Formula 1 has taken the world by storm in recent years, surging in popularity, but alongside it, F1 Esports has been growing significantly as well. But what is F1 Esports? How did it begin and what should you know about the virtual racing sensation?
The world is no stranger to competitive gaming and in many walks of life, live gaming has spilled out into the virtual world. As the online world developed, so too did online competition and the likes of virtual esports were proceeded by online competitive gambling. The world of online casino games like slots, blackjack, and poker were quick to jump on the online trend and it was only a matter of time before the sporting world did something similar.
Origins
In the case of Formula 1, the dawn of Esports came in 2017 with the inaugural running of the F1 Esports Series. The series incorporated the use of the official F1 video-game, made by Codemasters (now under the EA Sports banner) and drivers compete using sim-racing wheel and pedal set-ups. F1 launched the series in order to capitalise on the rising growth of Esports in general and engage Formula 1 with a wider audience.
Over 60,000 avid sim-racers from across the globe took part in the qualification for a chance at winning the first-ever F1 Esports title, with top honours eventually falling to Brendon Leigh in the final held at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. Leigh defeated 19 fellow races across three Virtual Grands Prix.
The first year of the F1 Esports Series didn’t feature official teams, however, Fernando Alonso had a team of his own competing and rightly told Sky Sports that the championship was “going to get bigger and bigger and it will grow up very quickly in the next couple of years.” F1 Esports in the F1 FanZone. German Grand Prix, Thursday 19th July 2018. Hockenheim, Germany.
Growth
In 2018, the Formula 1 Esports series grew as nine of the 10 official F1 teams. A year later all 10 teams joined in an official capacity and that is something that has remained a part of the series to this day. The stakes involved in the competition grew quickly as well and in 2020 a $750K prize fund was awarded to the champion.
2020 was also a pivotal moment for F1 Esports as the implications of the covid-pandemic led to a boom in sim-racing. With the real-life Formula 1 season put on hold, the worlds of real and virtual racing collided for multiple Virtual Grand Prix. These events, both televised and streamed garnered a total viewership via TV and digital platforms of over 30 million. Moreover, the likes of Charles Leclerc, Alex Albon, George Russell and Lando Norris (commonly known as the Twitch quartet), went on to garner 2.7 million viewers on their personal Twitch accounts during the 2020 pandemic.
The likes of Norris, through his online media arm Quadrant, and Max Verstappen, via his sim-racing outfit Team Redline, continue to participate in the wider world of online sim-racing to this day.
Present Day
The latest F1 Esports championship started in 2023 and continued in 2024 after a dispute between series organisers and drivers over sponsorship caused a delay. With 50% length races held across 12 rounds, broadcast live on the Formula 1official YouTube channel, the championship honours went to Red Bull’s Frederik Rasmussen, with the Teams’ Championship going to the Scuderia Ferrari Esports team. The first round in Bahrain attracted over 800,000 views, but this figure fell to 250K views for the season finale.
F1 Esports Champions
Two drivers hold the record for the most F1 Esports championships with Jarno Opmeer (2020, 2021) and Brendon Leigh (2017, 2018) having won the crown on two occasions.
What does the future hold?
Esports in general has largely operated in its own bubble, with Youtube and Twitch streaming making up the large proportion of viewership numbers. However, the transition from online digital streaming to broadcast is a difficult one, but could provide huge growth for F1 Esports as a whole. However, any growth for F1 Esports will be for nought if a similar disruption between series organisers and the drivers occurs once again.
Beyond settling disputes and a future on broadcast television, F1 Esports could see itself embedded into the real sporting world in a greater capacity. Esports events have already started to break into the Olympic scene, providing an international platform of sporting audiences to engage with.
Esports also provides the platform for sim-racers to engage in real-life racing. For example, 2022 F1 Esports champion Lucas Blakeley has competed in the Race of Champions as well as multiple single-seater races. The beauty of F1 Esports and sim-racing in general is that it offers competitors an affordable way to test their driving skills and the future could see more and more drivers utilise the world of F1 Esports to launch a career in motorsports.
