The 2020 F1 Esports Pro Series finally got underway on the 14th and 15th November, after 10 months of waiting in a turbulent year for the sport as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 situation.
This has had an effect on the Esports series too with all competitors having to stay at home on their own simulators rather than travelling to the Gfinity Arena in London, where the series has taken place for the previous two years, due to travel restrictions preventing some drivers from being able to travel to the United Kingdom.
First Taste
The first event of the scheduled four saw the F1 Esports circus get their first taste of the new Hanoi Street Circuit in Vietnam, well before the real-life drivers will do, due to the 2020 Grand Prix being cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The two other tracks that made up the first three rounds of the 12-round campaign saw the field battle under the floodlights at the Bahrain International Circuit before heading to the Shanghai International Circuit for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Audacious Dive-Bomb
Nicolas Longuet led the field away from pole position in Bahrain before Daniel Bereznay pulled off an audacious dive-bomb going into turn four for the first-time allowing Joni Tormala to take the race lead as the Alfa Romeo driver ran wide.
This lifted Marcel Kiefer into third, dropping pole-sitter Longuet down to fourth at the end of the first lap.
With the aid of DRS, Bereznay made the move stick on Tormala as the pair headed into turn one for the fifth time of asking, demoting the AlphaTauri driver to second position.
Tormala took this opportunity to pit and put on fresh rubber and with Keifer starting to struggle, Longuet fought his way back up to second which later became first with race leader Bereznay pitting. However, he came out just behind Tormala.
Bereznay was a man on a mission though and put in the fastest lap of the race on his fresher rubber, overtaking Tormala in the making.
His teammate, Opmeer decided to pit from third, prompting both Kiefer and Longuet to pit on the next lap to cover him off. But a great out-lap saw the Alfa Romeo driver jump the both of them.
Fresher Tyres
As the rest of the field pitted, Bereznay reclaimed the race lead with Tormala in second and Opmeer third, a further three seconds back, but on much fresher tyres.
Using the fresher rubber, Opmeer moved up to second, breezing past Tormala going into turn one with the aid of DRS. The next lap, he pulled off a similar move on his teammate Bereznay to take the race lead with Kiefer also moving into the podium places, demoting Tormala to fourth.
By just one-tenth of a second, Opmeer hung on to claim victory in the opening race of the year with Bereznay making it an Alfa Romeo one-two.
Kiefer was third for Red Bull with Tormala fourth and Longuet fifth.
Frederik Rasmussen was sixth with Brendon Leigh seventh and Dani Moreno eighth.
Ninth was Alvaro Carreton with Lucas Blakeley securing the final points-paying position in 10th.
Reigning F1 Esports World Champion David Tonizza didn’t get his championship defence off to the best start after contact on the first lap forced him to pit and as a result adapt his strategy to suit. He would eventually finish in 20th and last place.
Redemption In Hanoi
After an awful start to his championship defence in Bahrain, Ferrari driver Tonizza was desperate to make up for it in Vietnam. He got the jump on Opmeer and led the field into turn one and despite his efforts, Opmeer was unable to get back past as the field completed lap one.
Leigh did what Opmeer failed to do on lap one and went up the inside of Enzo Bonito’s Ferrari going into the turn 11 hairpin to grab fourth.
With the confines of the Hanoi Street Circuit preventing overtaking, DRS would prove to be pivotal for any overtakes the drivers did make and on lap five, that’s exactly what Opmeer used to get past Tonizza and grab the race lead.
Just two laps later, Tonizza used the slipstream and DRS to dive up the inside of Opmeer at the hairpin of turn 11 to claim the race lead back again. Also looking to take advantage was Longuet as he stuck his Renault up the inside of Opmeer on the exit to grab second.
This allowed Tonizza to enter the pits first as the pit-window opened. With the top-three all coming out together, Longuet started to apply the pressure to Tonizza before eventually making his way past and into the net race lead.
Still wanting a shot at victory, Opmeer dived up the inside of Fabrizio Donoso to grab third as Rasmussen battled away with Leigh for fifth position.
Meanwhile at the front, Tonizza streaked past Longuet down the long back-straight to claim the race lead again whilst Opmeer lurked behind in third, looking to pick up the scraps should the top two crash-out.
The next lap, Longuet went around the outside of Tonizza in the same place to grab the race lead, but Tonizza would have slipstream and DRS on the final lap. That would prove pivotal as Tonizza retook the race lead.
Despite Longuet’s best efforts, Tonizza would hang on for victory.
Opmeer was third and Leigh fourth.
Rasmussen was fifth, Kiefer was sixth with Bonito in seventh.
Eighth was Donoso, Tormala was ninth with Daniele Haddad securing his first point of the series in 10th.
Similar Strategy
After two fantastic results in the opening two races of the season, Opmeer followed this up with pole position at China, but dropped down to fifth after a poor start with teammate Bereznay powering through with Kiefer, Tonizza and Rasmussen all powering through as well.
It became clear that Opmeer was struggling on the medium tyres he chose to start on as Tormala also got past him on the second lap.
In a similar strategy to the one he perfected in Bahrain, Opmeer used his fresher rubber well in the closing stages of the race whilst those around him had older tyres that were starting to degrade.
He surged past Blakeley and Tormala before chasing down Rasmussen and making a daring lunge around the outside of turn three with just a few laps left to go. Later on, on that same lap with the help of DRS, he breezed past his Alfa Romeo teammate Bereznay and set his sights on the race leader Kiefer.
Pulling a similar move to that one on his teammate, Opmeer powered past the Red Bull man on the penultimate lap before hanging on to clinch his second win of the season.
Kiefer was second with Bereznay third and Carreton fourth.
Fifth was Rasmussen with Blakeley securing his best result of the series in sixth.
Seventh was Tormala with Cedric Thome eighth and Moreno ninth with Donoso 10th.
At the end of the first event and first three round of the series, Opmeer leads the standings from Kiefer by 24 points whilst Alfa Romeo also lead the constructor’s championship from Red Bull by 29 points.
The next event takes place on the 4th and 5th November.
