F1 Esports Roundup

F1 Esports headed to Spa-Franchamps, Zandvoort and Circuit Of The Americas for Rounds 7, 8 and 9 in the 2026 championship season. With Welsh star Otis Lawrence leading the way in the driver's championship and the teams’ being topped by Oracle Red Bull Racing, could anyone stop them? 

(Image credit to formula 1 on YouTube)

Round 7 - Spa-Franchamps, Belgium 

Qualifying was lots of chaos. Early exits in Q1 by three time Esports champion Jarno Opmeer and young rookie Julian Klaffënbock along with Jan Haladej of Aston Martin saw the rest of the field mixed up for Q2 and Q3. Q2 saw both McLaren drivers Alfie Butcher and Jake Benham, Thomas Ronhaar in the other Mercedes, Rubén Pedreño in the second Aston Martin car and Joris Croezen in the first of the two Haas cars. Finally, Q3 had a surprise in store for everyone watching when Racing Bulls’ Ulas Ozyildirim snatched pole away from Istvan Puki in the Williams and teammate Tom Manley. 

From the start up until Lap 2, everyone on the grid got away unscathed. Lap 2 saw the Mercedes teammates of Klaffënbock and Ronhaar collide with Benham caught up in the incident dropping rookie Julian Klaffënbock down to the bottom of the field. The first pitstops saw Manley, Frederick Rasmussen and Otis Lawrence come in to change tyres, followed by Opmeer and Benham. 

Moments later, leader Ozyildirim, second place Istvan Puki down to Dani Bereznay in fourth, Tamas Gal for Haas, Ruben Pedereño for Aston Martin and Alfie Butcher for Mclaren and then, Ismael Fahssi, Croezen, Jan Haladej and Ronhaar on Lap 12. Bari Broumand and Nico Longuet stayed out. The next lap saw Broumand and Longuet come in leaving Ozyildirim, Manley and Puki to fight it out for the win. Overtakes were happening up and down the field. In the end Ozyildirim won from Manley and Rasmussen in second and third, the Alpine duo of Lawrence and Bereznay in fourth and fifth to round out the top five with Puki, Fahssi, Broumand, Opmeer and Butcher completing the top ten. 

Round 8 - Zandvoort, Netherlands 

Qualifying for Zandvoort saw an early exit for both Haas drivers and Joni Törmälä who jumped in replacing race winner Ulas Ozyildirim at Racing Bulls. Fahssi, Manley, Tycho Hardy who came in for Julian Klaffënbock at Mercedes, Duncan Holland who came back in at Aston Martin and Jake Benham of McLaren were the ones to miss out on Q3. Pole went the way of Red Bulls’ Frederick Rasmussen with Broumand, Pedreño, Longuet, Lawrence, Opmeer, Butcher, Idowu, Carretón and Ronhaar in behind. 

The opening lap saw Hardy get spun around and drop to the back of the pack. Fahssi, Manley and Carretón were the first to pit, dropping them to the back. Then, a lap later Opmeer and Croezen pitted followed by Törmälä. A couple minutes later Idowu dived into the pits to change tires. The top five drivers in the race pitted at the same time leaving Alfie Butcher to lead the race on Lap 13. Rasmussen passed Idowu for twelfth place. Butcher pitted from the lead along with Gál. 

Lap 19 saw Carretón and Croezen pit again. Fahssi stopped for the second time dropping him to last place. Idowu got a penalty while he and Törmälä shot into the pits. Benham joined Manley in the pits. Hofland and Hardy pitted on Lap 23. Opmeer pitted for the third time in the race. Ronhaar finally pitted from first place. A few laps before the end Ronhaar retired with too much damage. On the final lap Bari Broumand passed Frederick Rasmussen at Hugenholtz corner to take the win at the death. 

The final race result was Broumand from Rasmussen and Pedreño, Longuet, Lawrence making up the top five, Butcher, Benham, Fahssi, Hofland and Opmeer rounding out the top ten. 

Round 9 - Circuit Of The Americas, USA

At the start of qualifying, Racing Bulls swapped out Tom Manley with Ulas Ozyildirim in the second seat at the team. Haas also did a driver swap with Gábor Csontos coming in on his debut driver to replace Tamás Gál. Dani Bereznay came back into the seat in place of Josh Idowu at Alpine. 

A surprising early exit for Alfie Butcher saw the Mclaren driver join Rubén Pedreño and Joris Croezen in the bottom three for Q1. Csontos, Carretón, Klaffënbock, Törmälä and Hofland were the next bunch of drivers to head for the exit door in Q2. Nico Longuet was fast enough in Q3 to secure pole from Bereznay and championship leader Otis Lawrence. Rasmussen was next in fourth while Ronhaar, Ozyildirim, Benham, Fahssi, Broumand and Opmeer, who crashed on his final push lap, set the top ten on the grid. 

Immediately off the line, Bereznay took the lead from Lawrence and poleman Longuet. Further back, Opmeer dropped from tenth to seventeenth and Benham dropped from seventh to thirteenth, while Benham's teammate Alfie Butcher climbed up from seventeenth to eleventh in the opening corners. 

The first pit stops of the race came from Csontos in the Haas car and Ulas Ozyildirim in the Racing Bulls team. Longuet and young rookie Julian Klaffënbock followed the experienced Hungarian Bereznay into the pits as his Welsh teammate took over the lead of the race. Just a few corners later, Lawrence and Broumand came in to change their tires. Benham and Fahssi were next to the pits. Soon after, Törmãlä, Hofland, Ronhaar and Rasmussen dived into the pits for fresh rubber. 

Croezen pitted from second. Finally, Carretón came in from the lead, leaving Jarno Opmeer and Rubén Pedreño yet to pit. Pedreño came into the pits the lap after, which meant only Opmeer had to pit in the race. With 5 laps left to go, Opmeer came in to drop down from the lead to thirteenth leaving Lawrence, Bereznay and Rasmussen who had a five second penalty for squeezing another driver coming out of the pits to the curb. 

With 2 laps left, the Dutch red bull driver went across the grass, dropping him down to the back of the field. Lawrence won the race from Bereznay, Longuet, Hofland and Fahssi making the top five,  Ronhaar, Ozyildirim, Broumand, Rasmussen and Butcher being the leading ten. 

Article Written by Alexandria Kinsella Evans ©️ Alexandria Kinsella Evans 2026