The 2022 F1 Esports season continued in Austria yesterday and today we headed for the longest and most thrilling circuit on the calendar, Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
This is the first season of Formula 1 esports pro series on the F1 22 game and so far, it's been extremely entertaining. Today's race kept that form going and here are all the highlights from Round 5 of the 2022 season!
F1 Esports 2022 Belgium
F1 Esports' Great Dane Fredi Rasmussen claimed pole position for the Spa break today. Bari Boroumand joined him on the front row, with Josh Ido in third and yesterday's winner Thomas Ronhaar in P4.
Rasmussen held the lead as the front three stayed in the same places. Lucas Blakeley was starting on the softer medium tyres and aggressively moved up to P4 by the end of the first of 22 laps.
On Lap 3, Blakeley powered past Idowu and onto the podium, as Ronhaar continued to fall down to P6. Two laps later, and Blakeley was let past his teammate Boroumand before taking the lead on Lap 6.
Bucking the trend
Blakeley couldn't pull out of Rasmussen's DRS range before pitting at the end of Lap 7. He re-emerged in last but had over six seconds of clear air to push his new hard tyres as much as possible.
The leaders began to unleash their pace and Boroumand emulated Blakeley by overtaking Rasmussen up the Kemmel straight on Lap 9. At the halfway point, the leaders began to pit but Rasmussen stayed out to run long.
That call by Rasmussen didn't pay off as Sebastian Job managed to jump the Red Bull man. Boroumand overtook Blakeley for the net race lead, as the Scot began to struggle on his tyres.
Jarno Opmeer was having a quiet race, but the Dutchman's big undercut saw him up in P6 and looking good to salvage some solid points.
Battle for the podium
Rasmussen was giving it his all to get up into second. Boroumand though, was doing everything he could to help Blakeley, including giving his teammate DRS to fend off the rampant Red Bull in P3.
Blakeley fended off Fredi on Lap 16, but on Lap 17, the Dane got past thanks to a determined move around the outside into Les Combes.
Josh Ido powered past Blakeley on Lap 19, as the Brit looked like he'd claim his second podium place in a row.
Despite Rasmussen's best efforts and an unbelievable battle throughout the final lap, Boroumand held on to take his first win of the season and yet another victory for McLaren in 2022.
Full Results
Bari Boroumand's excellent victory could spark a surprise title challenge for the man from Iran. Rasmussen's second place also kept his good form going, with Josh Idowu getting another podium.
Blakeley held on for P4 ahead of an impressive drive for Seb Job in P5. Sixth was Opmeer with Ronhaar in seventh. Nicolas Longuet was up in eighth with David Tonizza in P9 and Simon Weigang rounding off the points in tenth.
When's the next round?
There's one round to go in this triple-header! Round 6 will take place tomorrow 14th October in the Netherlands. Zandvoort form the second and third legs of that stint.
Qualifying will be live from 3:30pm on YouTube, Twitch, Facebook as well as Sky Sports F1 in the UK. The race will be live from 7:30pm later in the day on these same channels.
