After repeatedly coming up short in the F1 Esports title race, Red Bull's Frederik Rasmussen defeated rivals Thomas Ronhaar and Bari Broumand to win the F1 Sim Racing driver's championship.
The final five races of the F1 Sim Racing World Championship are in the books, and it came down to three main contenders for the championship. KICK Sauber's Thomas Ronhaar, Ferrari's Bari Broumand and Red Bull's Frederik Rasmussen were the primary players in the finale, all of whom had never won an F1 Esports title before.
Ronhaar was top rookie last season whilst Broumand, alongside eventual champion Lucas Blakeley, helped take McLaren Shadow to team championship glory. But neither had come quite as close to the driver's title in the past few seasons as journeyman Rasmussen.
After garnering a healthy lead after the six races of Event 2, both Ronhaar and Broumand set about trying to eat into that lead. The KICK Sauber driver had suffered a torrid Event 2, failing to score twice. Broumand also failed to score twice in Event 2 and suffered a further setback in the second race of Event 3 after a lowly qualifying.
In the first two races on the Mexico City and São Paulo circuits, Ronhaar was victorious. Then Broumand took the wins in the next two races at Las Vegas and Lusail. Rasmussen remained consistent with a worst finish of sixth across those four races, putting him on 160 points to Ronhaar's 147 and Broumand's 144.
To maximise their chances, Red Bull pitted Rasmussen's teammate Josh Idowu and AlphaTauri's Tom Manley to get amongst and disturb the front runners when they would come in for service. Broumand and Ronhaar pitted for mediums 12 and 13 laps into the race, respectively, and had to navigate their way past Rasmussen's wingmen.
On lap 17, Rasmussen also pitted for mediums and came back out in 9th, but with Manley and Idowu ahead ready to relinquish their positions. With the top three still needing to pit, that put Broumand back up at the front with his reliable teammate Nicolas Longuet behind and Ronhaar over a second back from the Ferrari duo.
If the race finished with that order, Broumand would come up a few points short from Rasmussen. But if Ronhaar could find his way to the front, the Dutchman would be the one to win providing Rasmussen could not finish one position higher. After trailing outside the DRS window, Ronhaar found his way in and on lap 22 made his move.
Suddenly now, Ronhaar was in the pound seat and his grip on the championship tightened even further when Haas rookie Alfie Butcher managed to pass Rasmussen. Butcher then set his sights on the Ferraris in front, made quick work of Longuet who then got past by Rasmussen after more than half a lap running side-by-side.
Lap 27, Broumand and Butcher passed Ronhaar and the championship pendulum swung back to Rasmussen. Butcher wasted no time in going around Broumand's outside at T9, and having saved plenty of ERS in that time, set about trying to pull away. The rookie would go on to take his second win of the season as chaos would unfold behind.
At T9 on the penultimate lap, Ronhaar lunged to the inside of Broumand sending them both wide, and who remained to pick up the pieces? Rasmussen. Ronhaar wasted no time doing another divebomb at T12 on Rasmussen, who despite all the chaos would still come away with the title.
After just falling short of finishing runner-up in 2018 when driving for Toro Rosso, then four straight seasons of finishing the runner-up, Frederik Rasmussen finally achieved what many would consider a long overdue F1 Sim Racing championship, adding that to his record of championships on other platforms like the 2017 GT iRacing World Championship and two Formula E Accelerate titles on rFactor 2.
"I'm very happy to finally win the Drivers' Championship. It was many years in the making and to take the top spot is a huge relief. I have to thank my Team for their continued support - this would not have been possible without them. I'm looking forward to taking a break now to spend time with my family and enjoy the off-season."
Frederik Rasmussen on winning the 2024 F1 Sim Racing Driver's Title
Whilst the glory was in the driver's title, the share of the $750,000 prize pot was determined by the team's championship. With their immense consistency across the entire season, Ferrari with their drivers Broumand and Longuet achieved their aim of winning the team's title, making it the second season in a row that the Iranian has been part of the team's championship winning outfit.
What did you make of the F1 Sim Racing finale? Let us know on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below.
The final five races of the F1 Sim Racing World Championship are in the books, and it came down to three main contenders for the championship. KICK Sauber's Thomas Ronhaar, Ferrari's Bari Broumand and Red Bull's Frederik Rasmussen were the primary players in the finale, all of whom had never won an F1 Esports title before.
Ronhaar was top rookie last season whilst Broumand, alongside eventual champion Lucas Blakeley, helped take McLaren Shadow to team championship glory. But neither had come quite as close to the driver's title in the past few seasons as journeyman Rasmussen.
After garnering a healthy lead after the six races of Event 2, both Ronhaar and Broumand set about trying to eat into that lead. The KICK Sauber driver had suffered a torrid Event 2, failing to score twice. Broumand also failed to score twice in Event 2 and suffered a further setback in the second race of Event 3 after a lowly qualifying.
In the first two races on the Mexico City and São Paulo circuits, Ronhaar was victorious. Then Broumand took the wins in the next two races at Las Vegas and Lusail. Rasmussen remained consistent with a worst finish of sixth across those four races, putting him on 160 points to Ronhaar's 147 and Broumand's 144.
The All-Important Finale
After qualifying for the Yas Marina finale, Ronhaar took pole ahead of Broumand whilst Rasmussen was down in seventh. Whilst the front two began on soft tyres, the championship leader Rasmussen would start on the hard compound, and would need to finish fifth if Broumand won, or third if Ronhaar won to be champion.To maximise their chances, Red Bull pitted Rasmussen's teammate Josh Idowu and AlphaTauri's Tom Manley to get amongst and disturb the front runners when they would come in for service. Broumand and Ronhaar pitted for mediums 12 and 13 laps into the race, respectively, and had to navigate their way past Rasmussen's wingmen.
On lap 17, Rasmussen also pitted for mediums and came back out in 9th, but with Manley and Idowu ahead ready to relinquish their positions. With the top three still needing to pit, that put Broumand back up at the front with his reliable teammate Nicolas Longuet behind and Ronhaar over a second back from the Ferrari duo.
If the race finished with that order, Broumand would come up a few points short from Rasmussen. But if Ronhaar could find his way to the front, the Dutchman would be the one to win providing Rasmussen could not finish one position higher. After trailing outside the DRS window, Ronhaar found his way in and on lap 22 made his move.
Suddenly now, Ronhaar was in the pound seat and his grip on the championship tightened even further when Haas rookie Alfie Butcher managed to pass Rasmussen. Butcher then set his sights on the Ferraris in front, made quick work of Longuet who then got past by Rasmussen after more than half a lap running side-by-side.
Lap 27, Broumand and Butcher passed Ronhaar and the championship pendulum swung back to Rasmussen. Butcher wasted no time in going around Broumand's outside at T9, and having saved plenty of ERS in that time, set about trying to pull away. The rookie would go on to take his second win of the season as chaos would unfold behind.
At T9 on the penultimate lap, Ronhaar lunged to the inside of Broumand sending them both wide, and who remained to pick up the pieces? Rasmussen. Ronhaar wasted no time doing another divebomb at T12 on Rasmussen, who despite all the chaos would still come away with the title.
After just falling short of finishing runner-up in 2018 when driving for Toro Rosso, then four straight seasons of finishing the runner-up, Frederik Rasmussen finally achieved what many would consider a long overdue F1 Sim Racing championship, adding that to his record of championships on other platforms like the 2017 GT iRacing World Championship and two Formula E Accelerate titles on rFactor 2.
"I'm very happy to finally win the Drivers' Championship. It was many years in the making and to take the top spot is a huge relief. I have to thank my Team for their continued support - this would not have been possible without them. I'm looking forward to taking a break now to spend time with my family and enjoy the off-season."
Frederik Rasmussen on winning the 2024 F1 Sim Racing Driver's Title
Whilst the glory was in the driver's title, the share of the $750,000 prize pot was determined by the team's championship. With their immense consistency across the entire season, Ferrari with their drivers Broumand and Longuet achieved their aim of winning the team's title, making it the second season in a row that the Iranian has been part of the team's championship winning outfit.
What did you make of the F1 Sim Racing finale? Let us know on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below.
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