Formula One Announces F1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix Series

The month of March has been a tough one to digest for motorsport fans around the world with many events either being cancelled or postponed due to the global outbreak of coronavirus COVID-19. Formula One also has faced the brunt of the virus with its recent announcement that the Dutch and Spanish Grand Prix being postponed, the Monaco Grand Prix being cancelled and the 2021 technical regulations being pushed to 2022. However, a silver lining on a bleak 2020 was revealed. Formula One has launched an Esports Virtual Grand Prix series for F1 fans to continue watching F1 content on the virtual platform.

 

These races will be conducted in the same timeline of every postponed Grand Prix so far which starts on Sunday March 22 8:00pm (GMT) with the Virtual Bahrain Grand Prix. This process of every postponed real-world Formula One race replaced with a virtual grand prix is tentatively scheduled to run until May barring further cancellations. The fun doesn’t stop there as Formula One will also be hosting online exhibition virtual races during non-race weekends where fans will be given the chance to race with F1 drivers. 

The grid will consist of some current F1 drivers as well as other stars that are yet to be announced. The virtual series will take place on the official F1 2019 PC game with a qualifying session and races being set to 50 per cent race distance (eg- 50 per cent = 28 laps of Bahrain). To keep the competition fairly balanced, game settings will include equal car performance with fixed setups, reduced vehicle damage, with optional ABS and traction control for those less familiar with the game.

The broadcast will be streamed live on the Formula One YouTube, Twitch and Facebook channels and is expected to run for 1 hour 30 minutes. Each driver will join the race either remotely or with a host broadcast live from the Gfinity Esports Arena . 

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