The start of the F1 Esports Series has unleashed a madness among fans and video game lovers by setting a record for participation in the qualifying stage for the 2021 edition.
With the start of the show, which combines elements of knockout races and driver evaluations, competition organizers reported that more than 494,000 people attempted to qualify for this year’s F1 Esports Series, more than double the number in 2020.
The 108% increase caused people to try to enter via more routes than ever before. The F1 Esports Series Challengers, the DHL Time Trial, the China Championship, and the inaugural Women’s Wildcard combined to produce an enormously talented group of seriously aspiring female racers.
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Along with the existing 30 professional drivers from the 2020 Pro Series, the new simulation racers flat wowed audiences for the first time at the Pro Show. This combined event put the participants to the test through a series of in-game evaluations, testing their skills for a chance to be potentially selected by one of the top 10 F1 Esports teams on their professional championship rosters later this year.
The 2020-2021 transition and exhibition details
The event took place in F1 2020, Codemasters’ official Formula 1 video game. However, once the Pro Championship begins in October, all races will move to the 2021 game, which will be the first edition since the acquisition of Codemasters by EA Sports.
The Pro Exhibition show broke all communication barriers by being broadcast live through the Formula 1 streaming platforms on Twitch, YouTube, Facebook and Huya.
The event was prerecorded and was headlined by F1 Esports leaders Tom Deacon, Matt Gallagher and Nic Hamilton, and the trio were joined by a number of famous faces. These include former F1 star Romain Grosjean, F2 driver Guanyu Zhou and W Series driver Jessica Hawkins, and many more.
Written by I Jhonattan González
