F1 Esports: Longuet wins as Opmeer crashes out
14th December 2022Alfa Romeo’s Nicolas Longuet secured the F1 Esports win, in Suzuka, as Mercedes’ Jarno Opmeer crashed out late on.
How the race unfolded…
It was a fair start from the pole sitter, Haas’ Thomas Ronhaar, but the Dutch driver was quickly overtaken by Alfa Romeo’s Nicolas Longuet, who had a better start. Alpine’s Patrik Sipos got a fantastic start off the line and look to be in a promising position to quickly dispatch Ronhaar, but the two contenders made contact.
Out of the two drivers, Sipos suffered minor wing damage after his contact with Ronhaar’s rear-right tyre while the Haas driver was able to drive off unaffected.
On the exit of Spoon Curve (turns 13 and 14), on the opening lap, Longuet nearly cleared a second away from the chasing Haas driver.
Alfa Romeo quickly found themselves in a 1-2 position after their driver Dani Bereznay overtook Ronhaar, for second-place, at the end of the third lap. However, this glamorous position was short-lived for the Swiss Esports team as Ronhaar retaliated a lap later.
When Ronhaar regained his lost position, Longuet had established a three-second gap helped by Bereznay’s attempt to hold up the field.
By lap 10, McLaren Shadow’s championship leader, Lucas Blakeley and his teammate, Bari Boroumand, sat in fourth and fifth respectively after Sipos’s incident with Ronhaar – at the race start – promoted the duo up one position. Only Red Bull’s Frederik Rasmussen separated the McLaren drivers from the podium positions.
In the same instance, Mercedes, Jarno Opmeer saw his championship hopes slip away as the two-time esports champion sat in P14 after a poor qualifying performance.
Longuet was the first driver to compete his mandatory stop, ahead of , at the end of lap 12. The Alfa Romeo driver quickly filtered back out onto the circuit in P16. As such, this allowed Ronhaar to inherit the race lead.
A lap later, Bereznay and Blakeley jumped into the pit lane after Longuet.
By lap 14, only Ronhaar, Jake Benham (Mercedes, Opmeer, Brendon Leigh (Ferrari) and Sebastian Job (Alpha Tauri) were still left to pit from the race. However, at the end of the lap, the Haas driver pitted from the lead and allowed Opmeer to lead inherit the race lead.
By the time the leading Haas returned to the circuit, the Dutchman had slashed Longuet’s lead down from three seconds to 1.5 seconds. The two drivers – who fought for the race lead – sat P3 and P5 respectively.
In attempt to ‘park the bus,’ Benham put in a massive shift to hold up Ronhaar on lap 18 in a bid to help improve Opmeer’s chances to make his strategy work. Despite Benham’s efforts, Opmeer pitted at the end of the lap and returned to the circuit out the points.
As Benham attempted to hold-up the field, to increase his teammate’s chances to catch up, carnage ensued as Job was seen sideways and collected Aston Martin’s Simon Weigang in the process, at Spoon Curve (turn 13).
On lap 25, Opmeer’s championship came crashing out of contention after the Dutchman made contact with Ferrari’s Fabrizio Donoso, in P8, and the W13 spun out in the first sector. The defending world champion was soon disqualified from the race, for ‘parking in a dangerous position.’
After the race, it was declared that McLaren Shadow had clinched the teams title.
Podium:
- Nicolas Longuet, Alfa Romeo
- Thomas Ronhaar, Haas
- Frederik Rasmussen, Red Bull
That’s it for the article; F1 Esports: Longuet wins as Opmeer crashes out!
Who do you think of Jake Benham’s defensive tactics? Let us know in the comments!
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- F1 Esports Pro Championship: Ronhaar secures Haas’ first ever win
- F1 Pro Esports Event Two Preview: Can Blakeley maintain his good start?
- Imola F1 Pro Esports: Blakeley makes it two-for-two
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
