The new season of F1 Esports is well underway, with the first two phases – Qualification and Challengers – complete, the third – Pro Exhibition – is ongoing. These three phases all lead up to the great culmination of the season, the Pro Championship.
To enter, racers must be over 16 and play the F1 2022 game across PlayStation, Xbox or PC.
The Qualification phase kicked off at the end of 2022 and ended in April this year, with three different pathways for aspiring sim racers to qualify for the 2023 F1 Esports championship. The Challengers pathway saw six rounds held online, all streamed on Twitch and YouTube, with those hoping to be the next talent racing 50% distance on the F1 22 game. The DHL Time Trial, an invite-only qualification route, was hosted by DHL on social media. The Women’s Wildcard offers a time trial to find the fastest female driver on F1 22, from which one winner progresses.
In April, the Challengers phase saw the top six sim racers per platform qualify for a place on the grid with an official F1 Esports team and take part in the 2023 championship. The global calendar consisted of six rounds: Bahrain, Australia, Imola, Great Britain, Spa and Brazil, all hosted on different days for different platforms from April and into May.
This year’s top six challengers on each platform have been decided and will all progress to the next stage: Pro Exhibition.
Pro Exhibition
Held in June, the Pro Exhibition stage sees the fastest racers from qualifying routes take to the stage. Here, the official F1 Esports teams will be scouting a brand-new crop of sim racing talent for the Pro Championship series.
The star of the show, the Pro Championship, will kick off in September and run to the end of 2023. The official Formula 1 Esports teams will compete over a multi-round championship with the new talent who have succeeded across the previous three stages of the overall F1 Esports pathway on the grid. The competition will produce both the F1 Esports Series Constructors’ and Drivers’ World Champions, with each team hoping to follow in the footsteps of McLaren Shadow, who won the Constructors’ last year with a total of 330 points. Their driver, Lucas Blakeley, won the Drivers’ Championship with 181 points.
The Pro Championship calendar is yet to be revealed. For updates on the calendar and championship as a whole, follow Grid Finder and stay tuned with the official F1 Esports website.
Listen to our episodes of the Sim Sundays podcast with F1 Esports drivers, David Tonizza & Sebastien Job! 👇
