Future of F1’s Esports series in doubt as second round is called off · RaceFans

The future of Formula 1’s official esports series has been thrown into doubt following the cancellation of this weekend’s round.

The F1 Sim Racing 2023 World Championship, previously known as F1 Esports Series Pro Championship, is in its seventh season of competition. However it is enduring a troubled start to the first season since its rebranding.

Following disruptions to the opening event last month, a Formula 1 spokesperson confirmed to RaceFans its second round this weekend has been “postponed”, but did not indicate when it will take place.

“Formula 1 can confirm that event two of the F1 Sim Racing 2023 World Championship has been postponed,” it said in a statement supplied to RaceFans. “F1 will continue to work with the esports teams and partners and will provide a further update in due course.”

The series sees 20 drivers competing on the official Formula 1 racing game, EA’s F1 23. All 10 Formula 1 teams are officially represented, but cars are set to equal performance to put the competition’s onus on driver skill.

While previous seasons have received substantial promotion and marketing from Formula 1 and teams, the opening round of this year’s championship in Stockholm – the first live event held in-person since the onset of the pandemic – was not publicised in advance. Originally planned for a two-race event, the opening race scheduled for Friday 24th November was cancelled. The season-opener took place the following evening, won by Alfa Romeo esports driver Thomas Ronhaar.

The second round of the championship was set to take place this weekend, but no official details had been given about the venue of the event or which circuits would be raced at.

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In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Williams esports racer Marcel Kiefer, a multiple race winner in the simracing series, expressed his frustration at the start to the season.

“What’s going on in the background is pretty devastating to all drivers and team member that work so hard to make all of this happen,” Kiefer said.

“It sucks and I hope it’s going to change very soon, because there was a lot of excitement after round one, from all drivers, all teams. They deserve a good championship – the fans deserve a proper championship fight. I’m positive that this will get sorted eventually. I do not know when – I think nobody knows.”

The first two seasons of the F1 Sim Racing World Championship were won by current…