadow | Report |
2023-24 | F1 23 | International | Report |
Driver | Championships | Victories | Pole positions |
---|---|---|---|
Jarno Opmeer | 2 | 12 | 5 |
Brendon Leigh | 2 | 6 | 4 |
David Tonizza | 1 | 6 | 6 |
Lucas Blakeley | 1 | 6 | 4 |
Frederik Rasmussen | 0 | 15 | 16 |
Dani Bereznay | 0 | 5 | 7 |
Nicolas Longuet | 0 | 3 | 7 |
Thomas Ronhaar | 0 | 3 | 6 |
Marcel Kiefer | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Bari Broumand | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Salih Saltunç | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Cedric Thomé | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Dani Moreno | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Alfie Butcher | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Álvaro Carretón | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Josh Idowu | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Enzo Bonito | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Tino Naukkarinen | 0 | 0 | 1 |