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He left it late, but Great Britain’s Brendon Leigh is the first ever F1 Esports Series champion, after a dramatic overtake on the last lap of the Grand Final clinched victory and top spot in the standings.
The 18-year-old kitchen manager from Reading in the UK was one of four drivers who started Race 3 at Yas Marina Circuit knowing that a win would guarantee them the title. One of the four, Fabrizio Donoso, had one foot on the top step of the podium until the final lap, when Leigh swept past him to snatch away the race win and the championship.
Leigh led the standings overnight after his victory at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on Friday in Race 1, but a poor performance in qualifying due to a wheel failure, saw him start from P15 for Race 2 earlier on Saturday. He recovered admirably at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps to finish in P8 there, behind impressive race winner Cem Bolukbasi.
Starting from P2 for Race 3 at Yas Marina Circuit, Leigh was quick off the start line, passing pole-sitter Donoso to take P1 just after lights out. Sven Zurner joined the pair in a topsy-turvy battle for the lead, but just as it seemed that Donoso would prevail, Leigh’s dramatic last-gasp move shot him to the front and towards a place in the record books as our inaugural champion. Donoso (P2) and Zurner (P3) were all smiles as they joined him on the podium.
Read the full results.
