The 2022 F1 Esports season continued at Imola yesterday and today we headed to the home of British motorsport, Silverstone!
This is the first season of Formula 1 esports pro series on the F1 22 game and so far, it's been really entertaining. Today's race kept that form going and here are all the highlights from Round 3 of the 2022 season!
F1 Esports 2022 Britain
Last year's winner Fredi Rasmussen claimed a sensational pole ahead of Sebastian Job. Championship leader Lucas Blakeley was in P5, with the defending champion Jarno Opmeer down in 9th after another poor qualifying session.
In the race, Rasmussen got off to a good start, but Job didn't get a good getaway, losing P2 to Thomas Ronhaar. Championship challengers Blakeley and Opmeer also got great starts, up to 4th and 5th, respectively.
Almost the entire field were in a DRS train as the drivers bided their time in their opening stints.
Pit-stops
Opmeer was the first car to pit at the end of Lap 9, as he aimed to make the undercut work. Blakeley pit two laps later and maintained a net P4 ahead of Nicolas Longuet, who jumped Opmeer.
All the front runners had stopped by Lap 13, bar Rasmussen and Ronhaar. Blakeley passed Job around the outside going into Brooklands to get into P3 and after the leading pair stopped, the Scot had them in his sights.
Marcel Kiefer was the final driver to stop on Lap 18 of 26, but his alternate strategy didn't work out, as he rejoined in P17. Despite the best efforts of all the front runners, none of the positions changed in the final laps.
This was with the exception of Opmeer, whose medium tyres struggled and he dropped to P7.
Full Results
Frede Rasmussen's win sees him now as Blakeley's closest challenger at the top of the driver's standings. Ronhaar was a sensational second, his first F1 esports podium.
Blakeley was a solid third place, with Job an impressive fourth. Opmeer recovered to fifth by the final flag, despite his worn tyres. Longuet was P6, with Brendon Leigh in seventh.
Patrik Sipos was in the points again in eighth, Farbizio Donoso ninth and Luke Smith up in tenth in his home race.
When's the next round?
Silverstone marked the final leg of the opening triple-header. Round 4 will take place on 12th October in Austria. Spa-Francorchamps and Zandvoort form the second and third legs of that stint.
Qualifying will be live on these channels from 3:30pm earlier in their respective days.
These will be live from 7:30pm BST on YouTube, Twitch, Facebook as well as Sky Sports F1 in the UK.