2021 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship: Event 3 round-up

Event 3 kicked off in the sunny Algarve, with Portimão hosting Race 7 of the championship. Van Erven had spoken about focusing his efforts on improving his qualifying pace during the mid-season break, with results already paying off for the Dutch driver as he made it into Q2. A best lap time of 1:15.736 put Van Erven in P14 for the race, while Thomé posted a time of 1:15.921 to place P19 on the starting grid. Lucas Blakeley and Aston Martin scored their maiden pole of the season, setting the fastest time of 1:15.312.

Blue skies stayed for the race and both VF-21s lined up on the grid on Yellow medium tires, as did their closest rivals. Not surprising for the first race after a break, it was a cautious first lap by all, with both Van Erven and Thomé losing out one position going into the first corner. 

With the pack settling into a rhythm, it was tire strategy that played the biggest decider in the race, with each lap passing a couple more drivers deciding to come in for their single pitstop of the race. By Lap 8, Van Erven had climbed to 14th, with Thomé close behind in 16th before coming into the pits one lap later to switch to a new set of Red softs. 

On Lap 10, race leader Blakely and second-place man Dani Moreno (Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports) headed into the pitlane, leaving the Red Bull Racing Esports duo of Frederik Rasmussen and Marcel Kiefer to take charge of the race, going longest on their first stint. Van Erven followed the leaders in, swapping for new Red rubber and coming back onto the track behind team-mate Thomé in 19th.

It only took a couple of laps for both Uralkali Haas F1 Esports drivers to go wheel-to-wheel down the start-finish straight, with Van Erven coming out in front, starting his charge to catch-up to the midfield group. He quickly caught up to the back of Alvaro Carretón (Williams Esports), overtaking him into the first corner to gain another position and bring the fight to Daniel Berezny of McLaren Shadow at the end of the race.

When the checkered flag fell, Matthijs van Erven came home in P15 ahead of Cedric Thomé who brought the second VF-21 home in P18. Lucas Blakeley and Aston Martin secured a lights to flag win, their second of the season, ahead of Frederik Rasmussen and Alpine’s Fabrizio Donoso.
 

Race 8 of the 2021 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship took the grid to Matthijs van Erven’s home race in Zandvoort, the Netherlands. 

A clear sky saw all cars out on track in the hunt for the perfect lap. It was a challenging start to the event for both Uralkali Haas F1 Esports drivers with neither making it out of the first session in qualifying. Home hero Van Erven could only manage 19th with a fastest time of 1:09.684 for 19th, while Thomé managed to post a time of 1:09.560 to finish 17th. McLaren Shadow’s Bari Boroumand clinched his second pole position of the championship with a fastest time of 1:09.125.

Starting on the Yellow medium compounds, Van Erven climbed up the order a couple of places while Thomé dropped to 19th. The first stint went long for the majority of the field, with many trying to keep as much life in their tires as possible before choosing the quicker race compound for the climax of the race. 

On Lap 11, Thomé came into the pits to swap for Red softs, re-joining the track in 18th. Only one lap later Van Erven followed the de facto race leader Simon Weigang (Alfa Romeo) into the pitlane for the faster Red rubber. 

As Weigang and Van Erven came back out on track, the Dutch Uralkali Haas F1 Esports driver came side-by-side with his team-mate for a second time on the first day of the event, coming out on top going into the first corner. 

From there on it became a race of two halves – with the leading 10 cars all within a couple of seconds from each other, and the chasing midfield. 

It was on Lap 19 that the fight for the win began, with Moreno making a move on Rasmussen for the race lead. It left the Red Bull Racing Esports driver having to defend from a hungry Blakeley, who could see a second consecutive win on the cards. On the final lap, Rasmussen tried a late lunge on Moreno in a failed attempt to take back his lead but had to settle for second place with Blakeley rounding out the podium positions. 

While it was a race-long cat and mouse chase between Weigang and Van Erven, the Dutch man couldn’t capitalize on his faster lap times and instead had to stave off a late challenge from Donoso to come home in P15, with Thomé in P17.
 

After a good night’s sleep, contenders headed to the Circuit of The Americas for Uralkali Haas F1 Esports’ home race. Clear skies were out in full force, although both VF-21s exited after the opening session in qualifying. Cedric Thomé posted a time of 1:30.938 to place P19 with Van Erven narrowly missing out on a spot in Q2 after late flourishes from Moreno and Daniele Haddad (Aston Martin Cognizant Esports), putting him in P17 after a best lap of 1:30.614. It was Nicolas Longuet of Alpine Esports who mastered the American track, gaining his second pole position of the season, his first since the opening day of the championship. 

For the race, Uralkali Haas F1 Esports opted to split strategy, with Thomé starting the race on Yellow mediums, while Van Erven choosing Red softs. As the lights went out in Austin, it was a frantic opening lap with both drivers gaining places in the midfield fight.

On the second lap, Van Erven was up to 9th, showing how quick the Red rubber was against its rivals, with Thomé setting consistent lap times in 17th. In a race that was all about tire management and strategy, the pendulum swung towards the medium compound by Lap 8, with many coming into the pits. Van Erven followed the group into the pitlane, swapping compounds over to the slower but more resilient Yellow medium tires, pushing Thomé up the order to 11th. 

Managing to climb up to 6th following a flurry of pitstops, Thomé finally came in on Lap 10 to switch for the faster Red compound, coming back onto the track in 17th, behind team-mate Van Erven. 

By Lap 13, everyone had pitted once, but with the slower compound on and not being able to make up any positions, Uralkali Haas F1 Esports took the call to pit Van Erven for a second time on Lap 15 to put him back on to the softer Red tires for the final few laps.

Thomé crossed the line in 14th but classified P13 following a five-second time penalty for Brendon Leigh (FDA Esports), with Van Erven finishing P17 after a difficult race having to counteract tire strategy.

Out in front, it was Jarno Opmeer (Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports) who regained his championship lead after a thrilling drive from third, sealing back-to-back wins for the Brackley outfit. Although pole-sitter Longuet managed to keep Opmeer behind him for the majority of the race, the penultimate lap brought another twist to the tale as the Alpine Esports driver let him through, thinking tactically to slipstream later on in the lap, however he also let through the charging bull of Rasmussen and had to settle for third. 

Matthijs van Erven, Uralkali Haas F1 Esports driver, said: “In terms of pace this was my best event so far, in practice. We couldn't make it work in qualifying this week, and it was a very bad off day. In the races were a bit unlucky, at Portimão I was pushed off the track at the start so lost a couple of positions. In Zandvoort I had a shocking qualifying and at COTA I got damage after someone hit me on the front wing. It was the worst event so far, I was very off myself in qualifying but we move on to the last event.”

Cedric Thomé, Uralkali Haas F1 Esports driver, said: “We had shocking pace. Those were our weakest tracks but we’re lacking some pace and need to find out why. We’ve got one more event to try and capitalize on this season. Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN F1 Esports is still in reach, but we need to perform at our best if we don’t want to finish last.”

The 2021 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship will crown its champions at the fourth and final event of the season (Round 10 – Imola, Round 11 – Mexico City and Round 12 – Interlagos) on December 15 & 16.