F1 Esports Round 5: Burst of joy for Boroumand

For the third consecutive time this season, it was Frederik Rasmussen who started the race in pole position. The Danish driver made a good start from the starting grid to keep the lead of the race. For a long time, he was left alone, but he had to concede the first position after an overtaking maneuver by Bari Boroumand at the approach of the 5th turn of the 9th lap of the race. The runner-up in the championship lost even more positions during his pit stop. Coming in on the 12th lap of the race to try the overcut on his rival for victory, he eventually came out in a virtual 4th place.

At the end of the 12th lap of the race, there were two cars separating Boroumand and Rasmussen. Fortunately for the Red Bull driver, one of them was Sebastian Job’s AlphaTauri car. The British simracer offered no resistance to the Danish driver’s attack on the 14th lap. Now, the opponent of the G2 Esports driver would not only be the championship leader but also Bari Boroumand’s teammate: Lucas Blakeley. Equipped with hard tires against the Red Bull’s medium tires, the Scotsman had a hard time keeping Rasmussen behind him. On the 16th lap of the race, the McLaren driver had used up all of his ERS to stay ahead on the straight after Eau-Rouge. The championship leader ultimately lost his 2nd place on the 17th lap.

Once again in a duel with Bari Bouroumand, Frederik Rasmussen decided not to push the McLaren driver too much in order to save his ERS and attempt to overtake the Iranian driver on the last lap of the race. Despite saving his energy, Boroumand perfectly defended the inside of the 5th corner to prevent Rasmussen from diving inside. Hungry for a second victory this season, the Red Bull driver didn’t release the pressure on his opponent and remained about 3 tenths behind him. Despite this intense pressure, Boroumand managed to remain calm and defend his position one last time approaching the final chicane of the circuit.

This is the first time that Bari Boroumand has won a race in the F1 Esports pro Series. Despite several victories in major championships like PSGL, the McLaren driver had not yet found the key to succeed in the highest realm of simracing. It is now done!

Rasmussen’s second position allows him to get closer to Lucas Blakeley in the driver’s championship. The McLaren driver now only has a 5-point lead over his rival.

Second consecutive podium for Idowu

Already third in Austria in the last race, Josh Idowu seems to have trained well for this second series of races. Before the fourth race of the season at the Red Bull Ring, the Welshman’s best result was a modest 10th place in the first race of the season in Bahrain. Finishing 3rd in the previous race, Idowu confirmed his good form in Belgium by qualifying in 3rd position. Losing two positions during his pit stop, the former member of McLaren Shadow set a great race pace to overtake his teammate, Sebastian Job, and Blakeley to move back up to third position. In just 2 races, the AlphaTauri driver went from 1 point to 31. It will be interesting to see if he can maintain this pace until the end of the season and compete with the championship frontrunners.