After almost three months of racing and one of the closest seasons in recent memory, Lucas Blakeley crossed the line to win his first ever F1 Esports title in an emotional final race. The Scotsman sustained the pressure in the final three races, making good use of the points advantage he had to take home a deserved title. However, it wasn’t all plain sailing.
Event 4- The pressure mounts
5 drivers in contention for the title, separated by just 22 points. The closest F1 Esports season since its inception and Blakeley held a 12 point advantage. Qualifying at Suzuka once again went the way of the rookie sensation, Thomas Ronhaar, who was desperate to close the gap in the championship The ever quick Frenchman, Nicholas Longuet lined up alongside him. Two-time champion and title contender, Jarno Opmeer, made a shock exit in Q1 and had an uphill battle to keep himself in contention. Longuet would get the jump on Ronhaar off the start as the Frenchman opted for Medium tyres compared to Ronhaar’s hard compound. Ronhaar’s race almost came undone after the pitstops as Mercedes’ Jake Benham became the new Minister for Defence, keeping the Dutchman behind on older hard tyres in order to help out teammate Opmeer. The strategy almost worked as Opmeer bolted on a set of the medium tyres and began chasing the pack. However, his race, and indeed his title defence ended after a collision with Fabrizio Donoso sent him spinning into the grass.
A tough day at the office for Jarno Opmeer 💔
No one likes to drop points, but he's still in the title hunt 🏹#F1Esports #F1 pic.twitter.com/PFWBjo6A2R— Formula 1 (@F1) December 14, 2022
Meanwhile, Benham’s defence worked to the favour of Nicolas Longuet who took his first win in two years ahead of Ronhaar, Frederik Rasmussen, and Blakeley. The gap in the championship was now reduced to single figures.
While the pressure was mounting in the driver’s championship, McLaren secured the coveted team’s championship for the first time and a majority share of the $750,000 prize pool.
Blakeley’s Brazilian Brilliance
Coming into the second race of event three, this was now make or break. Any mistake now could flip the championship on its head and, as has been proven throughout the season, qualifying well was crucial.
Ronhaar and Blakeley took this to another level in qualifying at Brazil, setting identical times in their fight for pole. Since Blakeley set the time first, he took a vital pole position ahead of his closest rival, who was then given a three place grid penalty for impeding Rasmussen in Q2.
Gap in the championship: Five points
Gap in Brazil qualifying: 0.000s
Title rivals @LucasBlakeley01 and @ThomasRonhaar1 set IDENTICAL times for Thursday's #F1Esports race at Interlagos 😱 pic.twitter.com/eCQa2MK8Hw— Formula 1 (@F1) December 15, 2022
To put it simply, Blakeley dominated. The race started in intermediate conditions before drying up towards the end which allowed for some gambling to be done. The Alpine driver, Luke Smith, was one of these gamblers who stayed out on inters while the majority of the field pitted for dries. This, inevitably, caused a queue of cars behind him as he did his best to allow his teammate, Patrik Sipos, to catch back up to the points positions. Ronhaar caught up to Smith but was unable to pass him as quickly as he would have liked, leaving him vulnerable to the cars behind. He fell to sixth while Blakeley took the flag to take the most important win of the season. Speaking afterwards he said that it was “the best race he’d ever driven” and the scenes of celebration afterwards speak for themselves. The Scotsman now had a 21 point lead going into the final round.
THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS.@LucasBlakeley01 wears his heart on his sleeve as he takes his fourth win of 2022, and comes within striking distance of the title 🥺#F1Esports #F1 @fanatec pic.twitter.com/M99ftz4F3e
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 15, 2022
Emotional Finale
The final race of the 2022 F1 Esports Pro Championship capped off what was a memorable competition. Although Blakeley held a 21 point lead, F1 Esports is known to throw surprises. This was certainly the case in qualifying as Alpha Tauri’s Josh Idowu took pole position for the first time this season, and his second since he began competing. Ronhaar again completed the front row with Rasmussen and Blakeley behind.
Perhaps taking lessons from Suzuka, Ronhaar went opposite on tyres to the pole sitter and passed Idowu, who also let Rasmussen in the Red Bull through as he was fighting for the championship.
Rasmussen would eventually pass Ronhaar to take the lead but it wouldn’t be enough to stop Blakeley from crossing the line and winning his first ever title in F1 Esports. The emotional release by Blakeley as he crossed the line epitomises the hours and hours of practice, dedication, and hard work put in by each of the drivers.Lucas wears his heart on his sleeve and is absolutely a deserving champion. LUCAS BLAKELEY IS YOUR #F1ESPORTS DRIVERS' CHAMPION! 🏆 — EA SPORTS F1® 22 (@Formula1game) December 16, 2022
Congratulations @LucasBlakeley01... what a season! pic.twitter.com/rCk9pAgU4r
This win for Blakeley also serves as a demonstration as to how valuable league racing is to the esports scene. In the last two seasons, both F1 Esports champions won the PSGL championship in the same year
Winning @PremierSimGL = winning #F1Esports pic.twitter.com/Ks6b9D9BG4
— PSGL | Sponsored by GT Omega (@PremierSimGL) December 14, 2022
Not only that, it caps off a brilliant year for Blakeley which started off with him beating Sebastian Vettel in the Race of Champions!
February: Makes it to the eROC final and beats Sebastian Vettel at #ROCSweden ✅
December: Becomes #F1 Esports World Champion ✅
It's been quite the year for @LucasBlakeley01! 👏 pic.twitter.com/xgCWeteEjs— #ROCSweden (@RaceOfChampions) December 17, 2022
That’s it for F1 Esports for another year. The next time we’ll see these drivers in action will be in the new year. Stay tuned for all the action!
