What is F1 Esports? All about the virtual version of the highest echelon of motorsport racing

Though F1 is a real-life sport where cars and drivers race each other on various tracks around the world, there is a virtual version of the sport as well. Those who are well into the world of motorsports must be aware of the virtual version of the sport, but many newcomers might not be.

The FIA Formula One Esports Series is a professional esports event that is promoted by Formula One. It was officially created in 2017 and used the official F1 video game as its platform. In 2018, teams like Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren, etc., joined the event and created their own esports teams to compete in the virtual championship. Thousands of online racers tried to break into the official teams and compete with one another. Soon the drivers were chosen, and the first official esports championship commenced.

Soon after the COVID pandemic hit the world, the main 2020 F1 season was kept on hold, and the sports organizers started the 'Virtual Grand Prix' to keep entertaining fans during the lockdown. The Virtual GP began with Bahrain, where Zhou Guanyu, the current Alfa Romeo driver, won the race. Apart from Zhou, drivers like George Russell, Charles Leclerc, and Alex Albon also took part and won races.

Over the years, the prize money for the esports series kept increasing and reached around $750,000 in 2022. It is distributed amongst all 25 players, with the winners receiving $93,000.

Brendon Leigh won the first two F1 esports series in 2017 and 2018, followed by David Tonizza in 2019. Jarno Opmeer dominated the esports series in 2020 and 2021 but was overthrown by Lucan Blakeley in 2022. While most fans might not have heard of these drivers, they are excellent and extremely talented sim racing drivers.

---

FIA might shorten DRS zones following the 2023 F1 season

After the 2022 F1 season, Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA's single-seater technical director, spoke about how the sport's governing body is considering reducing the DRS zone's length on certain tracks to slightly increase overtaking difficulty. He admitted that drivers are easily able to overtake on some tracks and how it is reducing the racing spectacle, saying:

“In some races, we may well need to actually reduce the DRS zones. We don’t want overtaking to be, as we say, inevitable or actually easy. It still has to be a fight. If it happens too quickly, if you just see a car approaching and then going by and disappearing, it's actually worse than being at the back and fighting. It needs the right balance to be found there.”

As of now, there has been no news from the FIA regarding the reduction of DRS zones on race tracks. Since next season is close, we might not see any change in DRS. However, if the cars continue to overtake each other with ease, the governing body might step in between the season to make some changes.