Audi announce organisational restructure ahead of F1 arrival in 2026 5 Winners and 5 Losers from Miami – Who excelled in the Sunshine State Tsunoda concedes he ‘made life much more difficult’ with five-second penalty in Miami after battling for final point Antonelli taking plenty of positives from Miami weekend despite struggles on way to P6 in the Grand Prix ‘We took the tough decision’ – Vasseur defends Ferrari team orders situation in Miami as he acknowledges Hamilton’s frustration Jarno Opmeer has been crowned F1 Sim Racing Drivers’ World Champion for a record third time following Thursday night’s Abu Dhabi season finale with his Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing outfit also taking the Teams’ title Opmeer approached the 12th and final round of the campaign at a virtual Yas Marina Circuit sitting atop the standings on 148 points followed by KICK F1 Sim Racing Team’s Thomas Ronhaar on 127 and Williams Esports’ Ismael Fahssi on 125 LIVESTREAM: Catch all the Round 12 action from the season finale of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship Ronhaar found himself with a brilliant chance of overturning that points deficit heading into the race having charged to pole position during Qualifying while Opmeer dramatically fell at the Q2 hurdle which included Opmeer and Ronhaar at one stage making contact it was the Dutchman who emerged with the championship via a strong recovery to seventh place Ronhaar had earlier been penalised for “rough driving” and eventually wound up at the back of the pack with Fahssi unable to pull off the significant points swing he required by coming home fifth READ MORE: EA Sports reveal first look at F1 25 as updates and bonus content for Iconic Edition announced The race victory went to Aston Martin Aramco F1 Esports Team rookie Otis Lawrence with McLaren Shadow driver Alfie Butcher and Scuderia Ferrari HP Esports Team’s Bari Broumand completing the podium Don't miss your chance to experience the picturesque Imola circuit.. MIAMI LOWDOWN: All the key moments as McLaren and Antonelli shine, Ferrari face tensions and LEGO takes over MONDAY MORNING DEBRIEF: How Leclerc and Hamilton’s opposing Miami strategies culminated in fractious Ferrari radio exchanges HIGHLIGHTS: Piastri leads McLaren 1-2 after thrilling race in Miami Driveable LEGO big builds welcomed to Miami drivers’ parade Cadillac unveil their team logo and brand during dazzling Miami launch event ahead of 2026 entry VideoRACE START: Verstappen narrowly holds onto the lead in thrilling start to Miami GP DRIVER OF THE DAY: Piastri's imperious Miami showing gets your vote Red Bull's protest into Russell over yellow flags rejected by Miami stewards Stella ‘surprised’ by McLaren advantage after 1-2 in Miami as he hails particular area of engineering 'excellence' © 2003-2025 Formula One World Championship Limited Mercedes Esports Team and Jarno Opmeer To Part WaysHighly successful partnership comes to a close The Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Esports Team has enjoyed a glittering and trophy laden three-year relationship with Jarno Opmeer The 24-year-old began his Esports career with Renault in 2019 before moving to Alfa Romeo in 2020 where he claimed the first of two F1 Esports Drivers' Championship titles collecting his second title in back-to-back years and helping to deliver a second Constructors' Championship for the Mercedes team Fifth and fourth places finishes followed for Jarno in 2022 and 2023-24 Head of Mercedes Esports Oli MacFarlane said: "Jarno has been a huge part of the Mercedes Esports programme over the past three years and has given fans of sim racing so many memorable moments "His contribution to the double championship winning season in 2021 is the absolute highlight We wish Jarno all the best for the future and personally I'd like to thank him for his hard work and dedication." Stay informed and up-to-date with the latest motorsports news from around the world our website offers comprehensive coverage of all the latest developments in the world of motorsports Don’t miss a beat – visit our website today In a thrilling night at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Jarno Opmeer claimed victory in the latest round of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship Opmeer showcased his exceptional racing skills as he battled through a fiercely competitive field that included notable drivers like Thomas Ronhaar and Otis Lawrence The race unfolded with intense strategies and nail-biting moments culminating in a spectacular DRS move that allowed Opmeer to leapfrog from third to first the excitement of sim racing reached new heights In a gripping continuation of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship the skilled driver Jarno Opmeer clinched a magnificent victory at Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Starting off in a less than ideal fifth position Opmeer quickly demonstrated his prowess against fierce competitors including polesitter Thomas Ronhaar from KICK F1 Sim Racing and Otis Lawrence from the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Esports Team showcased not only the drivers’ skills but also strategic pit stops that played a crucial role in the final results Ronhaar effortlessly maintained his lead down to Turn 1 but rookie Lawrence made his swift moves to seize the front position This was a remarkable feat considering the wealth of experience amongst his rivals drivers like Frederik Rasmussen and Bari Broumand placed themselves into contention while Broumand was the first among top drivers to pit for fresh tires The race constantly shifted momentum up until the end particularly in the final moments when Opmeer executed a stunning DRS-assisted maneuver moving from third to first in one fluid motion mere tenths ahead of Broumand and the determined Lawrence many analysts began to highlight the implications of the race on the championship standings The unfortunate turn of events for Ronhaar who faced a three-second penalty due to collisions and warnings Such incidents emphasize the unpredictable nature of sim racing where one minor mistake can drastically alter the outcome This race served as a reminder of the fierce competition in the F1 Sim Racing community setting the stage for an exciting continuation of the series The excitement of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship unfolded magnificently at Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez where Jarno Opmeer showcased his extraordinary talent to clinch victory Opmeer navigated through a competitive field highlighting his exceptional racing acumen His journey to the front was nothing short of breathtaking culminating in a decisive move that enthralled fans and rivals alike Thomas Ronhaar from the KICK F1 Sim Racing Team took the lead from pole position representing the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Esports Team displayed remarkable skill to challenge the seasoned competitors This battle for supremacy saw Lawrence leading for a significant portion it was the strategic maneuvers and timely decisions that ultimately played a crucial role in the outcome of the race the dynamics changed dramatically as Bari Broumand from Scuderia Ferrari HP Esports Team attempted to exploit different tire strategies it was Opmeer’s audacious DRS-assisted overtaking maneuver at Turn 1 that solidified his lead showcasing not only his racing prowess but also his ability to remain composed under pressure but Opmeer’s strategic prowess and calm demeanor ensured he crossed the finish line first Opmeer has not only solidified his position in the championship standings but also captured the hearts of fans reaffirming why the world of F1 Sim Racing is filled with such electrifying moments every race promises to deliver thrilling narratives and fierce competition among top-tier drivers and website in this browser for the next time I comment beautifully designed and comes with everything you need to engage your visitors and increase conversions Jarno Opmeer is arguably the most famous of them all has almost half a million subscribers on YouTuber and his audience of around 400k regularly follows his races live on Twitch Opmeer has now jumped ship to Red Bull and PlanetF1.com caught up with him at his home grand prix in Zandvoort I mean partnering up with Freddie [Rasmussen] we’re going have a really strong team I think we haven’t seen two world champions in the same team before it doesn’t guarantee future success but we’re both very experienced and we’re both very determined to try and win the championship I’ve known for quite a while but straightaway we just continue to prepare for F1 esports I work together with Redline now and the Mercedes esports team is quite small relative to how big Redline is you’ve got the Red Bull side of the esports team as well Redline is obviously very experienced in sim racing and that’s just great that everyone in there understands sim racing understands the struggles and the practice routines The experience from the team side is great and Your compatriot Max Verstappen is a huge fan of sim racing have you spoken to him much since you joined we chat a little bit every now and then on the discord I’m sure we will speak more over the next weeks and months very top level in multiple sims at the same time but you really slightly lose a little bit of an edge I’m sure I’ll speak to him after the end of the esports season a lot more I think we have to stick to FIFA and Call of Duty What are the main differences in racing in iRacing and F1 you have to refigure out the game all the time which in some way makes it for everyone really hard to really figure it out you kind of know what you have to focus on How quickly do you get used to a new F1 game when it comes out It is really the setups and driving combination that you have to figure out What’s the fastest way to drive and with what setup combination That’s always the hard part to figure out Every game suits better than others in the past There is the comparison with League of Legends in that they get new metas every few months and it’s a little bit the same with F1 Only a few drivers manage to adapt year on year and be at the top level How different is esports to the real thing Just a few degrees difference in the weather has a huge impact on tyres we do have wet weather but we can prepare endlessly for it I remember when I was racing in Formula Renault 30 metres if you’ve got headwinds or tailwinds You have to be so close to the limit to even make it into Q2 for example “That’s why you see in a Q1 or a Q2 you see P1 to P20 within because a lot more people would make mistakes The 2023-24 season had one event then a break of five months… I don’t know much about what’s going on behind the scenes so it’s really hard to say what’s going on behind the scenes F1 team principals’ rich list: Net worth figures revealed for Wolff, Horner and more How to become an F1 driver: Money, dedication, talent and more When did esports as a career become an idea for you I tried to qualify F1 esports in 2017 but I had very limited time to practice which was when you needed to get into the semifinals I knew that I was capable of getting into esports by the fact that I was so close with such little preparation already I remember when I just started to try and qualify for F1 esports I think I was a second slower than [2017 and 2018 champion] Brendon Leigh randomly Every real driver who goes into sim racing really struggles in the beginning but I knew I had the potential to be at that top level I think something a lot of drivers struggle with is obviously the feeling like the lack of G-forces But it’s also your sense of your perception probably because they’re a little bit more scared but also your sense of depth is so much better So those are the two main factors that are hard to adapt to Depth and G-force are probably the real struggles when you just start out in sim racing and really having to figure out all the setups Do you think everyone is a bit more aggressive than on track you haven’t got the cost worry as well Definitely the practice part of sim racing once you get to the actual qualifying session where you’re trying to get into Q2 or Q3 to get a qualifying lap together then the damage of you crashing is pretty much the same it’s a huge pain if an F1 driver crashes it’s more of an ego hit than a cost hit Read next: Ranked: The last 20 drivers to make their F1 debuts – from worst to best © Planet Sport Limited 2025 • All Rights Reserved Sim Racing has grown in popularity in recent years with more and more drivers making a name for themselves on their rigs and showcasing their skills on streaming platforms to audiences of potential millions It is also proving an essential tool for professional track teams when learning new circuits and preparing for upcoming races Red Bull Sim Racing has made a powerful move by signing two-time Formula One Sim Racing world champion Jarno Opmeer to its ranks on a multi-year deal He joins reigning champion Frede Rasmussen to complete a stellar lineup Opmeer started his racing career on the track in 2016 racing in Formula 4 for Dutch team MP Motorsport Seven wins in his debut season saw Opmeer finish in second place in the overall standings The Dutch driver continued with MP for the next two years racing in various iterations of Formula Renault although the success of his debut season was unable to be replicated When his time at MP Motorsport came to an end joining Renault-Vitality Esports for the 2019 and third season of the F1 Esports Series One win and five podiums saw Opmeer finish fourth in the driver’s standings and catch the eye of the Alfa Romeo Esports team who signed him ahead of the 2020 season he secured four wins from 12 races to secure the world championship beating (now teammate) Rasmussen of Red Bull That success was replicated the following year as Opmeer switched to Mercedes and secured back-to-back drivers’ championships My first race with the Team is tonight – we have been practicing hard so it’s shaping up to be a great first week I’m looking forward to what the future brings.”Joe Soltysik Head of Esports at Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing: “Jarno joining our team is not only a reflection of the hard work behind the scenes from both ourselves and Team Redline but also a statement of intent to create sustained success in Sim Racing from Oracle Red Bull Racing A lineup of Jarno Opmeer and Frede Rasmussen is the strongest possible combination of drivers in F1 Sim Racing and will hopefully bode well for our chances to reclaim the Team Championship title.” words: Mike Boothpictures: Red Bull Racingvideo: Jarno Opmeer YouTube channel Driven & The Driven PodcastAn Automotive Media & Production Company Powered by Paramex Digital and the driven logo are registered trademarks of Paramex Digital Limited Other brands or product names featured on this website or associated media outputs are the trademarks of their owners respectively Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing driver Jarno Opmeer made it back-to-back victories by winning Round 10 of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship on Wednesday while Ferrari HP Esports Team’s Bari Broumand triumphed during Round 11 ahead of Thursday’s title decider After claiming a win on Tuesday in Round 9 as Event 3 of the championship got underway, Opmeer missed out on pole position when Qualifying took place ahead of Round 10 at Brazil’s Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace with the two-time champion starting from third behind KICK F1 Sim Racing Team racer Thomas Ronhaar and MoneyGram Haas F1 Sim Racing Team's Joris Croezen on the front row READ MORE: Opmeer claims victory as F1 Sim Racing World Championship continues in Mexico City Ronhaar initially led from pole when the race got underway before Opmeer snatched P1 after the former pitted for soft tyres on Lap 12 of 36 Things weren’t entirely straightforward from then on for the leader as damp conditions forced him to switch to the intermediate compound on Lap 22 Once the entire field had pitted and the order shook out again Opmeer managed to stay in front and take victory ahead of team mate Frederik Rasmussen with Williams Esports’ Ismael Fahssi crossing the line in fourth from Jake Benham – racing for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team – in fifth and McLaren Shadow's Alfie Butcher in sixth Attentions then turned to Round 11, with the drivers readying themselves to tackle Qatar’s Lusail International Circuit for the penultimate race of the championship – and this time it was Broumand who clinched pole position in Qualifying It was a tough start to the race for Ronhaar – who slipped backwards to P5 on the opening lap – while Broumand maintained the lead from team mate Nicolas Longuet the Frenchman having surged forwards from fourth on the grid But as the first pit stops started to play out Ronhaar opted for a different strategy to many of the frontrunners by running the hard tyres for a longer first stint the Dutchman slotted into P15 and embarked on a battle to make his way back to the front Ronhaar made his way past Broumand for second before dramatically taking P1 from Longuet on the final tour to seal the victory forcing the Ferrari pair to settle for second and third Opmeer and Rasmussen completed the top six there was a post-race twist when Ronhaar was handed a one-second time penalty dropping him down to fourth which promoted Broumand to the win It remains all to play for entering into the title-deciding Round 12; Opmeer carries a 21-point lead over Ronhaar – with Fahssi in third – in the Drivers’ standings while the Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing squad lead the Teams’ championship by 52 points from the Ferrari HP Esports Team Event 3 of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship will conclude with Round 12 at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi with Qualifying set to take place on Thursday at 1700 UTC followed by the race at 2000 UTC Verstappen labels Miami Grand Prix ‘a struggle’ after slipping back to P4 as he reflects on gap to McLaren OFFICIAL GRID: Wet Miami race in prospect as Gasly starts from pit lane ‘We made it count when it mattered’ – Russell satisfied with recovery to podium after troublesome Miami weekend Red Bull have announced a new driver signing after poaching a Mercedes star from their rivals TREMAYNE: The tragic story of Mark Donohue – The American racer with a streak of steel behind his ‘Captain Nice’ nickname Leclerc downbeat after ‘annoying’ lack of pace in Miami Sprint Qualifying as Hamilton admits ‘there is work to do’ FRIDAY DEBRIEF: Can Mercedes pose a threat to McLaren after Antonelli’s magical Miami lap What the teams said – Sprint Qualifying in Miami Tsunoda rues ‘poor communication’ after early Sprint Qualifying exit in Miami leaves him in P18 Two-time champion Jarno Opmeer has returned to winning ways in Round 2 of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship while Bari Broumand bounced back from difficult races earlier in the event to triumph during Round 3 After Ismael Fahssi took victory in Round 1 on Tuesday Origin RB driver Ulas Ozyildirim claimed pole position for the second race at the Shanghai International Circuit while a shock during Qualifying saw Lucas Blakeley exit in Q1 READ MORE: Ismael Fahssi wins opening round of 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship for Williams Opmeer put pressure on Ozyildirim and Thomas Ronhaar up ahead and while the lead changed hands more than once it was Opmeer who ended the chaotic 28-lap encounter in P1 marking his first win as part of the Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing team Ronhaar was second for KICK F1 Sim Racing Team with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team driver Daniel Bereznay third Fahssi fourth for Williams Esports and McLaren Shadow‘s Alfie Butcher fifth Attentions then turned to Round 3 at the Bahrain International Circuit Blakely made up for his earlier disappointment in Shanghai to snatch the lead on Lap 4 of 29 before Fahssi later retook the position Yet it was Broumand who ultimately sealed the victory for Scuderia Ferrari HP Esports Team while Fahssi and Origin RB’s Tom Manley rounded out the podium in second and third respectively READ MORE: Everything you need to know about the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship Josh Idowu was fourth for Alpine Sim Racing Team Round 4 of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship will take place on Thursday with the drivers tackling Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Corniche Circuit at 2000 UTC Piastri reveals where pole ‘went away’ from him during Miami Sprint Qualifying as Norris pleased to be back ‘in a good ballpark’ VideoWEEKEND WARM-UP: Piastri the favourite but Norris looking to bounce back as F1 lands in the US for the first time this year FIA Team Principals press conference – Miami Formula 1 to race in Miami until 2041 as new extension agreed ‘It just needs more time’ – Tsunoda explains ‘not easy’ process of adapting to Red Bull’s RB21 Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing driver Jarno Opmeer emerged victorious as the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship continued at Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Tuesday night behind polesitter Thomas Ronhaar from the KICK F1 Sim Racing Team Otis Lawrence from the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Esports Team Red Bull team mate Frederik Rasmussen and Bari Broumand of the Scuderia Ferrari HP Esports Team LIVESTREAM: Watch all the Round 9 action from the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Ronhaar converted his pole advantage on the long run down to Turn 1 but a determined Lawrence soon found his way to the front – the rookie once again impressing against plenty more experienced rivals Rasmussen and Opmeer as the 36-lap encounter developed until Broumand – the first of the top-five drivers to pit for fresh tyres – cycled to the head of the field when strategies played out A thrilling battle ensued in the closing stages with Lawrence and Broumand going wheel-to-wheel on several occasions before Opmeer brilliantly went from third to first in one go with a DRS-assisted move at Turn 1 Opmeer kept a cool head over the final few kilometres to take the chequered flag a few tenths clear of Broumand and Lawrence Origin RB’s Tom Manley and Ferrari’s Nicolas Longuet completed the top six Ronhaar’s hopes of scoring a podium were dashed when he came to blows with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team rival Daniel Bereznay at the first corner and later earned a three-second penalty for “multiple warnings” Event 3 of the F1 Sim Racing World Championship will be picked up on Wednesday, with fans able to follow all the action live on F1.com Piastri wins from Norris and Russell as McLaren seal commanding 1-2 in Miami Grand Prix Norris concedes he 'paid the price' as he reflects on Lap 1 battle with Verstappen in Miami Cadillac unveil their team logo and brand during dazzling Miami launch event ahead of 2026 entry FACTS AND STATS: Piastri secures McLaren’s first victory hat trick in over 25 years the third and final event of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship is about to conclude with the title-deciding Round 12 seeing the drivers race at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit READ MORE: Jarno Opmeer and Bari Broumand take victory in Rounds 10 and 11 of F1 Sim Racing World Championship Now the focus switches to the final race of the championship with Opmeer holding a 21-point lead over KICK F1 Sim Racing Team's Ronhaar in the Drivers’ standings entering into Round 12 Can the two-time champion hold onto his advantage and add a third title to his name Hit go on the video player above to watch all the action from Qualifying for Round 12 of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from the Miami GP as Piastri wins in dominant McLaren 1-2 Albon delighted with fifth in Miami as Sainz admits frustrations over inability to score 'bigger' points for Williams RACE START: Verstappen narrowly holds onto the lead in thrilling start to Miami GP ‘Just to get into Q3 is tough’ – Hamilton admits Ferrari ‘struggling big time’ after exiting Miami Qualifying in P12 FIA post-Qualifying press conference – Miami Antonelli eager to ‘be ready for anything’ as he secures P3 in Qualifying after frustrating Miami Sprint outing VideoWATCH: Ride onboard with Verstappen for his mighty pole lap in Miami ‘I didn’t deliver’ – Norris laments struggle to maximise McLaren’s performance in Miami The action continues at Round 10 of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship as the drivers prepare to go racing around Brazil’s Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace KICK F1 Sim Racing Team's Thomas Ronhaar will start from pole position after going fastest during a dramatic Qualifying earlier in the day Two-time champion Jarno Opmeer was victorious in Round 9 on Tuesday the Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing driver taking his second win of the championship – but who will triumph at the Interlagos circuit Hit go on the video player above to watch all the action from Round 10 of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship Don't miss your chance to experience the Miami Grand Prix.. TREMAYNE: The tragic story of Mark Donohue – The American racer with a streak of steel behind his ‘Captain Nice’ nickname ‘You’ve got to get involved in the nappies’ – Horner offers advice to new dad Verstappen as he predicts how fatherhood will affect him Alpine boss Oakes quashes Doohan future speculation amid Colapinto Imola comments Formula 1 to race in Miami until 2041 as new extension agreed Soundtrack artists including Doja Cat, Ed Sheeran and Don Toliver announced for upcoming ‘F1’ movie Hamilton thrilled with P3 in Miami Sprint after ‘tough year so far’ while Leclerc blames himself for early crash VideoHIGHLIGHTS: Norris pips Piastri in incident-filled Miami Sprint with help from late Safety Car Alpine boss Oakes quashes Doohan future speculation amid Colapinto Imola comments WATCH: Ride onboard with Verstappen for his mighty pole lap in Miami After 11 exciting races across three busy events it’s time for the title to be decided in the season finale of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship as the drivers prepare to battle it out around Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit Thomas Ronhaar will start from pole position after setting the pace during Qualifying earlier on While Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing have sealed the Teams’ Championship Can championship leader Jarno Opmeer keep closest rival Ronhaar at bay to claim his third title Hit go on the video player above to watch all the action from Round 12 of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship STRATEGY GUIDE: What are the tactical options for the Miami Grand Prix Piastri full of praise for McLaren after ‘unbelievable’ and ‘impressive’ victory in Miami MIAMI LOWDOWN: All the key moments as McLaren and Antonelli shine 'It was frustrating' – Hamilton opens up on tense Miami radio messages during Ferrari strategy debate Otis Lawrence beat Jarno Opmeer to the line in a thrilling conclusion to the fourth round of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship on Thursday night – the action taking place virtually at Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Corniche Circuit behind pole-sitting Williams Esports rival Ismael Fahssi with the pair swapping positions on a couple of occasions in the early exchanges READ MORE: Jarno Opmeer and Bari Broumand take victory in Rounds 2 and 3 of 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship Lawrence held the lead from Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team’s Jake Benham and Daniel Bereznay but drama ensued when the latter and KICK F1 Sim Racing Team’s Thomas Ronhaar banged wheels with five laps to go Alpine Sim Racing Team’s Josh Idowu and Joni Tormala Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing’s Frederik Rasmussen and Aston Martin’s Fabrizio Donoso were eliminated from the action as attention returned to the fight at the front and who would emerge victorious Opmeer picked off Benham and then Lawrence in the closing laps initially looking set to take the chequered flag first but a brilliant lunge around the outside of the final corner on the final tour set the Aston Martin man up to snatch victory from his Red Bull rival Benham held onto the final podium spot for Mercedes following team mate Bereznay’s dramatic exit while Ronhaar was given a five-second time penalty post-race due to “rough driving” – a sanction that dropped him from fifth to ninth in the classification Piastri wins from Norris and Russell as McLaren seal commanding 1-2 in Miami Grand Prix Verstappen labels Miami Grand Prix ‘a struggle’ after slipping back to P4 as he reflects on gap to McLaren Williams duo keen to 'play with strategies' as they target strong result in Miami after impressive Qualifying Red Bull has assembled a formidable pairing in the world of Esports with multi-time Champion Jarno Opmeer making the move from Mercedes One of only two two-time Drivers’ Champions in the Formula One Esports Series – the other being Brendon Leigh – 24-year-old Dutchman Jarno Opmeer won his titles back-to-back in 2020 and 2021, the first of those with Alfa Romeo and Mercedes the following year. But, Opmeer is on the move again as he joins Red Bull on a multi-year deal Opmeer will find himself alongside the reigning F1 Esports Champion – Denmark’s Frede Rasmussen – creating a fearsome Red Bull line-up Opmeer will also be in attendance at this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix – a home race for himself and Red Bull’s three-time F1 World Champion Max Verstappen – as the F1 2024 campaign resumes with 10 rounds to go “I can’t wait to get started with Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing,” said Opmeer “My first race with the team is tonight – we have been practicing hard so it’s shaping up to be a great first week I’m looking forward to what the future brings.” 👉 Red Bull facing a ‘thorny situation’ as driver dilemma escalates before F1 2025 👉 F1 2024 power rankings: Lewis Hamilton on the move after Belgian GP triumph Red Bull’s head of Esports Joe Soltysik added: “Jarno joining our team is not only a reflection of the hard work behind the scenes from both ourselves and Team Redline but also a statement of intent to create sustained success in sim racing from Oracle Red Bull Racing “A line-up of Jarno Opmeer and Frede Rasmussen is the strongest possible combination of drivers in F1 sim racing and will hopefully bode well for our chances to reclaim the Team Championship title.” Opmeer has also experienced the real life racing world in the junior categories and formerly was part of the Renault F1 Academy in 2017 After multiple titles on the Dutch karting scene Opmeer went on to compete in single-seater series such as the SMP and Spanish F4 Championships and Formula Renault Eurocup his best season finish being runner-up in the 2016 SMP F4 Championship standings Read next – Five big Dutch GP questions: Red Bull’s RB20 performance, F1 driver market and more We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it OK Privacy policy Prospective Formula 1 drivers have been given a warning about sim racing, after Max Verstappen's habit of virtual-track driving It’s all go at the third and final event of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship with the teams and drivers gearing up to race at Brazil’s Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace for Round 10 Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing’s Jarno Opmeer took victory during Round 9 on Tuesday the two-time champion triumphing at Mexico City's Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez after making gains from P5 on the grid Can Opmeer continue his strong run into Qualifying at the famous Interlagos circuit or will another name put themselves in prime position for victory by claiming pole Qualifying for the virtual Sao Paulo Grand Prix kicks off at 1100 UTC on March 26 before the race itself follows at 1400 UTC Hit go on the video player above to watch all the action from Qualifying Driveable LEGO big builds welcomed to Miami drivers’ parade What the teams said – Sprint day and Qualifying in Miami A dire verdict has been issued for drivers hoping to one day challenge Max Verstappen for the Formula 1 world championship title Hear sim racing leading light Jarno Opmeer discuss his change of teams and what he’d like to see from future F1 competitions on the Traxion.GG Podcast In significant news for fans of the Formula 1 games and the F1 Sim Racing (Esports) competition Jarno Opmeer has joined Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing with links to Max Verstappen and Team Redline now sees two-time champion Opmeer join the reigning champion Frederik Rasmussen at the Milton Keynes outfit the Dutch competitor and content creator talks about his return to shifter karting LAN events for esports and what could be done to improve EA SPORTS’ F1 games which you can watch on YouTube or listen to on your favourite audio podcast platform You must be logged in to post a comment Red Bull Sim Racing has announced the signing of two-time F1 Sim Racing champion Jarno Opmeer In a shock move, popular streamer and two-time F1 Esports champion Jarno Opmeer has found a new home at Red Bull Sim Racing The Dutchman had left his position at Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports at the end of July bringing an end to a successful spell with the Stuttgart marques that culminated in both the F1 Esports (now known as F1 Sim Racing) drivers’ and constructors’ titles in 2021 Red Bull had announced the departure of Josh Idowu earlier in July (who later signed with Alpine) who will join the Milton Keynes-based team’s incumbent F1 Sim Racing World Champion Frederick Rasmussen in a stellar lineup Welcome, @jarno_opmeer! 🇳🇱The two-time @F1Esports World Champion joins Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing to complete our driver line-up with the two most successful drivers in the history of the series 👊🏻 pic.twitter.com/r9rNIDoUKk who has real-world Formula 4 and Formula Renault experience seems like a perfect fit for Red Bull given his personable online presence and undoubted pace.  It will also be interesting to see if the relationship extends to participating in sim events alongside Red Bull’s three-time Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen given the Red Bull link between the Dutchman’s Team Redline esports outfit.  What do you make of Jarno Opmeer’s team switch You must be logged in to post a comment Red Bull Sim Racing drivers Jarno Opmeer and Frederik Rasmussen claimed the 2025 F1 Sim Racing Teams’ title ahead of the season finale Red Bull Sim Racing has claimed the F1 Sim Racing Teams’ title in dramatic fashion thanks to impressive individual performances by drivers Jarno Opmeer and Frederik Rasmussen Opmeer, who left Mercedes-AMG Esports to join Red Bull in August last year has enjoyed a successful season so far by claiming three wins The results see him atop the Drivers’ standings after Qatar’s Round 11 has had a tougher time of it this season but still managed to win at Silverstone and claim second place in the previous round in Brazil it was his measured driving at the Lusail International Circuit that helped team-mate Opmeer get on terms with his main rivals at the front of the field pic.twitter.com/I4Ki4JDIJe as Ronhaar unsettled the Red Bull pair with robust Opmeer’s chief rival for the Drivers’ title scythed his way through to the front of the field with similarly abrupt overtaking manoeuvres which eventually led to a post-race penalty The Dutchman overtook Ferrari Esports’ Nicolas Longuet for the win on the final lap but was adjudged to have used too much force against Opmeer earlier in the race and gained a time penalty Opmeer and Rasmussen finished a solid fifth and sixth which was enough for Red Bull to claim the Teams’ championship with a round to spare The final round from Abu Dhabi takes place this evening (27th March 2025) at 5:00 PM CET, with live coverage on the Formula 1 YouTube channel with Fahssi and Broumand still in contention for top honours Who do you want to win the 2025 F1 Sim Racing championship You must be logged in to post a comment Antonelli storms to remarkable maiden pole ahead of Piastri and Norris during Sprint Qualifying in Miami F1 EXPLAINS: The making of the Miami Grand Prix AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from Sprint Qualifying in Miami as Antonelli takes stunning pole Tiesto makes history with unprecedented music takeover at Miami Grand Prix Jarno Opmeer made it two wins on the bounce on Friday evening winning the ninth race of the F1 Esports Series Pro Championship around Circuit of The Americas with a daring final-lap overtake for the lead he watched on as title rivals Bari Boroumand and Thomas Ronhaar negotiated the lead with vigour But an off-track excursion for both was all Opmeer needed and the two-time champion swept around the outside at COTA’s stadium section to seal the most nail-biting win of the year READ MORE: Ronhaar takes second win of 2022 in Round 7 at Monza with the Dutchman sitting pretty on pole position and leading much of the race through changeable conditions with those who pitted on Lap 22 the greatest beneficiaries Opmeer and a resurgent Brendon Leigh with a handful of laps to go until Boroumand switched things up and made a move for the lead at the beginning of Lap 24 The final lap was to be the most incredible of all with Ronhaar sending one to the inside at the end of the lengthy back straight F1 Esports: Incredible 4-way final lap fight for victory in USA All four cars left the circuit at various points leading home compatriot Ronhaar for the first Dutch one-two in F1 Esports with the crestfallen Boroumand finishing off the podium Frede Rasmussen had a quiet but effective run to fifth having started way down the order due to a 10-place grid penalty for contact with Ronhaar on Thursday limiting the damage to his championship lead as his rivals all took points from one another Marcel Kiefer and Joni Tormala concluded the points-paying positions READ MORE: Opmeer returns to winning ways in Round 8 at Mexico City with five drivers in contention for the crown It’s nowhere near as close in the team standings with McLaren Shadow on a mighty 250 points with Mercedes (144) and Haas (129) breathing down their necks Hamilton ‘definitely working hard to adjust’ to Ferrari as he sets out goal for Miami Grand Prix FP1: Piastri leads Leclerc and Verstappen during sole Miami GP practice session VideoHIGHLIGHTS: Piastri leads McLaren 1-2 after thrilling race in Miami 2022 F1 Esports Series Champion Lucas Blakeley kicked off his 2023 in stunning form on Friday morning claiming the eROC title at the 2023 Race of Champions in Pite Havsbad Blakeley defeated fellow F1 Esports contenders Jarno Opmeer and Michael Romanidis during the round-robin tournament READ MORE: Blakeley crowned 2022 F1 Esports Series champion as Rasmussen takes final victory of 2022 in Abu Dhabi and so Blakeley and Opmeer – who were judged to have performed perfect laps – made it through to the final besting Opmeer in the Polaris RZR on the snow and ice by more than four seconds where two slender victories for the Scot gave him the overall title The unique event sees megastars from sim racing compete against one another on simulator rigs before each doing a flying lap on the snowy track – the very same one as used on the sims The flying laps are scored by a panel of experts and these scores mix with their sim racing points tallies to form a final leaderboard The top two drivers face one another in the final with the third and fourth competing for best-of-the-rest honours It is this final and third-place playoff that really sees the event come to life with the drivers fighting it out on the sims It showcases that the gap from digital to physical racing is one that can be bridged with the twin-ring circuit layout providing an intense showdown F1 Esports Series Pro Championship: Lucas Blakeley dominates in Brazil to put one hand on the trophy Top two drivers Blakeley and Opmeer also get the honour of representing Team eROC in the Nations Cup where they will face off against Team Finland made up of two-time F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen It should be noted that Blakeley famously took a victory from Sebastian Vettel in the 2022 event and both have proven themselves as F1 Esports champions FACTS AND STATS: Red Bull close in on Lotus record as Verstappen faces ominous Miami Grand Prix stat Verstappen vs Norris into Turn 1 and Antonelli after redemption – What To Watch For in the Miami Grand Prix Jarno Opmeer was crowned 2020 F1 Esports Pro Series champion on Thursday after coming home seventh in the season-closing race in Brazil The Alfa Romeo Racing OLREN F1 Esports racer held a 16-point advantage over nearest rival Frede Rasmussen Opmeer’s mid-pack finish was more than enough to seal the deal But while Rasmussen was left craving individual success for the second year in a row he could take joy in his Red Bull Racing Esports team retaining their teams’ title having won the accolade one year previously crossing the line eighth but dropping out of the points for his first non-score of the season due to a penalty But Marcel Kiefer in the sister Red Bull put on a great display duelling for the lead and ultimately coming home in second place Rasmussen had boosted his chances of mounting a championship assault on Wednesday taking a win in Round 10 in Japan to move within striking distance of Opmeer However he dropped points in the subsequent Mexico affair [You can check out our report from Wednesday here] We have a third individual champion in the F1 Esports Pro Series no one else could boast more silverware than the Dutchman this season his Brazil race was probably one of his least remarkable of 2020 never troubling the frontrunning podium positions with Rasmussen ailing in the race due to a penalty for speeding in the pit lane Opmeer had no risks to take and nothing else to prove a point he made all the way back in October But championships have been won in Brazil in similar fashion before They all finished with a handful of points The lead up to this final point has been a journey full of overtakes Jarno Opmeer more than made his mark in 2020 and he now has the title and the award he deserves Alfa Romeo had things their way earlier in the season one team rose to the challenge of beating them With a double-Q3 appearance in every qualifying session and a double-points finish in every race right up until Brazil The pairing of Rasmussen and Kiefer built upon the Rasmussen-Tormala-Longuet combination of 2019 and the team beat their points tally from last year by a whopping 67 points a special mention should be given to Tino Naukkarinen whose impact behind the scenes no doubt helped propel the team to a second successive teams’ title 2020 F1 Esports Pro Series: Longuet and Kiefer battle for win on amazing final lap the masterful performance of Nicolas Longuet went slightly under the radar holding his own against the charging Kiefer Kiefer darted to the inside of Longuet down the Reta Oposta and did well to cling on to the position throughout the rest of the lap The curvy nature of Interlagos means wheel-to-wheel racing can be tricky Longuet played the Uno Reverse Card on the final lap however and stole P1 back with an equally daring move around the outside of the Senna S Longuet’s bulldog grip on the lead ensured he ended the season in the best way possible and earned himself the honour of Aramco F1 Esports Driver of the Day Race 12 Highlights: F1 Esports Pro Series 2020 and we’re sad to see the 2020 F1 Esports Pro Series go But we’ll be back for plenty more entertainment and racing in the near future when the 2021 iteration of the championship begins in earnest it’s the qualification pathway for 2021 of course this string of races will see 10 races per platform spread across five two-race events The six highest performers per platform will then be up for selection in 2021 with the opportunity to race in the Pro Championship The first stream gets going on Twitch and Huya on December 21 from 19:00 GMT so tune in if you’re hungry for more festive digital racing action Until the next time – thank you for making the 2020 Pro Series a memorable one F1 ACADEMY: Pin storms from sixth to victory in Miami Race 1 Albon and Lawson drop out of the points after being hit with penalties in Miami Sprint WATCH: Verstappen handed penalty for pit lane collision with Antonelli in eventful Miami Sprint Jarno Opmeer was crowned champion of the 2021 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship presented by Aramco on Thursday Red Bull’s Frede Rasmussen was hot on his heels and in the end the pair were split by just eight points Rasmussen trailed by 21 points going into the final race but a sublime win from 10th place – surely his best in the series so far – cut the gap down to single figures who dropped out of contention for the drivers’ title on Wednesday night with AlphaTauri’s Sebastian Job completing the rostrum AS IT HAPPENED: The title-deciding 2021 F1 Esports Pro Championship finale The first two races of the Grand Final took the drivers to Imola and Mexico City for two wild races culminating in Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Esports Team winning the teams’ championship for the first time since 2018 FDA’s David Tonizza scooped victory in the first race in Imola after long-time race-leader Josh Idowu fell off the road on the final lap Opmeer tussled with Bari Boroumand and Rasmussen for several laps before emerging victorious for the fourth time of the season Get the full lowdown on Wednesday’s action here and check out highlights from Race 10 and Race 11 of the championship with Alpine’s Nicolas Longuet grabbing pole position around the legendary Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace Championship challengers Opmeer and Rasmussen started P4 and P10 respectively with the Dane moving up to ninth by the end of the first lap as the rapid-starting Alvaro Carreton sailed past as the only other driver to start on the softs WATCH: Verstappen and Mercedes claim their drivers’ and constructors’ trophies at 2021 FIA Prize Giving Carreton then pulled a superb double-overtake on Blakeley and Kiefer at Turn 1 just two laps later Blakeley and co pitted – putting on soft tyres They all soon found themselves tucked up behind Simon Weigang buying time for team mate Rasmussen and parking his Red Bull on every apex until Rasmussen finally pitted Almost the entire field pitted before he finally came in on Lap 15 to remove his tortured medium tyres With a fresh set of softs for the final 10 laps Rasmussen’s pace was absolutely electrifying 2021 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship Event 4: Round 12 Highlights but quickly set about overtaking everyone in his path: Cedric Thome Fabrizio Donoso and Joni Tormala were all dispatched within two laps Boroumand fell off the road elevating Rasmussen to P7 and Carreton’s aging medium tyres were no match for the softs – Frede found himself P6 with seven laps remaining but the following five cars bunched up going into the tight Ferradura corner in the process holding up Ompeer and letting Rasmussen streak past both of them who now trailed his championship rival on the road – but with a 21-point buffer he only needed to maintain P8 or higher to guarantee the championship Rasmussen passed Job and Longuet over the next two laps to put himself within striking distance of Blakeley snatching the final win of the season as sun set on 2021 and Opmeer finished fourth to claim the drivers’ crown with Job taking his first podium in the series in front of Opmeer and Idowu to claim the first points of the season for Uralkali Haas F1 Esports Team in the final race Cedric Thome and Thijmen Schutte rounding out the final points of the season With Jarno Opmeer and Mercedes atop the standings they’ll take home the greatest share of the $750K prize pool Rasmussen makes it three years in a row as a runner up – quipping during the broadcast that he would “prefer second” rather than winning in 2022 with Dani Moreno fourth on a nice round 100 points Bari Boroumand put a fantastic 98 points on the board Kiefer and Longuet struggled to break into the championship race it was a closely fought affair between Red Bull and Mercedes Alpine and McLaren Shadow only a few points apart Haas ensure that it’s points for every team this season the 2021 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship presented by Aramco is in the history books which will decide some the pool of talent who could be up for selection next year For more details of the Pro Championship – and all things F1 Esports – check out the official F1 Esports site VideoWATCH: Verstappen handed penalty for pit lane collision with Antonelli in eventful Miami Sprint F1 ACADEMY: Chambers snatches pole in one-lap wet Miami shootout SPRINT START: Watch the rain-soaked opening lap of the Miami Sprint as Piastri snatches lead from Antonelli Two-time F1 Esports Series champion Jarno Opmeer struck back in fine style on Thursday evening Having not taken to the top step in the opening seven races he scored victory at the venue which saw his last win It follows a disappointing day on Wednesday and sees him back in the mix in the championship F1 Esports Series Pro Championship: Ronhaar takes second win of 2022 in Round 7 at Monza Pole-sitter Frede Rasmussen was unable to convert clocking up a longlist of penalties while skirmishing for the podium places with Thomas Ronhaar Opmeer – who started third – got the jump at the start He followed in the wheel-tracks of Rasmussen until Lap 16 Ompeer’s ascendancy was complete one lap later as he emerged from the pits ahead of Rasmussen; a clean in-lap proving crucial for the Mercedes man with most of the field opting to run mediums then hards who all took the pain of the slower tyres for their first stint with Ronhaar hitting the front once the frontrunners pitted Leading the race by virtue of not pitting until Lap 21 but Rasmussen lost vital time through Mexico’s Esses F1 Esports Series Pro Championship: Blakeley dominates the field at Zandvoort to win Round 6 That left him vulnerable to attack from behind The resurgent Boroumand worked his strategy to perfection Clearly Ronhaar’s move rattled Rasmussen’s cage and on Lap 32 he appeared to barge Ronhaar off the road ushering him towards the wall at the same corner The Haas driver maintained track position despite this Boroumand was unable to make inroads into Opmeer’s lead and he headed across the line 3.5s ahead of the McLaren Shadow racer but plummeted to P11 following his penalties then came Points leader Lucas Blakeley in P7 and Shanaka Clay took the final point in P10 VideoMUST-SEE: Leclerc collides with the wall ahead of Miami Sprint in wet conditions ‘Racing is a pretty cruel business’ – Piastri left disheartened as Sprint strategy call sees Norris continue his ‘luck in Miami’ Norris wins chaotic Miami Sprint from Piastri and Hamilton after late Safety Car and multiple incidents Verstappen surges to pole position ahead of Norris and Antonelli in Miami GP Qualifying AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from Qualifying for the Miami GP as Verstappen takes pole Jarno Opmeer is within touching distance of defending his F1 Esports crown going into the final day of racing in 2021 with a 21-point lead Just three days after fellow Dutchman Max Verstappen wrapped up the F1 crown in Abu Dhabi Opmeer is on the verge of taking a second successive title after taking second place in Imola and victory in Mexico The only man who can now stop him is Red Bull’s Frede Rasmussen Opmeer’s Mercedes squad did clinch the teams’ trophy bringing silverware to Brackley for the first time since 2018 Here’s what went down in races 10-11 in the enthralling 2021 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship WATCH: Can George Russell and Lando Norris beat their A.I. counterparts on F1 2021? The inclusion of Imola in the 2021 F1 season The much-loved circuit offers tight and twisty racing Josh Idowu was the man who found perfection early on in the day taking a shock pole position for McLaren Shadow in only his fourth race this year He and 2019 champion David Tonizza took the front row only to be re-passed three laps later on Lap 9 When pit stops ensued on Lap 10 of the 22-lap race The midfield melee saw Idowu in the net lead of the race with Brendon Leigh making incredible gains in the pits Championship leader Opmeer meanwhile found himself in traffic Opmeer passed championship rival Lucas Blakeley moments after the Scot made contact with the back of Tonizza 2021 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship Event 4: Round 10 Highlights Tonizza soon usurped team mate Leigh on Lap 19 who held second place for much of the race Opmeer got him on the following lap to take third and it looked like that would be the end of it – Idowu controlling the pace and stole the lead from Idowu on the final lap reducing a near-flawless race to a point-less one Tonizza came home for his first win since 2020 who made incredible but quiet progress from his lowly P15 qualifying slot REVEALED: Discover your favourite driver's official rating in the new F1 2021 video game With Blakeley now a long shot for the title the duel between Rasmussen and Opmeer moved into the spotlight The Dane did himself all kinds of favours when he stuck it on pole but things didn’t go his way when lights went out as if from nowhere Opmeer snatched the lead passing both of them in one fluid movement The trio were the only ones to start on the soft tyres quickly pulling away from Nicolas Longuet in P4 Lucas Blakeley had ground to make up from P7 if he was to salvage his title hopes but the inverse move came just three laps later Blakeley took a position from Idowu to move up to P6 Laps 11-13 saw the top three pit on consecutive laps F1 Esports: Opmeer deliberately hands P1 to title rival before overtaking Boroumand once again overtook Opmeer on Lap 20 Opmeer was straight back past him a lap later braking at the perfect moment to let Rasmussen past and gain DRS for himself for the super-long straight READ MORE: Find all the reports and highlights from the 2021 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship here Opmeer re-passed down the straight with his speed advantage The lower steps of the podium were swapped however Rasmussen’s off-track excursion cost him a 0.6s penalty after the race Dani Moreno came home fourth to confirm Mercedes as team champions creating a 50-point gap with just 44 to play for in the final race Red Bull could still bring home silverware in the drivers’ championship with a maximum of 26 available at the final round in Brazil an incredible improvement over his P14 placing in 2020 The final round of the season gets going with qualifying live on Twitch and YouTube from 1530 UTC ‘You’ve got to get involved in the nappies’ – Horner offers advice to new dad Verstappen as he predicts how fatherhood will affect him ‘It's not what you want to see’ – Verstappen rues pit lane incident in Miami Sprint after losing further ground to McLaren Championship leader Piastri ‘enjoys’ being the hunted as he identifies biggest threat in Miami Sainz shares challenge of adapting to different teams as he and Hamilton get to grips with life at Williams and Ferrari PADDOCK INSIDER: Norris needs to find his sweet spot again as Piastri leads the standings – Miami could be the ideal place to do it Mercedes have unveiled the crack team of drivers who will compete for their esports outfit in 2021 with reigning F1 Esports Pro Series drivers’ champion Jarno Opmeer moving over to the Silver Arrows from Alfa Romeo Former Dutch karting champion Opmeer will be joined at the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team by last year’s F1 Esports Pro Series Rookie of the Year Dani Moreno READ MORE: Former champion Brendon Leigh swaps Mercedes for Ferrari in shock Esports switch Jarno Opmeer ‘super happy’ after winning Esports Pro Series drivers’ championship “We have a very strong new driver line-up with Jarno the Mercedes F1 team’s Motorsport Strategy Director “It underlines our ambitions in the world of esports – we are here to compete at the front “We're very happy with this new driver line-up and it will help us take the next step in the development of our esports programme.” READ MORE: Virtual Grands Prix to return for 2021 after record-breaking year for F1 Esports Series Mercedes’ line-up will compete in a number of different virtual championships in 2021 where Opmeer will look to defend his crown not least against last year’s vice-champion Frederik Rasmussen and the new Ferrari pairing of Tonizza and Leigh BETTING GUIDE: Who are the favourites as the Sprint returns in Miami AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the build-up ahead of the Miami Grand Prix weekend VideoMUST-SEE: Stars of ‘F1’ movie reflect on ‘extraordinary’ experience of filming during race weekends Mercedes driver Jarno Opmeer struck back in Round 9 of the 2021 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship presented by Aramco to claim his third win in 2021 and re-take the lead of the drivers’ championship After an off-key showing in Portimao and Zandvoort, Opmeer mustered his title-winning form of last year as Circuit of The Americas made its return to the calendar Being reigning champion carries a heavy burden – and finishing seventh and sixth in the previous two races is considered a below-par performance The first race of the event in Portimao saw Lucas Blakeley absolutely run away with the win creating a huge gap to those behind him and crossing the line ahead of the midfield melee to score his second win of 2021 READ MORE: Blakeley storms into F1 Esports Series Pro Championship lead after thrillers in Portimao and Zandvoort it was Mercedes man Dani Moreno who prevailed taking his maiden win in F1 Esports and becoming the 12th different driver to take the podium You can catch up on all of Wednesday’s action here and relive the action from Round 7 and Round 8 in the video below 2021 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship Event 3: Rounds 7 & 8 the Circuit of The Americas returns for this season The scene of Brendon Leigh’s 2018 title win it’s got a decent amount of history in F1 Esports with just one thousandth of a second splitting the top two Nicolas Longuet was the man who put it into P1 snatching pole for the first time since Round 1 READ MORE: F1 does Black Friday – Don’t miss out on the amazing deals with our Black Friday guide Longuet was bested by his McLaren rival as Boroumand took the lead on his soft tyres with the majority of the field starting on medium rubber Longuet was soon joined by fellow soft rubber user Brendon Leigh who started P10 but who had made it up to second by the start of Lap 4 the cracking start was too good to be true for the pair soon re-passed him for P2 as Lap 7 came around just before the pit stop phase came into play 2021 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship Event 3: Round 9 leaving David Tonizza to take the lead briefly and he made a stupendous double overtake on Lap 10 to get past both Brendon Leigh and Lucas Blakelely Rasmussen’s ascendency was mirrored by Boroumand who soon found himself dropping down the order on the unfancied soft-medium strategy With no answer to the superior grip of the soft tyres Boroumand slipped from the net lead of the race as Opmeer got by on Lap 11 swiftly followed by Longuet just a couple of laps later Lap 15 rolled around and Rasmussen further relegated Boroumand to fourth setting up the podium places for a showdown sprint to the flag Longuet appeared content to sit behind Opmeer for the time being waiting to deploy the now-commonplace last lap overtake which has been so effective in 2021 as excitement got the better of him and he jumped past Opmeer on the penultimate lap he unwittingly let both Opmeer and Rasmussen past in the hopes of gaining DRS and was powerless to catch them on the back straight Opmeer brought it home for his third win of 2021 with Rasmussen taking a third consecutive second-placed finish with Boroumand holding firm in fourth despite his tyre disadvantage Marcel Kiefer and Sebastian Job completed the points Opmeer now heads the drivers’ standings with 140 points but is just five points ahead of nearest rival Blakeley meaning the top three are separated by just eight points Dani Moreno (82) and Bari Boroumand (80) are further down the road in the battle for fourth Aston Martin (144) and Alpine (107) are the other two teams to break into triple figures Unbelievably, we’re already almost at journey’s end of the 2021 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship presented by Aramco taking place after the 2021 F1 season draws to its own thrilling conclusion celebrating raw speed with twisty intrigue in equal measure Join us on December 15-16 for qualifying streams from 1530 UTC by getting involved with the conversation using #F1Esports Now, with the Teams’ championship wrapped up for Mercedes-Benz AMG Petronas Esports, all that stood between Opmeer and a second consecutive F1 Esports Drivers’ title was the ever-present force of Frederick Rasmussen It wasn’t exactly last place as in 2020, but Rasmussen’s fears were realised as Q3 ended with him propping up the top ten. Three and a half tenths faster than him was Nicolas Longuet whose rather mixed-bag 2021 season at least showed glimmers of a promising conclusion Marcel Kiefer’s inconsistency was arguably key in Red Bull losing its Teams’ dominance with second on the grid here a little too late The same could be said of Blakeley who at least was showing up strong to confirm Aston Martin’s place in the top three Opmeer needed a horror result to throw away glory from this position Longuet broke away early following a great launch and didn’t look back The Frenchman had the previous form around the Brazilian track having scored his last race win here a year ago The only other driver starting on softs was Álvaro Carretón His season had started so well only to mire down in mediocrity The Spaniard blazed past a cautious Opmeer at the end of the second lap This would be nothing compared to the following lap where Williams overtook both Blakeley and Kiefer to secure second at a crucial stage of his race Following four very early pitstops, the quartet of Longuet, Kiefer, Blakeley and Sebastian Job all grabbed new boots for Lap 9 onward The next group would contain Opmeer and although initially he seemed to have lost some track position he also had the benefit of more tyre life to utilise Rasmussen on the other hand recognised that the risk had to be taken to go long A 21-point deficit meant that it was essentially win or bust Having picked up a time penalty and made a mistake elsewhere the Alfa Romeo was so offset from the long runners that net leader Longuet was right behind the Frenchman was simply unable to overtake until finally he Kiefer and Blakeley muscled their way through into the Senna-S Rasmussen’s in-car opinion had been overruled by his race engineer and this would ultimately become one of the best tactical calls of the season but Kiefer struck at the perfect time to hold up Longuet’s progress Red Bull’s ever-present driver had a chance to affect the outcome of the race by the time he was demoted from lead duties by Blakeley and Longuet had allowed Rasmussen to climb six places over two laps picked up a time penalty effectively ruling him out of the win when rejoining the German expertly placed his car for the inside kerb of Ferradura blocking Opmeer and allowing Rasmussen to swing around the outside With the dawn of Lap 20 dawn came second position for Rasmussen who didn’t find much fight in Job knowing a maiden podium would be his should he remain in fourth the daring Dane charged down Blakeley and heading onto the final lap took the lead of the race with ease Despite cruising to one of his most impressive wins, however, it wasn’t enough to stop Opmeer from matching Brendon Leigh’s achievement of two consecutive Drivers’ titles both Haas drivers scored to ensure that they didn’t become the first driver trio to not pick up a single point in an F1 Esports Series Pro season You must be logged in to post a comment Outgoing champion David Tonizza claimed his second victory of the 2020 F1 Esports Pro Series presented by Aramco on Thursday night The Italian put his Ferrari Driver Academy Hublot car on pole position for the race earlier in the day and held on for a memorable lights-to-flag victory withstanding extreme pressure from current championship leader Jarno Opmeer The pair were also joined by two-time champion Brendon Leigh whose pace in the second half of the race looked good enough to challenge for the lead However with a low battery the Briton was unable to make any inroads to Opmeer’s second place and the trio took the chequered flag line-astern WATCH: See all the action from Race 9 as it happened Two races on Wednesday night provided all manner of excitement with two exhilarating final laps keeping viewers in the edge of their seats saw Nicolas Longuet take his maiden win in the series with Dani Moreno picking up the F1 Esports Aramco Driver of the Day award after a storming drive to second place Round 8 took the championship to Spa in Belgium where Dani Bereznay faced the Red Bull pair Marcel Kiefer and Frede Rasmussen alone in a three-way-duel that looked set to produce another 1-2 for the Austrian team Bereznay though had other ideas and stormed down the inside READ MORE: Longuet, Rasmussen win as they cut gap to Opmeer in Event 3 Charles Leclerc’s stunning Monza win in 2019 for Ferrari was the stuff of dreams David Tonizza got to replicate it in digital form controlling the pace throughout to take win number two of 2020 It may well end up being the most decorated podium in the championship’s history with two past champions sandwiching this season’s championship leader Frede Rasmussen took the best of the rest honours Longuet took the final point on offer after a post-race penalty for Michael Romanidis It’s been a hit-and-miss season for the Italian youngster with a brace of wins mirrored by four non-scores and it’s clear that he hasn’t been able to match the consistency he brought in 2019 and will surely be back for more next year There are still 78 points up for grabs after all and his lead over second-placed Rasmussen just 18 points Longuet is still mathematically in the hunt he would need a minor miracle in the Grand Final The teams’ championship is much more clear-cut: A two-horse race Red Bull Racing Esports sit on a comfortable lead of 255 points with Alfa Romeo Racing Esports ORLEN on 223 Maths fans will tell you that’s a gap of just 32 so it could genuinely go either-way in the Grand Final but just one event remains in this year's series The Grand Final will take place over December 16-17 we’ll have four streams across the two days with qualifying live on Twitch and YouTube from 15:30 GMT followed by racing action in the evening at 19:30 keep your eyes on socials for more great F1 Esports content enjoy the final three F1 races of the season and we’ll see you in December for one last ride To read more on F1 Esports, tap here to visit the official site. VideoSPRINT START: Watch the rain-soaked opening lap of the Miami Sprint as Piastri snatches lead from Antonelli Antonelli gives verdict on first corner move from Piastri as he reflects on Verstappen pit lane incident during tough Miami Sprint Jarno Opmeer boasts nearly 650,000 subscribers/followers across the major social media platforms Opmeer’s online presence is incredibly engaging and real—a quality that sometimes escapes most content creators who carve out a space for themselves on socials it’s easy to become someone we think others will enjoy But Opmeer chooses to be every bit of himself it’s a humbling experience to watch him do his thing in the sim rig Opmeer was crowned the Dutch Champion in the Mini Juniors series He competed in karting championships around Europe and eventually joined MP Motorsport in 2016 It wasn’t until 2019 that Opmeer made the switch to Formula 1 Esports joining Renault-Vitality and claiming fourth position in the season his speed and skill in the sim eventually earned him his back-to-back titles He chalks up his determination and winning mentality to heaps of practice We’re talking hours upon hours in the factory “At some point, I think we got here four weeks before the first esports event and basically practiced every day,” Opmeer told Thomas Harrison-Lord on the Traxion.GG Podcast “Took a few days off in between events at some points because just simply had to for my own sanity… it’s just almost nonstop practice.” Though he struggled a bit in qualification the key to better consistency came through his reps Opmeer says he was grateful for joining F1 esports in 2019 since the obvious rise in competitors came in 2020 which in turn motivated the Dutch driver to work even harder in the coming years He jokes about the seriousness of league racing but admits it plays a crucial role in staying sharp during the endless amount of laps That quote kind of stuck with me because league racing The competition is extreme; the broadcasts are popular amongst the masses especially since esport events mimic real-world racing in many ways It’s almost a reflection of how we should all try to live life There’s a reason Opmeer shines brightly on his social media platforms He’s authentically and unabashedly himself he finds time to post content on his YouTube and TikTok It’s a balancing act that has definitely paid off Even a quick trip over to Twitter and his recent tweet is a blushing froggy holding a heart didn’t expect that many people tuning in after not streaming for a while but got 2000 peak pogmeer academy members.” am a content creator and have been through a rollercoaster of emotions online I’ve found that it’s much harder to try to be someone you’re not than it is to just be 100 per cent yourself Taking the time to genuinely interact with your fans and followers isn’t always at the top of the list when you research ways to improve your social media presence From practicing at the factory to consistently posting content It’s easy to cheer for someone and support their dreams when after watching just one podcast episode you feel like you know the real Jarno Opmeer Just a 22-year-old who gets excited over the same delicious lunch snack every day and then I put Sriracha on it with three eggs Don’t miss this awesome chat with Jarno Opmeer featured on our Traxion.GG Podcast You must be logged in to post a comment I agree to the use of cookies and similar technologies to serve relevant advertising and improve my service Pay to read The Race without adverts or cookies used for personalised ads By logging in, you agree to our use of third-party and analytics cookies to enhance your experience and improve our services. For more details, please review our Privacy Policy Former real-world Renault protege turned simracer Jarno Opmeer became Formula 1’s third official Esports champion when he beat Red Bull’s Frederik Rasmussen to the 2020 crown It’s an improvement from the previous year when Opmeer drove for Renault as he was fourth in the standings In total this season he won four of the 12 races and finished on the podium in all of the first six races while representing Alfa Romeo That success comes after an abruptly ended real-world racing career in which Opmeer competed in Spanish F4 and the Formula Renault Eurocup with MP Motorsport He was also a part of the Renault Sport Academy in 2017 a time when Jack Aitken and Sacha Fenestraz were also in that driver programme Opmeer moved to esports after a lack of funding cut short his real-world racing career “It came to an end because I simply didn’t have the sponsorship to move onto F3 or do another season in Formula Renault,” Opmeer tells The Race “So I had to do something different and I was always quite good on simulators “Already back then the other drivers said ‘you should try esports’ and I did enjoy driving on the simulators so I thought I should give it a go “I think I was the best driver but definitely not the fastest” :: Jarno Opmeer “For the first F1 Esports season I didn’t manage to qualify but then for the second season I was invited for a tryout at Renault and I was very fast at the tryout compared to the other esports drivers so I got a drive for 2019 F1 Esports “For me F1 is something I look up to of course and I was dreaming of making it into F1 as a kid so that was the main reason I went for F1 Esports and not anything else.” It’s well known in the simracing community that Codemasters’ F1 games are not full-on sims especially when compared to the likes of rFactor 2 or iRacing So when Opmeer started competing on the F1 games he found his real-world experience to be a small benefit to begin with but he also had to change some aspects of his driving “I think it gave me a little bit of a jump start but at the same time I had to unlearn some habits going into it and learn some new things,” Opmeer said “I’ve had to be very open in the last two years to learn new things for F1 Esports “That wasn’t easy of course to change things that you’ve been doing for the past 13-14 years “So it was very hard of course trying to accept that I wasn’t going to be the fastest straight away against these esports drivers “I had to put in a lot of work and a lot of hours just to be the fastest and I still think that I’m not the fastest I think I was the best driver but definitely not the fastest.” Opmeer’s belief that he wasn’t the fastest driver over one lap stems from his comparatively poor qualifying record claiming pole position only once this season However many of his best performances were made by starting on the medium compound tyre and ending on the softs whereas most of the drivers did their stints the other way around Starting on the slower tyre meant he lost out during the pit phase and had to re-overtake people late in the race The most spectacular example of that was in the Canadian round where he started second on the grid on the mediums and was by far the last driver to change tyres That left him down in eighth place with eight laps to go yet he still took first place with a lap to spare didn’t go with that alternate strategy and that’s because Opmeer admits it is more challenging to pull off “There’s deliberately doing something different but theoretically it is faster but you have to negotiate a lot of traffic and a lot of people don’t want to do that because they struggle in traffic or dirty air,” he says “I’m definitely firmly focused on F1 Esports I don’t think it’s really realistic to get back into something like Formula 3 or Formula 2″ :: Jarno Opmeer “But I’ve been quite comfortable in traffic this season and last season as well “In Mexico I got my first non-alternate strategy win and so I had to prove myself in that one “So I was very happy to see that I can also win starting on the softs but theoretically it should be the faster strategy to start on the mediums – it’s just a lot harder.” Opmeer led the drivers’ championship from start to finish but that’s not to say there weren’t moments when his time at the top looked like it was going to end After finishing behind a Red Bull 1-2 at the Austrian team’s home event Opmeer’s streak of podium finishes came to an end with a ninth place at Silverstone and fifth at Spa It was during that third event that he started to doubt that he would end up s the champion specifically after qualifying for the Silverstone round where was knocked out in Q1 and started the race in 16th “I had a really good race which gave me a lot of confidence – I was basically on for a podium from 16th place,” Opmeer recalls “Then I had the incident with a Haas on the straight which gave me damage but I still went from 16th to ninth so that was quite a big confidence boost knowing that no matter where I qualify I can still get on the podium “Also the third event made us realise that we still had work to do on set-ups “So in the third event I definitely lost some points but Red Bull also showed that they were not bulletproof because the third event was the worst for themselves as well “So it was a tough event but at the same time I think we learned a lot from it.” While Opmeer has the pride of being the 2020 F1 Esports champion Alfa Romeo failed to win the constructors’ championship as Red Bull won that for a second year in a row Outside of F1 Esports he also was a part of the four man Veloce Esports 1 team in the Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Jean-Eric Vergne and Pierre Gasly The team finished fifth overall and one lap down on the winners it’s something Opmeer intends to continue and expand upon now that a return to real-world racing is unlikely So his main focus for 2021 is to become a two-time F1 Esports champion F1 ESPORTS WORLD CHAMPION. 16 years of hard work to get my first world championship. Thanks to every single person who have helped me along this journey and especially my dad who started all of this.🙏🙌❤ pic.twitter.com/8QpuPyEj5C — Jarno Opmeer (@jarno_opmeer) December 17, 2020 “I know that I need to keep practicing a lot to manage to stay in first as a driver,” he says “Next year everyone will start with zero points again and I’ll have to put in the work to be the fastest “There’s definitely improvements to be made to try and win the drivers’ title again “I’m definitely firmly focused on F1 Esports and for me I don’t think it’s really realistic to get back into something like Formula 3 or Formula 2 as I simply don’t have the sponsor budget to do that “So whether it be F1 Esports next year or anything else like the Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans for me definitely the focus is on esports in the coming years.” Please accept marketing cookies to enable YouTube videos The two Dutch drivers has a last-lap showdown but it was the Alfa Romeo driver who prevailed Premier Sim Gaming League’s PC championship headed to Austria, where it has faced many dramatic moments.Thomas Ronhaar lost the win here in Season 32 after a collision with Jake Benham, but he got the better of a Mercedes driver this time to claim his first win on F1 23 The Dutchman fought off rival Jarno Opmeer on the last lap after some epic racing around the Red Bull Ring with Bari Broumand recovering to claim third The returning Joni Tormala was eliminated after he participated in ESL R1 Marcel Kiefer joined the Finn in the drop zone but the big shock was Lucas Blakeley’s elimination in a similar fashion to his former teammate Bari Broumand the week before Jake Benham was serving a qualifying ban and started 19th behind Dylan Warren meaning a one-lap shootout at the end on dry tyres Both Ferrari drivers failed to get the necessary laps to progress with championship leader Bari Broumand and Nicolas Longuet being 12th and 14th and he continued that into Q3 with a blistering lap to claim his second pole position on F1 23 with Jarno Opmeer completing the front row a track where he scored his first F1 Esports podium with Alfie Butcher and the returning Frede Rasmussen in the top five with former Ferrari teammates Fabrizio Donoso and Brendon Leigh on the fourth row Wilson Hughes and Ruben Pedreno completed the top 10 with Idowu taking the lead after passing Opmeer and Ronhaar into Turn 3: attempting to retake the lead Ronhaar dropped to fifth after a trip to the gravel Donoso and Smith ended Tormala’s first race on F1 23 after just five corners bringing out the Safety Car Donoso and Leigh boxed for a new front wing whilst Longuet strategically pitted for mediums.On the restart the order stayed similar before the activation of DRS when Butcher claimed the lead from Idowu for a few laps Longuet made solid progress and made six overtakes in six laps to put himself just outside the points Butcher and Ronhaar pit early on Lap 15 for the hard tyres as the pair attempted to work together to establish a strong lead Rasmussen and Opmeer followed the pair into the pits three laps later but were over four seconds behind the R8G pair Idowu boxed a lap later but was swamped by the Ferrari duo on mediums leaving the two McLarens at the front of the field but with a significant tyre advantage over those ahead for the remainder of the race Butcher and Ronhaar were being closed by Rasmussen and Opmeer swapping positions under DRS to close the gap Broumand passed Rasmussen into Turn 3 and closed in on Opmeer but the Dutchman just scraped DRS off the front two to reconnect the leading train to six cars Opmeer pounced and passed Butcher into Turn 3 and Ronhaar whilst being three-wide into Turn 4 to claim the lead for the first time Ronhaar seemed to have a significant advantage in straight-line speed compared to Opmeer’s setup and breezed past the very next lap Broumand overtook on Butcher after Rasmussen went far too deep into Turn 3 where he would pick up a 10-second penalty post-race with Opmeer sitting behind Ronhaar until the final lap The two-time F1 Esports champion overtook into Turn 3 he locked the front tyre allowing Ronhaar to execute the perfect to reclaim the lead Opmeer fended off an attack from Broumand into Turn 4 that gave Ronhaar breathing room to claim his first PSGL win on F1 23 with Simon Weigang and Wilson Hughes completing the top six Jake Benham recovered from his qualifying ban to take seventh You must be logged in to post a comment Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports driver Frede Rasmussen broke his duck on Friday night after claiming victory around Silverstone Winning the third race of the opening event the Dane now has his 2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship up and running An uncharacteristic mistake in the curtain-raiser in Bahrain earned him a penalty and he was stuck in a queue for the lead in Imola Nothing and nobody would stand in his way in Silverstone and he crossed the line just ahead of the ever-impressive Thomas Ronhaar The aforementioned race in Bahrain saw Lucas Blakeley win convincingly after resisting late pressure from reigning champion Jarno Opmeer with team mate Bari Boroumand coming home third to make it a first McLaren Shadow double-podium in F1 Esports and he came out of the Imola round with another win holding back the tide of Red Bull duo Marcel Kiefer and Rasmussen to extend his perfect start READ MORE: McLaren Shadow’s Blakeley claims victory in opening round of 2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship at Sakhir Qualifying in Silverstone came with a few shocks not least of which was Thursday’s runner-up Marcel Kiefer dropping out in Q1 with Red Bull family alumnus Sebastian Job filling the P2 spot for AlphaTauri Not content with going backwards at the start in the first two races Ronhaar powered past Job through Abbey and settled in behind Rasmussen for a long first stint ditching his medium tyres on Lap 10 to go long on the hards to the end of the 26-lap affair READ MORE: Lucas Blakeley doubles up with Imola win in Round 2 of the 2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship the first of the leaders – Blakeley (P4) and Longuet (P5) – came in to trade for the mediums The reigning champion’s gamble on a tyre differential didn’t work out much like Ferrari’s at Monza just five days prior Leading duo Rasmussen and Ronhaar came in together and when the pit stops shuffled out with Blakeley taking his spot on the podium Opmeer’s strategy left him in no-man’s-land in P7 but he was able to surpass both Longuet and Brendon Leigh on the final lap Rasmussen soared over the line to take his 11th win in F1 Esports coolly taking the chequered flag ahead of Ronhaar Fabrizio Donoso (Ferrari) and Luke Smith (Alpine) occupied the final three positions; all three opening their accounts for the season READ MORE: 2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship calendar revealed The first event leaves Lucas Blakeley firmly top of the pile boasting a 21-point gap to Rasmussen in second Ronhaar’s spellbinding first event sees him sat in third The team standings are are a similar story with McLaren Shadow leading the way after three consecutive podiums for Blakeley Hit and miss races for Red Bull Racing Esports and Mercedes-AMG F1 Esports Team means they have ground to make up outscoring their 2021 tally several times over already We now wait four weeks for our second event where three fresh rounds of racing action await us Belgium and the Netherlands form a European triple-header The Mercedes AMG F1 Esports team has signed reigning world champion Jarno Opmeer to its squad for the 2021 season replacing Ferrari-bound 2018 and 2019 champion Brendon Leigh Replacing a driver of Leigh’s caliber was never going to be easy but Mercedes has clearly set its sights on at least one title in 2021 in signing Dutch driver Opmeer The new champion won his first F1 Esports title last season driving for the Alfa Romeo team alongside Daniel Bereznay Opmeer’s first season in F1 Esports came in 2019 picking up one win — at Hockenheim — along with a further four podium finishes That actually placed him one spot above Leigh in the final standings although the gap was a relatively large 46 points online-only championship in 2020 saw Opmeer deliver four wins from 12 races This was enough to see him beat Red Bull’s Fredrick Rasmussen to the title by 22 points courtesy of an unusual final race at Interlagos where neither driver could finish in the top five In addition to signing Opmeer from Alfa Romeo, Mercedes has also picked up Dani Moreno from McLaren. Moreno was McLaren’s Pro Draft pick in 2020 and ended up beating team-mate James Baldwin by some 60 points across the season Mercedes also retains the services of its 2020 signing That gives the brand an impressive line-up of drivers though it will have to pick from the 2021 Pro Draft as well — and quite how it will juggle a four-man squad in F1 Esports remains to be seen As well as F1, Huis and Opmeer will both represent Mercedes in its Formula E team for the new Formula E Accelerate esports event, starting this week, as well as the Virtual Grand Prix season which kicks off this coming weekend See more articles on With Season 31 of PSGL bringing in the big guns for its top PC tier and the new F1 22 game After a seemingly stable start to online multiplayer on F1 22 leagues are starting up soon and hopefully the issues presented to them in the past are absent None more so than the top F1 league over the past 18 months which gets underway with another star-studded Esports cast on 6th July Jarno Opmeer has dominated Premier Sim Gaming League’s top PC division in its first three seasons – taking every Driver’s Championship Bari Boroumand was the closest to denying the Flying Dutchman the title back in its inaugural season on F1 2020 in a tense season finale It’s official 📅 Here’s how the calendars look for PC F1 & the other tiers #PSGLS31 pic.twitter.com/YSqj7QXOKb no one has got close to the two-time F1 Esports Series Pro champion taking both championships with races to spare or it could be detrimental to their title aspirations Who will provide the greatest threat to Opmeer’s crown Let’s start with the reigning PSGL Constructors Champions The Silver Arrows has a new pairing for S31 but one that is familiar to fans of F1 Esports and his partner in the W13 needs little introduction and the reigning F1 Esports Constructors Champions will be hoping to secure both titles once again The Flying Dutchman 🤝 The All Star @jarno_opmeer & @jakeybenham have been unstoppable this season #PSGLS30 | Sponsored by @GridRival pic.twitter.com/2FWdZhdQ2Z The Dutchman had a difficult start to his title defence in S30 after failing to win any of the first four races including a controversial French Grand Prix that saw Opmeer cross the line first but he picked up a post-race five-second penalty through a pit-lane entry infringement It seemingly lit a fire under the two-time PSGL champion taking five wins in a row to secure the title with two races to spare Moreno will hope to challenge his teammate for the title but Opmeer heads into the season as the favourite for the PSGL PC title and his fifth PSGL top-tier title It is a fresh look at Red Bull from S30. Nicolas Longuet and Liam Parnell depart with Red Bull Racing Esports’s main two F1 Esports drivers, Marcel Kiefer and Frede Rasmussen filling the two seats vacated by their former driver and current third driver Kiefer initially signed up for S30 but did not race, meaning it is his first season competing in PSGL, whereas his Danish teammate raced in the early stages of F1 2021. Rasmussen won in France back in S29 and started competitive racing on F1 22 with second place in the recent Esports Invitational After losing out on the F1 Esports Pro Series Constructors title last year the Red Bull duo will certainly take league racing seriously to try and regain the title they won back in 2020 “League racing was not a priority for us before but we will make sure to be on it from the first race this year to get as much data as possible,” explained third driver Liam Parnell “It allows us to work on strategies which I felt we were missing out on last year this will benefit us for this upcoming F1 Esports season.” Additionally, Rasmussen hopes to unlock slightly more performance that can take him to the Drivers title after finishing second in the last three years Ferrari’s new signing Fabrizio Donoso goes straight into the team alongside his former F1 Esports title rival in 2017 and two-time F1 Esports Champion Brendon Leigh The Chilean moves from Race Clutch and the Alpine team to replace Leigh’s former Mercedes teammate The pairing is one of five to have both taken a PSGL PC victory highlighting how strong the partnership is. Leigh took two wins last season and ended Opmeer’s winning run with a dominant drive at Singapore before following it up with a gutsy defensive drive at Imola in the penultimate round of S30 His teammate Donoso arguably took victory in the race that featured the most controversial moment in PSGL history when he overtook the two Mercedes drivers on the final lap at Austria after they collided at Turn 3 The Chilean was comfortably leading the Esports Invitational last Wednesday before a pit-lane glitch cost him over five seconds meaning he finished directly behind his teammate in fifth With Ferrari’s only F1 Esports champion so far it is an opportunity for Donoso to stake his claim for a regular spot on the Esports grid this season ahead of the two World Champions in the pecking order Leigh will want to continue his end-of-season form on F1 2021 and is certainly one that could challenge Opmeer’s crown in S31 McLaren also has a slight change to their driver pairing from S30 with McLaren Shadow’s Academy Driver Wilson Hughes replacing Josh Idowu and joining their main driver Bari Boroumand on the grid The Scotsman is a two-time PSGL champion from his days on PlayStation and is looking for a consistent run of races and results after missing much of last season due to preparing for Challengers Series on PC – where he finished in sixth place overall Hughes is yet to take victory in the league since moving to PC and he will certainly want to change that as he hopes to become a three-time PSGL champion His teammate Boroumand re-joins PSGL after the controversial conclusion to the S30 US Grand Prix and will be one of the favourites to break Opmeer’s dominance The Iranian took a brilliant victory in the recent Esports Invitational at Silverstone after a bold strategy call to start on the mediums Boroumand won the S30 pre-season race in China and he went on to take victory in the opening race at Portugal – his last in PSGL He will be hoping history repeats itself on Wednesday The second fresh line-up for S31 is at Alpine with two PSGL PC race winners replacing the outgoing Simon Weigang and Donoso: Race Clutch’s Patrik Sipos and Veloce’s new acquisition Lucas Blakeley Sipos took victory at Silverstone back in S29 with Blakeley taking a win in the final race of S30 at Bahrain from last on the grid After one season of Esports under his belt the Hungarian will want to add more consistent results in PSGL that he can take into his second campaign with Alpine Blakeley finished in third place in the 2021 F1 Esports Series Pro and will want to continue the momentum with a strong PSGL campaign The Scotsman will be one of Opmeer’s biggest threats for his title next season after a series of unfortunate circumstances denied him a shot at the S29 title racing against everyone again and I reckon it will very quickly feel normal,” explained Blakeley “I can’t wait to get stuck into this new game properly and get the new season underway.” Heading into the second half of the grid, the Alpha Tauri duo of Sebastian Job and Joni Tormula return to the grid after pairing up for S30: the latter taking an impressive win at Zandvoort in mixed conditions but he takes the seat of Hughes after his move to McLaren for S31 The Italian team’s main two drivers for the 2021 F1 Esports Series Pro finished in fourth place in the Constructors Standings back in S29 and were just two points off Aston Martin’s duo of Blakeley and Daniele Haddad in second place expect Tormula and Job to threaten those near the front as they prepare for the 2022 F1 Esports Pro Series A brand-new line-up for Aston Martin after Haddad and Shanaka Clay departed to Williams The newly announced Simon Weigang and John Evans who finished fourth in the F1 Esports Challengers Series on PC will take the wheel of the Aston Martin in S31.  Happy to annouce I've joined @amf1esports. Time to start sweating for the f1 Esports season and see how far I can push myself!😌🙂 https://t.co/FssVZzUliK had an impressive rise in F1 2021 after being initially placed in the second tier of PSGL: finishing second to Race Clutch’s Samuel Bean The Englishman is good friends with his German teammate off the track and Evans said that will only benefit them to score good results ahead of their first season.  “Having the relationship off track means we can help each other on it through better strategies and good communication allowing us to work better as a team.” One of Williams’ new signings joins one of the most experienced drivers on the F1 Esports grid Clay impressed in the early stages of S30 and was in the championship lead after four races – with a second place in the opening race and a victory in a topsy turvy race in his home race at Silverstone.  his championship hopes slipped away thanks to Opmeer’s run of five successive wins but it highlights the talent Williams signed for the 2022 F1 Esports Pro Series Clay will want to return to that form in the bid to race on a more consistent basis in F1 Esports this season.  Carreton will accompany his teammate in the Williams and the Spaniard has been impressive in the early stages of F1 22 – taking a brilliant pole position in the Esports Invitational He is the only driver to have remained with one team since F1 teams joined the Esports Pro Championship in 2018 and he will be looking to secure his first win in the series.  Pole lap from @PremierSimGL Social Race in Silverstone (1:26.586)Ended up the race in P3 but great feelings so far 👊🏽 @WilliamsEsports pic.twitter.com/7TwLiX9FlZ The penultimate team of S31 has two F1 Esports Teams Champions in their ranks – last season’s PSGL runner-up Dani Berenzay and one of Veloce’s newest signings Nicolas Longuet Bereznay finished second in the Drivers in 2018 but won the Constructors alongside his two-time champion Brendon Leigh whilst Longuet was part of the Red Bull team that won their first Teams championship the following year in 2019.  The Hungarian ended the season in brilliant form including a first PSGL win at Brazil that elevated him ahead of Benham and Boroumand in the standings After a difficult F1 Esports season with zero points compared to his usual high standards the Hungarian will seek to impress in the early stages of S31 and recapture his form of old that earned him four F1 Esports victories.  His teammate returns to PSGL after being involved in a controversial ending at COTA – that saw the Frenchman leave the league Longuet secured the World Online Racing PC title after a dramatic title finale involving Carreton and Tomek Poradzisz as well as competing in F4 at Paul Ricard in May The two-time F1 Esports winner will be fired up ahead of the new season and join the likes of Moreno and Boroumand as the favourites to break the Dutchman’s dominance The final team of PSGL S30 sees the all-star Jake Benham join America’s F1 team alongside Haas’ Esports driver Matthijs Van Erven – who narrowly missed out on a maiden PSGL title back in S26 Benham finished in the top four in the Driver’s Standings in the past two PSGL seasons through some incredible consistency and it was in the steward’s room at his teammates’ expense after Opmeer extended the pitlane entry at France last season After a full year of PC racing under his belt the Veloce driver will want to show his talent and fight for wins on a more consistent basis to truly challenge for the title His Dutch teammate Van Erven scored Haas’ only points in F1 Esports last season and will be looking to carry some momentum into his second season Van Erven is a veteran in the league who has risen through the ranks on PlayStation and moved over to PC after finishing fourth in the 2021 PlayStation Challenger Series “League racing is very important especially before F1 Esports as it is the same grid you will be racing against during the season,” highlighted Van Erven “You can improve and learn small things but the full focus will be on F1 Esports as that is where it counts.” The reserves begin with two former PlayStation drivers Louis Welch and Valentin Bruffer: the latter winning the 2021 PlayStation Challengers title resulting in a move to Veloce Esports Welch is well-known within the community as one of the best drivers on the controller With the pad seemingly not as competitive in the early stages of F1 22 it will be interesting to see whether the ‘pad-man’ can adapt and still compete with the elite Two of the next three reserves showcase the depth in the tier with the 2022 PC Challengers Champion and runner-up The Polish drivers will surely be on the F1 Esports grid next season after taking nine wins between them from the 12 races – Poradzisz taking six of those wins The last reserve in the first half is Williams’ other new signing Daniele Haddad The Italian moved from Aston Martin to the British team during the off-season and will be hoping that when he does get his way onto the grid he will showcase the skills that made Williams sign Haddad from Aston Martin Continuing into the second half of the reserves Thomas Ronhaar has made an impact since moving to PC – taking an impressive fourth place on his PSGL PC debut and a couple of wins in WOR The Dutchman was snapped up by Veloce and qualified for the Pro Exhibition through the Time Trial route on Xbox.  Three of the remaining four reserves featured in F1 Esports last season: starting with the impressive Josh Idowu The McLaren Shadow graduate impressed in his debut F1 Esports season only for the win to be snatched away from the Welshman on the final lap Idowu got into Q3 in four of his five races and incidentally secured his only points of the season when he did not make it into the third part of qualifying.  Filip Presnajder and Thijmen Schutte are yet to confirm with teams after departing from Alfa Romeo earlier this year who won at Spa in S28 will hope to pick up a seat on the grid next season and it seems something could be in the works after tweeting a contract GIF just two weeks ago.  👀 pic.twitter.com/bl8998exby who produced a brilliant drive at Monaco in S30 to take the victory will also be eyeing up some of the final seats on the grid and hopes for some impressive performances in PSGL to benefit his chances The last reserve also secured a spot in the Pro Exhibition after finishing in fifth place in the 2022 PC Challengers Series with two wins Samuel Bean has a chance of being on the grid next season thanks to his recent announcement of joining Race Clutch with the Spaniard looking to build on an impressive F1 2021 game cycle.   Announcing our second group of reserves for the new season: @JoshIdowu_ @FilipPresnajder @ThijmenSchutte @samuelbean35 #PSGLS31 pic.twitter.com/YM5BajgcK6 PSGL kicks off their first race of a brand-new game cycle under the lights of Bahrain Opmeer took victory back in S29 to start his quest for a third PSGL title with Lucas Blakeley taking a win from last on the grid in his first competitive race since F1 Esports.  There are two trips to the States on either side of a visit to Austria The Circuit of Americas has had various strategic decisions in the past including the dramatic race last season that saw undercuts and a dramatic conclusion in S28 and S30.  Austria constantly sees drama at Turn 3 in PSGL Opmeer and Moreno clashed that handing a first PSGL victory to Donoso Opmeer avenged his defeat from the year before after disconnecting and passing Benham and Boroumand after they collided in a similar fashion as the Mercedes teammates had the season before.  The inaugural race at Miami follows Austria and then a visit to the longest track on the F1 calendar: Spa-Francorchamps The Flying Dutchman has an impressive record around Belgium in PSGL Opmeer held off Benham as the Englishmen closed in on the two-time F1 Esports champion on fresher tyres in the closing laps He also beat another new upcoming star Simon Perigny to take his fourth win in a row in S30 with an easy pass on the final lap into Les Combes.  Another visit to North America for the first race in the second half of the season at Mexico City where PSGL has not held an official round since S28 when Opmeer took victory ahead of Moreno and Boroumand but desync issues with the Formula 1 game turned it into a social race on a build aimed to solve desync issues: Wilson Hughes taking victory on the final lap The first trip to Asia for Round 7 as PSGL heads to Japan for the first time since S28 The Spaniards of Moreno and Carreton made it a Spanish 1-2 with Idowu completing the podium after title rivals Opmeer and Boroumand missed the race.  Many fans of the F1 community know what happened the last time PSGL visited Monza with mass desync In the only official race at the Temple of Speed with Nicolas Mateo taking his first and only PSGL win from Carreton Round 9 and the penultimate round of S31 see the first visit to one of the new layouts in the F1 22 game Alessio Di Capua joined them on the podium in third.  where Opmeer has clinched titles in all PSGL’s previous visits to Interlagos he beats Boroumand in a tense finale to win his second PSGL title and first on PC and he won his fourth title despite finishing outside the points in S30.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐@jarno_opmeer is a four-time PSGL champion after another remarkable campaign #PSGLS30 | Sponsored by @GridRival pic.twitter.com/EtXdnvbU10 the commentary team from the first two PSGL seasons returns with George Morgan and Jack Cunnane picking up the mic once again to commentate over the elite in league racing who has built up a brilliant reputation in the league racing community over the past four years is delighted to be back alongside Cunnane for S31.  “I am buzzing to be back,” said Morgan, who has also been commentating during V10 R-League events and the International GT Open this year “Both Jack and I were fortunate to be part of the team that helped create the PSGL PC division and to be part of that growth is an achievement I am very proud of and we are looking forward to taking PSGL to the next level.” There we have it. Your Ultimate Guide to the new Premier Sim Gaming Leagues PC division, kicking off this Wednesday at 7 pm BST on YouTube You must be logged in to post a comment Despite finishing behind his title rival in the finale Jarno Opmeer has been crowned F1 Esports champion for the second year in a row Heading into the final race the reigning champion – racing for Mercedes this year after winning last year’s title with Alfa Romeo – had a 21-point lead over his only remaining title opponent In qualifying for the final race at Interlagos Alpine’s Nicolas Longuet took pole position at by a margin of over a tenth of a second Marcel Kiefer joined him on the front row for the race while Lucas Blakeley and Opmeer shared the second row A poor showing in Q3 for Rasmussen meant he started the race from 10th place The Red Bull driver went on a different strategy to the majority of the field as he switched over from medium to soft compound tyres later than anyone else That meant he exited the pits down in 13th place but on fresher tyres than those around him Opmeer made the switch to soft tyres five laps earlier and was in sixth position once everyone had pitted A combination of extra grip from those newer tyres on Rasmussen’s car combined with his team-mate Kiefer deliberately driving slowly to try to hold the rest of the pack up helped Rasmussen to quickly climb up the order On lap 19 of 25 Kiefer was able to hold up Opmeer on the run up to Turn 6 while leaving space to let Rasmussen pass both of them That gave Rasmussen track position over his title rival and a chance to go after the race win which was necessary for him to win the drivers’ title Not joking when we said this final #F1Esports race is SPICY 🌶️🌶️🌶️ ➡️ https://t.co/iWQxK7azJw➡️ https://t.co/SsghzgbkcG pic.twitter.com/MxdHZ4y4k1 — Formula 1® Game (@Formula1game) December 16, 2021 Rasmussen quickly got past Sebastian Job’s AlphaTauri and Longuet on a worn set of mediums That put him in second place but just over two seconds behind leader Blakeley who was the first to get past Kiefer when he was tactically holding the field up At the start of the final lap Rasmussen overtook Blakeley to take first place and held it to the finish However Opmeer just had to finish in seventh position to guarantee his second F1 Esports drivers’ championship A pass on Williams’ Alvaro Carreton shortly after the pitstop phase a pass on Kiefer shortly after Rasmussen passed them both and a five second time penalty for Longuet meant Opmeer finished the race in fourth place Opmeer ends the season having won a third of the races in the championship and with a winning margin of eight points over Rasmussen This season is the third one in a row that Rasmussen has been the runner up in the drivers’ championship as he lost out to Opmeer in 2020 and before that David Tonizza in 2019 In the previous day’s double-header of races Opmeer secured Mercedes’ first F1 Esports constructors’ championship since 2018 ended second in the points standings this year The eighth race of the 2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship saw Jarno Opmeer return to winning ways Haas could barely have dreamed of the impact its Dutch rookie would have on the 2022 Formula 1 Esports Pro Championship but there he sat; third in the points standings Had it not been for his retirement in Bahrain one might even have considered him a genuine threat for the title.  arriving at the virtual Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez he lay almost a race win’s worth of points behind Lucas Blakeley The Scot had led the pack since the first points were scored this season yet was losing ground to Frederick Rasmussen bit by bit.  There can be no slip-ups in this ultra-competitive championship and both title protagonists know this all too well Monza was a mixed bag for Red Bull Racing Esport’s Dane A so-so qualifying effort was converted into a decent points haul; crucially more than Blakeley For the eighth round, he would start in pole position ahead of Ronhaar. Josh Idowu was searching for a third podium in four races from fourth on the grid.  After what was surely the nail in the coffin for his second title defence Jarno Opmeer looked re-energised posting one of his best single laps of the year The Dutchman started third well ahead of the two McLaren Shadows who disappointed based on recent form Both papaya machines enjoyed the best starts by far They cruised down the longest run to a first corner on the calendar making their way up to fifth and sixth whilst switching places between themselves This made sense as Boroumand had chosen the same hard compound of tyre for his opening stint as Ronhaar had.  Blakeley was on the mediums along with Idowu The former two of that trio cruised past the Haas demoting Ronhaar to fourth Warming up the rubber was proving far too tricky and before he knew it the Dutchman was behind the flying Scotsman himself.  Nicolas Longuet had let himself down in qualifying as he exceeded track limits twice in Q3 setting no lap time when he was easily in the mix for pole position opting for the medium tyres and making his way up to fifth after 10 laps had been completed the top four had broken away from Ronhaar by just over two seconds.  it was logical that the Frenchman would be the first of the medium runners to pit hoping to cut the gap to fourth down with a fresh pair of boots Idowu and Blakeley were in two rotations on forcing the hand of Rasmussen but not Opmeer The reigning champion gave himself over a minute’s worth of free air and utilised every second beautifully.  His Mercedes left pitroad ahead of Rasmussen who had been fending off Idowu during that time Boroumand and Ronhaar were storming up the order with ease Both were shoe-ins for the podium barring extraordinary circumstances.  it was to be a backmarker that helped decide the outcome Daniele Haddad led the race before Opmeer relieved him of his post This was done at a crucial time before the twists of the second and third sectors; Rasmussen was stuck behind with no blue flags to assist him.  Opmeer was untroubled until the end of the race Jarno had become the joint-most successful F1 Esports driver of all time – equal with Brendon Leigh To the relief of an underwhelming Blakeley The pole sitter looked very out of character going over the line in combat with Ronhaar and picking up a three-second penalty.  You must be logged in to post a comment Jarno Opmeer recently gave a TEDx Talk to his community about his racing journey so far Two-time Formula One Esports Champion Jarno Opmeer recently shared his racing story to the world in a TEDx Talk back in February the 15-minute video went live on the TEDx Talks YouTube account Jarno speaks on his unorthodox racing path one that has become more of a reality with esports and sim racing in today’s day and age It wasn’t always in the cards for the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Esports Driver to be in the position he’s in today eventually he found his place among the greats in sim racing and now that’s led back to the real-world with opportunities he would have never had otherwise Do note, it’s not a full fat TED Talk, as this is one of the community-driven events. “TEDx is a grassroots initiative, created in the spirit of TED’s overall mission to research and discover “ideas worth spreading.” TEDx brings the spirit of TED to local communities around the globe through TEDx events.,” reads the TEDx mission statement it’s cool nonetheless to see someone as large in racing esports talk to the masses about his journey What do you think about Opmeer’s TED Talk Let us know what you thought about it in the comments You must be logged in to post a comment Jarno Opmeer will race at a shopping centre in Fulham before taking to Renault’s F1 simulator to help fine-tune the real thing Inside the Vue cinema on Fulham Broadway a customised arena will host racers from 10 different teams as they complete the final three grands prix of a virtual season Up for grabs is prize money of $500,000 (£385,000) But there is also the chance to shape the future of the sport Currently third in the standings is Renault Vitality’s Jarno Opmeer – lying 43 points behind the leader, Ferrari’s David Tonizza – and this year’s title might be just out of reach for the 19-year-old Dutchman. A podium finish, however, would still be a welcome improvement for the team who finished bottom of the classification last year. Read moreSomething significant is also happening on Thursday, when Opmeer will become the first esports athlete to test-drive Renault’s F1 simulator Housed in their base at Enstone in Oxfordshire the simulator is a critical tool in helping the team to fine-tune their F1 cars and for Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hülkenberg to get used to driving them Costing by some estimates as much as £20,000 an hour to run it has not been a facility made available to gamers came to esports through traditional racing he was encouraged to try out for virtual competition at Enstone this spring He took part in the qualifying tests and was selected a pool filled by winners of online heats from around the world “Formula One is one of the few games where the skillset required to perform is the same as that in the actual sport,” says Nicolas Maurer currently the biggest esports team in France as well as Renault’s partner in F1 Esports mainly the physical part; you don’t get the lateral force when you’re driving the video game But Jarno being accepted to the real F1 simulator shows that you can build from video game to the sport and back No doubt it is also a handy piece of marketing The truth is that F1 is a minnow in the esports ecosystem While the game itself has been well reviewed and the latest version reached No 2 in the UK sales charts its online audience is small in comparison to heavyweights like League of Legends or Dota 2 “It’s a successful product but still only for a niche audience,” says Maurer Pushing the narrative that F1 Esports is as close as it gets to the real thing and that it is taken seriously by the high-precision world of F1 proper is one way of setting the game apart from the competition If the strategy is successful it might help to sell more copies and sway decisions when those gamers (preferably Chinese) come to buy their next car.But there are also real sporting benefits to be had if F1 and F1 Esports can work in tandem Jarno Opmeer will become the first esports athlete to test-drive Renault’s F1 simulator at their base in Enstone Photograph: John Sibley/Reuters“[It] is still a new industry and a few years back if you wanted to win at esports all you needed to do was sign the best talent,” says Maurer if you want to win in the biggest competitions of course you need the best talent you need the best resources around and you need the best training infrastructure where you use physical and mental conditioning we’re using a lot of what Renault can help us with They are using their coaches and their experts to help us train our esports athletes and that’s very interesting and that’s one of the ways we can achieve the performance we’re looking for Renault have further plans for working with Opmeer and co including opening their enormous telemetry suite to analyse data during esports races data is taken from hundreds of sensors that record the output of thousands of parts and 12 customisable elements that allow for one trillion unique combinations Some inside Renault believe it will be only a few years before the simulation in the game matches that of their expensive invite-only machine Soon Renault might be able to test real-life changes through mass virtual practice It might also create a whole new generation of drivers says not only is the compatibility between the two disciplines real but the limitless practice gaming that makes possible can offer benefits “In the future I think you can get people who start in esports and come over,” he said “I don’t think they can go straight from esports to Formula One they would have to still do some steps: F3 But I think there’s already been some drivers who have proved that having skills on the simulator can translate very well on to the actual racetrack “The better the simulators get and everything then the higher the chance of something like that happening.” Defending F1 Esports champion Jarno Opmeer (Mercedes) scored back-to-back wins to break his winless streak and set up a five-way championship finale The week’s action didn’t get off to a great start for Opmeer though as the Dutch driver made an error in qualifying at Monza – a track at which he claimed pole position in 2021 – to miss out on Q2 With most of the grid starting on hard tyres Boroumand used the softs to hit the front even before the first chicane Rookie sensation Thomas Ronhaar (Haas) also sneaked up into second using the medium option Ronhaar overtook for the lead and was able to pit far later to take newer hard tyres for his final stint That would prove crucial as the duo battled for the lead with Boroumand hitting the front three laps from the end only to see Ronhaar cruise back past approaching Variante Ascari on the final lap It would mean a second win for the Dutch driver in his first season The championship top two – Frede Rasmussen (Red Bull) and Lucas Blakeley (McLaren) – had to settle for fifth and seventh respectively Rasmussen was back on form though as the racing moved to Mexico He extended his own record of pole positions in the series to 15 while Opmeer’s best performance of the season saw him start third and Blakeley all streamed past on the medium rubber The front four held station until the pit stops as Idowu and Blakeley opted for earlier stops and Opmeer pitting last of all – using the overcut to take the lead were carving through the pack and soon passed Rasmussen Clearly feeling he’d been run off the road by Ronhaar at the Ese del Lago chicane – picking up a track limits penalty – Rasmussen dive-bombed the Haas at the same turn on the next lap scoring another penalty as well as a later grid position penalty for the next round Opmeer crossed the finish line over three seconds ahead of Boroumand claiming his first win – and a first for Mercedes – since the one he took at the same track in 2021 while Rasmussen’s red mist saw him drop out of the points; with Blakeley claiming a sixth position that could prove vital at the end of the year The final round of the triple-header was hosted at the Circuit of the Americas and it was Ronhaar on pole position ahead of Boroumand for what would turn out to be another wet race save for Opmeer passing Marcel Kiefer’s Red Bull Even after the whole field stopped for intermediates the race didn’t truly get underway until the final six laps as the dry tyres became viable it erupted in the final lap which saw Boroumand start the lap in first but end it in fourth An overtake attempt from Ronhaar brought the Haas and McLaren together and as they tangled Opmeer sneaked into the lead to secure his second win in a row allowing Brendon Leigh (Ferrari) to seize third for his first podium finish in two seasons Rasmussen recovered from his grid penalty to fifth 11-point lead over Ronhaar on 132 points to 121 with Rasmussen three more behind and Opmeer now in the title picture again on 110 Subaru and Toyota will head into the Gran Turismo World Series finals tied on ten points apiece after a second successive victory saw Toyota climb back up the table Former Asia-Oceania champion Ryota Kokubun drove the Toyota from a third-place start to victory courtesy of a flipped tyre strategy compared to the cars around him Kokubun only got quicker as the race went on overtaking pole-sitter Seiya Suzuka (Volkswagen) and race leader Lucas Bonelli (Mercedes) heading into the penultimate lap and sprinting clear to victory Championship leader Subaru had a poor race with Kylian Drumont qualifying just under a second back and in 11th out of 11 Toyota and Subaru are now tied on ten points going to the World Final at the end of the month Welcome to FOS Future Lab where we report on the latest visions of future technology jetpacks and spaceships with plenty of down to earth topics in between Book early bird tickets before the 30 April to save up to 10% Stay in the know with our newsletters that contain all the latest motorsport news By clicking ‘sign up’ you are accepting the terms of Goodwood’s privacy notice. 5,800 bales have been recylced into the biomass energy centre to be used for energy generation