Mercedes headed the second week in F1’s ESports series of the 2018 season with the German team winning all the three races ahead of the finale.
It was another fight between Mercedes and Toro Rosso to start Round 2 in the 2018 season at London’s Gfinity Arena, with points leader Brendon Leigh toppling the Toro Rosso duo to win his third race from pole at France’s Paul Ricard.
It was a close battle again as he fended off Patrik Holzmann to the line but it was drama post race as Leigh was handed a five-second penalty. This handed Holzmann’s his first win as he led a Toro Rosso 1-2 with Frederik Rasmussen in second.
However, Leigh was re-instated after further investigation with the British driving keeping his win ahead of Holzmann and Rasmussen as Mercedes’ Daniel Berezany dropped to fourth from second on the grid. Force India’s Marcel Kiefer was fifth in the order.
Sauber’s Salih Saltunc was a lonely sixth ahead of a battling Williams’ Alvaro Carreton and McLaren’s Bono Huis as Red Bull Racing’s Joni Tormala and McLaren’s Enzo Bonito rounded out the Top 10 racers.
The second race at Silverstone had Leigh on pole again as he led Force India’s Fabrizio Donoso Delgado at the start with Rasmussen behind but it was Leigh’s teammate Berezany who lost chunk of places to drop to 10th from Top 5.
At the front, Delgado didn’t hold back to pass Leigh early on but a penalty for speeding in pitlane ended his chances of a podium with Leigh then having to battle Rasmussen. A late stop seemingly limited Leigh’s chances but then he stayed on Rasmussen’s tail.
Leigh took the win – his fourth of the season as Rasmussen had to be content with second. It was a supreme fight for third though between Delgado, Saltunc, Kiefer and Toro Rosso’s Cem Bolukbaksi.
Saltunc finished third but a penalty dropped him to seventh while Delgado dropped out of the points. This helped Kiefer into third with Bolukbaksi in fourth while the other Sauber of Sonuc Saltunc in fifth.
Williams’ Tino Naukkarainen then slotted in sixth from aforementioned Saltunc ahead of the Red Bull drivers Graham Carroll and Tormala as McLaren’s Huis completed the Top 10 drivers in the second race.
It was an interesting starting grid for the third and final race of the week at Spa-Francorchamps as Berezany started on pole alongside Raumussen. The Mercedes lost the lead in the opening sequence to the Toro Rosso driver but regained the place after few laps.
Rasmussen then lost a place to Delgado in the pit stop with Leigh and Tormala then also getting ahead of Rasmussen after a late stop. With Berezany in a commanding lead, Delgado was found holding off a train of five cars.
The Force India driver managed to keep off the cars behind but he was handed a three-second penalty for track limits. He still lost a place to Tormala in the race as Leigh then lost out to Rasmussen and Saltunc in the final corner.
Berezany scored his first win of the season as Mercedes completed a clean sweep with Tormala finishing second from Rasmussen and Saltunc. Points leader Leigh ended up fifth from Bolukbasi with Delgado dropping to seventh.
Sauber’s Sonuc was eighth as Naukkarainen and Carroll rounded out the Top 10. Leigh has a comfortable lead after six races with 130 points from Rasmussen on 87 and Berezany with 78, while Mercedes leads teams’ standings with 208 points from Toro Rosso’s 137.
[Read: Round 1]
