The 2019 F1 New Balance Esports Pro series revealed the final drivers’ line-up of all the 10 teams on Tuesday.
The Esports Pro series is a platform for the top-end online racers in the industry to battle it out for individual as well as teams’ glory. A record-breaking 109,000 gamers competed in this year’s qualification stages.
Following that, 10 of the most talented players were selected at the Pro Draft in July to drive alongside established racers and join one of the 10 official F1 Esports teams, with Ferrari making its debut.
The teams will consist of three drivers but only two will compete in the race events. As known, the 2019 season will have four live shows at London’s Gfinity Esports Arena with a prize fund of $500,000 prize fund.
The races are scheduled for September 11, October 2, November 6 and culminating on December 4. All eyes will be on two-time F1 Esports Series champion Brendon Leigh, who will head Mercedes’ outfit.
In additional news, the F1 Esports series will adapt to the new rules of F1, where they will award the driver of the race fastest lap a point, while DHL will reward the driver who will collect most fastest laps with a special prize.
The four live events will be streamed online between 19:00 – 21:00 (BST) on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch. The series will also be broadcast on global television by broadcast partners such as Sky UK, Ziggo (Netherlands), MTV (Finland) and Fox Australia, Huya (China), among others
Full 2019 F1 Esports line-up:
Teams | Drivers | Country |
Alfa Romeo Racing F1 Esports | Daniel Bereznay Kimmy Larsson Salih Saltunc | Hungary Sweden United Kingdom |
Ferrari Driver Academy | David Tonizza Amos Laurito Gianfranco Gigliolo | Italy |
Haas F1 Team Esports | Floris Wijers Jan Fehler Martin Stefanko | Netherlands Germany Czech Republic |
McLaren Shadow | Enzo Bonito Bono Huis Allert van der Wal | Italy Netherlands Netherlands |
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports | Brendon Leigh Patryk Krutyj Daniel Shields | United Kingdom Poland Australia |
SportPesa Racing Point F1 Esports Team | Daniele Haddad Marcel Kiefer Lucas Blakely | Italy Germany United Kingdom |
Red Bull Racing Esports | Frederik Rasmussen Joni Tormala Nicolas Longuet | Denmark Finland France |
Renault Sport Team Vitality | Jarno Opmeer Cedric Thome Simon Weigang | Netherlands Germany Germany |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Esports | Patrik Holzmann Cem Bolukbasi Manuel Biancolilla | Germany Turkey Italy |
Williams Esports | Alvaro Carreton Tino Naukkarinen Isaac Price | Spain Finland United Kingdom |
The story was written by Venkatesh P Koushik and edited by Darshan Chokhani