2022 Formula One Esports Series

The 2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship was an esports competition for Formula One which was the sixth season of the Formula One Esports Series and the last installation to be named the "F1 Esports Series" before rebranding to F1 Sim Racing the next season. It was held in Formula One's official 2022 game.

2022 Formula One Esports Series

Tournament information
Sport	Formula One Esports Series
Location	Qualification: Worldwide Pro Draft: Online Pro Series: TBA
Dates	14 September 2022–16 December 2022
Administrator	Codemasters EA Sports Formula One Management
Tournament format(s)	Qualification: Online Pro Exhibition: Driver's selection Pro Championship: Twelve race championship
Venue	Qualification: Worldwide Pro Exhibition: Silverstone Pro Championship: Online
Final positions
Champions	Lucas Blakeley McLaren Shadow

Lucas Blakeley won the driver's championship for the first time, as McLaren Shadow won the team's championship for the first time. Jarno Opmeer and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team were the defending champions, having won the Drivers' and Teams' titles respectively in 2021. It was the final season for 2019 champion David Tonizza and long-time driver Marcel Kiefer; Tonizza moved to other esports competitions and Kiefer retired from esports to pursue a motorsport career.

Format

• Qualification - The season opens with online qualification, a global call for participation. Qualification is open to anyone with a copy of the official Formula 1 video game developed by Codemasters. The fastest gamers get through.
• Pro Exhibition - Qualifying gamers enter the Pro Draft where the official Formula 1 teams select their drivers to represent them in the F1 Esports Series Pro Championship.
• Pro Championship - The drivers race in a series of events that are broadcast live. Race distance was increased from 35% to 50% this year. Same as F1, drivers must make one pit stop if the weather is dry, and are not obligated to do so if it's wet. They earn points for themselves and their F1 teams. These races will determine the F1 Esports Series Pro Championship Teams’ and Drivers’ World Champions, with a portion of the prize fund distributed to the teams based on their standings.

Teams and drivers

Team	Race drivers
	No.	Driver name	Rounds
Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN F1 Esports Team	15 40 71	Daniel Bereznay Nicolas Longuet Tomasz Poradzisz	1, 3–5, 7, 9–11 All 2, 6, 8, 12
Alpine Esports Team	80 38 75	Patrik Sipos Filip Prešnajder Luke Smith	1–7, 9–12 1–2, 4–5, 7–8 3, 6, 8–12
Aston Martin Cognizant Esports Team	69 30 2	Manuel Biancolilla Simon Weigang John Evans	1–3, 9–10 All 4–8, 11–12
Scuderia Ferrari Velas Esports Team	72 95 8	Brendon Leigh David Tonizza Fabrizio Donoso	1–4, 6–12 2, 4–5, 7–8, 12 1, 3, 5–6, 9–11
McLaren Shadow	88 7 13	Lucas Blakeley Bari Broumand Wilson Hughes	All All Did not compete
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team	34 26 25	Jarno Opmeer Dani Moreno Jake Benham	All 1–6 7–12
Red Bull Racing Esports	19 42 N.A.	Frederik Rasmussen Marcel Kiefer Liam Parnell	All All Did not compete
Scuderia AlphaTauri Esports Team	10 67 51	Sebastian Job Josh Idowu Joni Törmälä	1, 3, 5–7, 9–11 1–2, 4–5, 7–8, 11–12 2–4, 6, 8–10, 12
Haas F1 Team Esports	48 39 84	Matthijs van Erven Thomas Ronhaar Piotr Stachulec	2, 4–5, 7, 10 All 1, 3, 6, 8–9, 11–12
Williams Esports	21 92 79	Álvaro Carretón Daniele Haddad Shanaka Clay	1–4, 6, 9–12 2, 5–10, 12 1, 3–5, 7–8, 11
Sources:

Calendar

Round	Event	Circuit	Distance	Date	Broadcast
1	Event One	Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir	29 Laps	14 September	2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship: Round 1 on YouTube
2		Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola	32 Laps	15 September	2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship: Round 2 on YouTube
3		Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone	26 Laps	16 September	2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship: Round 3 on YouTube
4	Event Two	Red Bull Ring, Spielberg	36 Laps	12 October	2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship: Round 4 on YouTube
5		Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	22 Laps	13 October	2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship: Round 5 on YouTube
6		Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort	36 Laps	14 October	2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship: Round 6 on YouTube
7	Event Three	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza	27 Laps	2 November	2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship: Round 7 on YouTube
8		Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City	36 Laps	3 November	2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship: Round 8 on YouTube
9		Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas	28 Laps	4 November	2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship: Round 9 on YouTube
10	Grand Final	Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka	27 Laps	14 December	2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship: Round 10 on YouTube
11		Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo	36 Laps	15 December	2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship: Round 11 on YouTube
12		Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi	29 Laps	16 December	2022 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship: Round 12 on YouTube
Source:

Season report

Event One

The season started off in Bahrain. Lucas Blakeley took pole position and led from the start, but had to fend off the likes of Frederik Rasmussen and rookie Thomas Ronhaar, which caused him to lose ground to the reigning champion, Jarno Opmeer. Opmeer attempted an overcut, while Ronhaar sustained damaged and retired from the race. Blakeley was given a penalty by the game, but it was revoked by the stewards and it allowed him to win ahead of Opmeer and his new teammate, Bari Broumand.

At the next round in Imola, Ronhaar took his first pole position in the series. On the first lap, Opmeer was tagged from the back and fell to eighteenth. A poor strategy from Ronhaar relegated him to fourth place, with Blakeley winning back-to-back races. Marcel Kiefer was second for his only podium of his final season in F1 Esports, with his teammate Rasmussen getting his first podium of the season.

Rasmussen claimed his first pole of the season at Silverstone. Ronhaar settled for a long stint behind him, which eventually led to a last-lap battle between the two. Rasmussen took his first win of the season; Ronhaar took his first podium of the season (and also the first of his career). Blakeley got past Sebastian Job for third.

Event Two

Rasmussen took another pole position at the Red Bull Ring. He and Ronhaar fought in wet conditions, but eventually, Ronhaar took the lead to win his first race in F1 Esports. Rasmussen ended up second, with Josh Idowu taking his first podium behind. Opmeer was fourth from Nicolas Longuet, Blakeley, and Broumand.

Rasmussen again took pole at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. He battled Broumand throughout the race and fell back during the round of pit stops. Blakeley got pas Broumand, but only briefly as he retook the position; Idowu managed to overtake Blakeley later. Rasmussen’s pace advantage over Broumand resulted in a last-lap battle, but Broumand took the win from Rasmussen, Idowu, and Blakeley.

Ronhaar took pole at Zandvoort, his home race. A rainy starting ground caused Piotr Stachulec, Ronhaar’s teammate, to spin into Dani Moreno, Opmeer’s teammate. By Lap 10, everyone but Opmeer was on medium tires, with Opmeer going for the hard compound. His plan failed as he dropped from second to four. Blakeley won his third race of the season from Broumand, Rasmussen, and Opmeer, as pole-sitter Ronhaar ended up 9th.

Event Three

Heading into the second half of the season, Blakeley had 110 points compared to Rasmussen’s 95. Broumand was further back with 70 points, with Ronhaar and Opmeer on 63 and 60 points respectively.

Longuet took pole position in Monza, as Opmeer was only eighteenth. At the start, Longuet had a snap of understeer, allowing Broumand to soar into the lead. Ronhaar got past Longuet as well to battle Broumand for the win, which he achieved in another last-lap battle. Longuet ended up in third. Rasmussen was fifth with Blakeley seventh.

Rasmussen took another pole in Mexico City. After the round of pitstops, Rasmussen forced Ronhaar off the road at Turn 6; he eventually got a ten-second time penalty. Opmeer won for the first time since last year on the same track, with Broumand and Ronhaar second and third respectively. Blakeley only managed 7th, and Rasmussen’s penalties sent him to twelfth at the end.

Ronhaar took his fourth pole position in Austin. After wet conditions at the start jumbled up the order, Broumand entered the final lap in the lead from Ronhaar, Opmeer, and Brendon Leigh. At Turn 12, Ronhaar forced Broumand to the outside, which allowed Opmeer and Leigh to join the battle. In the end, Opmeer won from Ronhaar, with Leigh taking his first podium in the series since 2020, and Broumand was only fourth. Rasmussen was fifth and Blakeley ended up in sixth. Opmeer’s win put him only 21 points behind championship leader Blakeley, effectively making it a five-way championship fight between them, Broumand, Ronhaar, and Rasmussen.

Grand Final

Ronhaar took another pole at Suzuka, but Longuet shot up in the lead at Turn 1. When multiple people pitted, Jake Benham held up everyone for one lap so that his teammate, Opmeer, would benefit from the pitstops. This would eventually fail, as Opmeer crashed into Fabrizio Donoso, putting him out of the race. Longuet eventually won the race from Ronhaar. With Blakeley third and Broumand fourth, McLaren Shadow won the team’s championship for the first time in Esports history.

Blakeley took pole at Interlagos, his first pole since the first round. Mixed conditions during the race led Rasmussen and Broumand to fight for second position, with Rasmussen eventually getting the place only behind winner Blakeley. Ronhaar was only sixth and Opmeer was eighth. Broumand and Opmeer’s poor results meant that they were officially eliminated from the championship fight.

Idowu took his second career pole position at the final round in Yas Island. On the first lap, Ronhaar shot into the lead and kept it for most of the race, but Rasmussen battled him in the latter stages. Rasmussen eventually won the race over Ronhaar, with Idowu behind in third. And with Lucas Blakeley fourth, he became the 2022 F1 Esports Champion, the first of his career and the fourth in the series.

Results

Season summary

Round	Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Aramco Driver of the Day
1	Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir	Lucas Blakeley	Thomas Ronhaar	Lucas Blakeley	McLaren Shadow	Jarno Opmeer
2	Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola	Thomas Ronhaar	Brendon Leigh	Lucas Blakeley	McLaren Shadow	Lucas Blakeley
3	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone	Frederik Rasmussen	Joni Törmälä	Frederik Rasmussen	Red Bull Racing Esports	Thomas Ronhaar
4	Red Bull Ring, Spielberg	Frederik Rasmussen	Filip Prešnajder	Thomas Ronhaar	Haas F1 Team Esports	Thomas Ronhaar
5	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	Frederik Rasmussen	Filip Prešnajder	Bari Broumand	McLaren Shadow	Bari Broumand
6	Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort	Thomas Ronhaar	Piotr Stachulec	Lucas Blakeley	McLaren Shadow	Tomasz Poradzisz
7	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza	Nicolas Longuet	Daniele Haddad	Thomas Ronhaar	Haas F1 Team Esports	Daniel Bereznay
8	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City	Frederik Rasmussen	Tomasz Poradzisz	Jarno Opmeer	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team	Jarno Opmeer
9	Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas	Thomas Ronhaar	Patrik Sipos	Jarno Opmeer	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team	Brendon Leigh
10	Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka	Thomas Ronhaar	Álvaro Carretón	Nicolas Longuet	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN F1 Esports Team	Nicolas Longuet
11	Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo	Lucas Blakeley	Brendon Leigh	Lucas Blakeley	McLaren Shadow	Lucas Blakeley
12	Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi	Josh Idowu	Tomasz Poradzisz	Frederik Rasmussen	Red Bull Racing Esports	Frederik Rasmussen

Championship standings

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top 10 classified finishers in the race and one point was given to the driver who set the fastest lap inside the top ten. No extra points are awarded to the pole-sitter.

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	FL
Points	25	18	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1	1

In the event of a tie at the conclusion of the championship, a count-back system is used as a tie-breaker, with a driver's/constructor's best result used to decide the standings.

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos. Driver BHR EMI GBR AUT BEL NLD ITA MEX USA JPN BRA UAE Points 1 Lucas Blakeley 1P 1 3 6 4 1 6 7 6 4 1P 4 181 2 Frederik Rasmussen 8 3 1P 2P 2P 3 5 12P 5 3 2 1 173 3 Thomas Ronhaar RetF 4P 2 1 7 9P 1 3 2P 2P 6 2 165 4 Bari Broumand 3 7 16 7 1 2 2 2 4 5 3 7 149 5 Jarno Opmeer 2 11 5 4 6 4 17 1 1 Ret 8 6 122 6 Nicolas Longuet 9 17 6 5 8 5 3P 6 15 1 4 10 95 7 Josh Idowu 10 12 3 3 7 5 16 3P 62 8 Brendon Leigh 7 19F 7 11 6 15 9 3 6 17F 8 49 9 Sebastian Job 6 4 5 8 20 16 7 10 41 10 Marcel Kiefer 13 2 14 9 14 11 16 4 9 10 11 20 35 11 Dani Moreno 5 5 13 8 13 7 30 12 Daniel Bereznay Ret 17 18 12 4 7 12 7 24 13 Simon Weigang 4 9 18 10 10 17 14 18 11 14 19 15 16 14 David Tonizza 8 16 9 12 Ret 5 16 15 Fabrizio Donoso 14 9 11 14 19 9 5 14 16 Matthijs van Erven 6 19 19 19 8 12 17 Patrik Sipos 18 18 8 14 16 16 8 18F 11 12 14 8 18 Jake Benham 13 8 12 15 9 12 6 19 Álvaro Carretón 12 10 15 12 12 8 18F 13 13 5 20 Luke Smith 10 18 19 13 16 14 9 3 21 Filip Prešnajder 11 15 20F 20F 9 13 2 22 Daniele Haddad 13 18 15 10F 16 20 Ret 11 2 23 Shanaka Clay 15 12 17 15 11 10 18 1 24 Joni Törmälä Ret 19F 15 13 11 10 17 19 1 25 Tomasz Poradzisz 14 10 15F 17F 1 26 Piotr Stachulec 17 11 20F 17 17 Ret 18 0 27 John Evans 13 17 19 18 14 15 16 0 28 Manuel Biancolilla 16 16 Ret 14 13 0 Pos. Driver BHR EMI GBR AUT BEL NLD ITA MEX USA JPN BRA UAE Points Sources:

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Other points position Blue Other classified position Not classified, finished (NC) Purple Not classified, retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not enter Annotation Meaning P Pole position F Fastest lap

Teams' Championship standings

Pos. Team BHR EMI GBR AUT BEL NLD ITA MEX USA JPN BRA UAE Points 1 McLaren Shadow 1P 1 3 6 1 1 2 2 4 4 1P 4 330 3 7 16 7 4 2 6 7 6 5 3 7 2 Red Bull Racing Esports 8 2 1P 2P 2P 3 5 4 5 3 2 1 208 13 3 14 9 14 11 16 12P 9 10 11 20 3 Haas F1 Team Esports 17 4P 2 1 7 9P 1 3 2P 2P 6 2 177 RetF 6 11 19 19 20F 19 17 17 8 Ret 18 4 Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team 2 5 5 4 6 4 13 1 1 15 8 6 158 5 11 13 8 13 7 17 8 12 Ret 9 12 5 Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN F1 Esports Team 9 14 6 5 8 5 3P 6 7 1 4 10 120 Ret 17 17 18 12 10 4 15F 15 12 7 17F 6 Scuderia AlphaTauri Esports Team 6 12 4 3 3 8 7 5 10 7 10 3P 104 10 Ret 19F 15 5 13 20 11 16 17 16 19 7 Scuderia Ferrari Velas Esports Team 7 8 7 11 9 6 12 9 3 6 5 5 79 14 19F 9 16 11 14 15 Ret 19 9 17F 8 8 Aston Martin Cognizant Esports Team 4 9 18 10 10 17 14 14 11 13 15 15 16 16 16 Ret 13 17 19 18 18 14 14 19 16 9 Alpine Esports Team 11 15 8 14 16 16 8 13 13 11 12 9 13 18 18 10 20F 20F 18 9 19 18F 16 14 14 10 Williams Esports 12 10 12 12 15 12 10F 10 8 18F 13 11 8 15 13 15 17 18 15 11 16 20 Ret 18 13 Pos. Team BHR EMI GBR AUT BEL NLD ITA MEX USA JPN BRA UAE Points Sources:

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Other points position Blue Other classified position Not classified, finished (NC) Purple Not classified, retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not enter Annotation Meaning P Pole position F Fastest lap

Notes:

• The standings are sorted by best result, rows are not related to the drivers. In case of tie on points, the best positions achieved determined the outcome.

External links

• Official website