2021 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship: Event 2 round-up

It was the British home of motorsport which hosted Race 4, with drivers qualifying under blue skies at Silverstone – a rare sight for the UK in October. Uralkali Haas F1 Esports drivers Matthijs Van Erven and Cedric Thomé took to Q1 on Red soft tires, with Van Erven’s quickest lap time of 1:25.934 placing him 19th for the race, while Thomé made it into Q2 for the first time this Esports season. As weather conditions remained stable, the German registered an impressive lap time 1:25.695, to finish 12th. Frederik Rasmussen of Red Bull Racing set the fastest lap of the session with a time of 1:25.441, to start on pole for the race.

As the lights went green for the second week of Esports, it was a dash to the the first corner, with both drivers starting on Yellow medium tires. Thomé made contact with AlphaTauri Esports driver Sebastian Job and dropped to the back of the field while Van Erven kept out of first lap trouble. 

Van Erven and Thomé settled into P12 and P16 respectively, following three drivers deciding to come in for an early pitstop. One lap later, DRS was enabled, and the majority of the pack were within range to pounce, with battles taking place up and down the order. 

By lap six, the majority of the field had already pitted, with Rasmussen leading the chasing pack into the pitlane, which included Van Erven. To split strategy, Thomé stayed out to go long on his first stint, making it up to third as a result, before pitting on lap 12 for Red softs. He came back on track in P17, to climb the field once again.

With three laps remaining, Van Erven got into the slipstream of Simon Weigang (Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN F1 Esports) to take P11. 

There was last corner drama on the dash to the finish line, with multiple drivers scrambling for position, including both Uralkali Haas F1 Esports drivers, who made contact on their way to the checkered flag in 12th and 13th. Thomé was classified P14 following a five-second penalty for causing avoidable contact with Job on the first lap. 

Rasmussen put on a resilient display to take his first win of the season after playing cat and mouse with Mercedes’ Daniel Moreno for the duration of the race. 

It was a fast turnaround for the 2021 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship grid as they reset and headed to Monza for Race 5. This time it was the turn of Matthijs Van Erven to make his first Q2 appearance of the championship, with a lap time of 1:19.211 to land him P13 on the starting grid, while Thomé lined-up P18 following his best attempt of 1:19.306. Opmeer and Mercedes took their second pole position of the season with a time of 1:18.971.

With all but one driver starting on Yellow Medium tires, it was a tough opening lap for both drivers as Thomé was hit, falling to the back of the pack as Van Erven got pushed off and lost two positions as a result. 

Thomé came into the pitlane on the next lap and swapped tires for a new pair of Red softs, in the hope to recover some lost time. Two laps later and the German showed it was the much faster tire to be on, setting the fastest lap of the race at that point. With others following suit and filtering into the pits, Van Erven rose to 5th by Lap 7. 

With the chasing pack setting purple lap times one after the other, Van Erven came into the pitlane one lap later to swap to Red softs. He rejoined the race in P17 in front of Thomé, with both drivers having a quiet second half of the race. 

Out in front, there was wheel-to-wheel racing at every corner, with Fabrizio Donoso (Alpine Esports) and Mercedes teammates Opmeer and Moreno all getting in on the action towards the closing stages of the race. 

It was a Red Bull Racing 1-2 going into the final handful of laps, with Donoso so close behind second place man Rasmussen he was almost pushing him through corners. It was on the penultimate lap that the Alpine driver made a late lunge on Rasmussen, but his efforts were thwarted as Opmeer saw a gap to take third position away from him. It was only a few turns later that Rasmussen was being attacked once again, this time being sandwiched between both Mercedes drivers, sending him spinning and out of podium contention. 

Managing to hold his nerve throughout the commotion happening behind, Marcel Kiefer won his first race of the season, with Opmeer and Aston Martin Cognizant Esports driver Lucas Blakely capitalising from a three-second penalty for Moreno to round out the podium. Matthijs Van Erven crossed the line in 13th with Thomé coming home in 18th.

Thursday’s racing action took Uralkali Haas F1 Esports to Spa-Francorchamps, for Race 6. Unlike the real-world race that took place in August, it was beautiful blue skies in Belgium, with both drivers out on Red soft tires. Cedric Thomé qualified P17 with a fastest lap time of 1:41.465, with Matthijs van Erven lining up next to him on the grid in P18, with a time of 1:41.541.

David Tonizza and Ferrari took their maiden pole position of the season, setting the fast lap of the session with a time of 1:40.970.

When it was time for the race, the weather had turned and while the grid was split between Green intermediates and Blue wets, both Uralkali Haas F1 Esports drivers opted for inters. Van Erven passed his teammate going into the first corner, but both recovered further positions during the opening lap, reaching P15 and P16.

It became a race of two halves with the leading pack, all on Blue wet tires able to create a gap to the rest of the field, although the top-six were all within two seconds of each other. The pack peeled off into the pitlane on Lap 8, switching for the now faster Green intermediate tires.

By Lap 9, Van Erven was running in P14, with Thomé only a second behind. Van Erven was using every lap to creep up to the back of the Williams of Alvaro Carreton, with the pair even touching wheels at one stage before the Uralkali Haas F1 Esports driver was denied. 

As expected with a highly competitive field of drivers, it was the turn of Van Erven to defend a few laps later, this time from Aston Martin Cognizant driver, Daniele Haddad. It left him vulnerable going into the start-finish straight and meant Thomé was able to capitalise and take back the position he lost from his teammate in the opening lap.

Van Erven was able to rescue one position back with some great wheel-to-wheel racing with FDA Esports driver Brendon Leigh, with the duo fighting throughout the final sector until the Uralkali Haas F1 Esports driver came out on top to claim P15.

In the fight for the win, Rasmussen was able to create a six-second gap to those behind him, and it was up to his Red Bull Racing teammate to fend off the rest of the competition. It took until the final lap before Kiefer was finally outdriven by Opmeer, with Tonizza taking away the final podium position from Kiefer on the very last corner of the race. 

Thomé finished the race in 13th, with Matthijs Van Erven placing 15th.

Matthijs Van Erven, Uralkali Haas F1 Esports driver, said: “Still no points and that looks bad but my pace is competitive, and the results will come with time. I’ve been fighting in the midfield consistently and it will be soon that I’ll be inside the points. I’m going to grind hard and make sure I’m more focused for qualifying to use the good pace I have!”

Cedric Thomé, Uralkali Haas F1 Esports driver, said: “It hurts ending Event 2 without points again. In Silverstone, I made a mistake in the race which cost us points, so I take all blame for that. In Monza, we were unlucky with damage on the opening lap and in Spa we knew our pace wasn't the greatest but got unlucky with the weather again. Reflecting back, we made small improvements and our pace doesn't look bad, but we don't deliver when it matters yet. I'm sure we can make another step for the next event and put some points on the board finally.”

Uralkali Haas F1 Esports returns to action for Event 3 (Round 7 – Portimao, Round 8 – Zandvoort and Round 9 – Austin) on November 24 & 25.