F1 Esports Round 3: Rasmussen is back!

Starting from pole position, Frederik Rasmussen managed to keep the lead of the race against Thomas Ronhaar when the lights went out. Jarno Opmeer also had a great start. Starting 9th on the grid, the Mercedes driver took advantage of the extra grip provided by his medium tires to overtake his rivals on the hard compound. By the second lap of the race, the reigning world champion found himself in fifth position behind his rival, Lucas Blakeley. Opmeer was the first driver to make a pit stop on the 9th lap of the race.

4th for the majority of the race, Lucas Blakeley knew he would have to choose a different strategy than the leaders if he wanted to overtake them. On the 12th lap of the race, the McLaren driver dove into the pits to try the undercut with medium tires. However, Rasmussen had the advantage of driving for Red Bull, a team with 4 drivers in practice, including the two AlphaTauri drivers. The drivers from these two teams often train together and share all the information regarding car setups. Therefore, Sebastien Job, an AlphaTauri driver, also entered the pits at the same time as the Scot to prevent him from having a clear out lap. In the 6th corner of the 1st lap, Lucas Blakeley skillfully passed Job’s car on the outside to move up to 3rd place.

Frederik Rasmussen and Thomas Ronhaar succeeded in covering Blakeley’s aggressive strategy, with both drivers leaving the pits on the 14th lap ahead of the McLaren of the winner of the last two races. Despite never letting up the pressure on the Danish driver’s Red Bull, Ronhaar never found an opening on Rasmussen. After finishing in fourth position, the rookie secures his first podium this season, but certainly not his last. A great race also for the other debutants, Patrick Sipos and Luke Smith. The two Alpine drivers score their first points of the season, as well as the first for their team. Currently, the French team is second to last in the driver’s championship.

This 11th career victory allows Frederik Rasmussen to take second place in the drivers’ championship. The Danish driver is 21 points behind the leader, Lucas Blakeley. Thomas Ronhaar, on the other hand, can boast of being two points ahead of the reigning world champion in fourth position. The Dutchman will have to improve his qualification performance in order to facilitate his quest for a third title.

McLaren is leading the team championship with 82 points. Red Bull has 62, Mercedes 48, and Haas 38.