Four-time Formula One World Champion Max Verstappen has launched his own racing team for the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe season.

Verstappen, a keen sim racer, has recruited British Team Redline sim racer Chris Lulham as one of the team’s three drivers.

Verstappen.com Racing will compete in 10 rounds of GT World Challenge Europe, which begins April 11th, 2025 at the French circuit Paul Ricard. Notably, the team will also run in the 24 Hours of Spa at the end of June for the first time.

According to a press release, Verstappen ‘handpicked’ Lulham to be part of the team, marking the Team Redline driver’s transition to real-world racing after representing the team since 2021. Lulham will continue to participate in sim racing competitions alongside the real-world driving.

In addition to a full season of GT World Challenge Europe, Lulham will also compete in the GT3 Sprint series under the Emil Frey Racing banner.

Alongside Lulham, Verstappen’s racing team in the GT World Challenge Europe championship will feature Thierry Vermeulen and Harry King.

Team Redline is one of the most successful names in all of sim racing. Lulham was part of the driver line-up, which won the 2023 Spring season of ESL R1, a competition operated by ESL FACEIT Group.

More recently, Lulham and Team Redline achieved a third-place finish in the IMSA Esports Global Championship on the iRacing platform.

Sim racing is one esport that contains several skills that transfer over to real-world sports — motorsports.

The most famous example of sim racers becoming real-world drivers is Jann Mardenborough, the winner of the inaugural GT Academy in 2011.

After winning the competition, Mardenborough finished on the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2013, along with competing in several open-wheel and sportscar disciplines.

With Verstappen actively supporting sim racers’ transition onto the real race track, it will be interesting to see if Lulham can become the next virtual racer to make a successful switch.

The Olympic Council of Asia has announced the games that will feature as part of the esports portion of the 2026 Nachi-nagoya Asian Games.

The esports part of the event will feature several titles spanning multiple genres including sim racing, MOBA, and battle royale

In total, players from across Asia will compete in eleven esports games with the aim of winning an official medal.

In 2023, the Council decided that esports would remain part of its flagship event which will hold its 20th edition in 2026.

The games that have been chosen to form part of the 2026 Nachi-nagoya Asian Games are as follows:

The decision to select these games was made by a dedicated title selection task force with three experts tasked with picking a variety of games across several genres.

The 19th edition of the Asian Games in 2023 saw esports events in EA Sports FC, Dota 2, and Arena of Valor take place. For 2026, the three titles have been replaced with eFootball, NARAKA: Bladepoint, Honor of Kings, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Puyo Puyo Champions.

To highlight the popularity of the Asian Games’ esports portion, Esports Charts noted that last edition’s League of Legends and Dota 2 events recorded peak viewing figures of 146,000 and 78,000, not including Chinese viewership.

Taking place in the Nagoya and Aichi Prefecture in Japan across September and October 2026, the 2026 Asian Games will be supported by the Asian Electronic Sports Federation, the esports governing body for the region.

The involvement of esports in Olympic projects has continued to grow in recent years.

In 2027, the International Olympic Committee will host the inaugural edition of the Olympic Esports Games in partnership with the Esports World Cup Foundation, the organisers of the Esports World Cup.

On February 11th, 2025, it was revealed the Olympic Esports Games was pushed back from its initial year of 2025.

Williams Esports has set up four sim racing rigs available for fans to use at The O2 Arena’s ‘Virgin Media Gamepad’ in London.

According to Williams Racing’s esports division, the rigs will provide professional racers and newcomers with the opportunity to experience F1 racing free of charge all week.

The initiative coincides with the upcoming F1 75 Live season launch event, taking place today from  8pm GMT at The O2 Arena. For this year’s season kick-off, Formula 1 has invited all 10 teams to unveil their new car liveries in front of a live audience.

Compared to other esports disciplines, especially mobile titles, sim racing has a relatively high entry barrier due to the required specialised gaming equipment. In recent years, however, several stakeholders have made attempts to increase its accessibility, launching more sim racing opportunities.

Similarly, some stakeholders are promoting the inclusion of disabled and neurodiverse drivers, such as UK racing team Quartermass Motorsport with its Para Racers Academy.

With the eyes of many F1 fans on The O2 Arena, providing racing rigs to all launch event attendees could be an opportunity for Williams Esports to promote sim racing to racing and esports communities.

Its parent company, Williams Racing, has been a driving force in the sim racing world after becoming the first F1 team to establish its own esports team in 2018. Since then, the organisation has created a content creator ambassador programme as well as a Student Racing League.

Last year, Williams Esports also recorded major competitive successes. The team ended the 2024 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series at the top of the team and individual driver leaderboards, with Williams driver Parker White becoming the Season champion.

The 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship is making its return with Event 2 later this month.

In total, 10 F1 esports teams will be racing across four rounds to earn crucial points for the championship. Ahead of the competition, here’s a brief guide to give you all the information you need for F1 esports’ Event 2.

Firstly, it is important to note what is at stake.

The winner of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship will take home $50,000 (~£40,361) in prize money.

An additional prize pool is given to the constructors’ championship, with the first-place team receiving $130,000 (~£104,939).

The second event of F1’s esports competition will follow a similar format to the first round. Taking place on February 11th-February 13th, the 10 teams will compete in races across four circuits (Silverstone, Spa-Franchorchamps, Zandvoort and Circuit of the Americas).

One round is hosted on the first and third day, with two rounds taking place on day two.

Each round will consist of a full qualifying session and a 50% distance Grand Prix. Unlike the traditional F1 teams, each team will field three drivers, meaning there are 30 participants in each race.

To account for the increased number of participants, the first qualifying session (Q1) will see the top 16 drivers with the best-timed lap enter Q2, and Q3 will have a top 10. For the race, pitstop, and compound change are compulsory.

On Day 1 and Day 3, qualifying will kick off at 5 pm GMT and will be followed by the race at 8 pm GMT. On Day 2, the first race will start at 2 pm and the second one at 8 pm.

The races will be broadcast live via the official F1 YouTube esports, Twitch, and Facebook channels, as well as the dedicated F1 Esports social media channels.

After the first four rounds in Event 1, Williams driver Ismael Fahssi is leading the driver championship with 65 points. Not only did he win the opening round in Australia, but the Spanish driver maintained good consistency in all the following races.

He is followed by Red Bull racing driver Jarno Opmeer on 57 points. The two-time champion won Round 2 and came second in the latest race (Round 4) on the Jeddah circuit. Aston Martin driver Otis Lawrence is third at 47, having just won the last round and becoming the youngest driver to win a race at the age of 16 and 9 months.

For the constructors’ championship, Mercedes leads the way at 87 points thanks to strong performances by its three drivers, followed by Williams Esports and Red Bull Sim Racing.

Legendary Gaming Group (LGG), the parent company of esports organisation Team Singularity, has expanded into sim racing and expanded its ownership group.

Alongside the expansion, the esports-focused investment company will open a new headquarters in Parken Stadium, the home of Danish football club F.C. Copenhagen.

Founded in July 2024 by former Arsenal footballer Nicklas Bendtner, LGG’s recent expansion aims to position the company as a ‘future global leader’ within the gaming and esports industries.

Its expansion into sim racing involves acquiring a stake in the Scandinavian sim racing team Fyra SImsport. The Danish team has competed in several sim racing competitions, including the Le Mans Virtual Series.

In addition to its sim racing expansion, Legendary Gaming Group’s 450-square-metre facility at the Parken Stadium will act as the company’s headquarters. Called Legendary Arena Copenhagen, the venue will feature 38 gaming stations, sim racing rigs, a media studio and will act as the home for Denmark’s national esports team.

Moreover, the pace will be utilised for corporate events, product launches, boot camps, and professional training and educational esports programmes.

“Legendary Arena is where professionals play,” noted Legendary Gaming Group Co-founder Bendtner. “It’s a hub for talent, innovation, and community – all in the heart of Denmark’s premier stadium.”

Outside of esports, LGG has revealed former professional footballer Peter Ankersen has become the company’s latest member of its ownership group. According to the company, Ankersen’s involvement in LGG aligns with its mission to bridge the gap between traditional sports and esports.

In addition to acquiring a stake in Fyra Simsport and bolstering its ownership group, LGG also closed its pre-seed investment round. With backing from Saxo Bank founder Lars Seier Christensen, the funding will be used to execute strategies to continue the growth of LGG.

Red Bull has announced it will host a Trackmania tournament at its Formula One headquarters in Milton Keynes, England.

The Red Bull Faster event takes place on March 1st, 2025 and is in collaboration with Trackmania content creator Øyvind ‘Wirtual’ Iversen.

Qualifications for the Red Bull Faster event begin on January 24th, 2025 and are open to all Trackmania players who have access to the racing title’s Club subscription.

Players will aim to earn the fastest cumulative time on a global leaderboard across three maps. Players that reach the top 100 on the leaderboard will earn a place in the second stage qualifiers with the top eight qualifying for the offline Grand Finals in Milton Keynes.

With over 1.1m YouTube subscribers and 528,000 followers on Twitch, Wirtual will broadcast the competition across the content creator’s channels.

In addition to collaborating with Wirtual, Red Bull has announced AGON by AOC as the official monitor partner of the Red Bull Faster event. As a result, the peripherals and monitor manufacturer will support the event by providing its gaming monitors for the Grand Finals.

Red Bull hasn’t revealed information on the event’s prize structure.

The event marks the first time Red Bull has entered Trackmania esports. The energy drink company is no stranger to operating events having hosted various competitions in other titles such as League of Legends, VALORANT and even Age of Empires.

Trackmania esports has continued to maintain its presence within the industry despite struggling to attract the attention that other racing games have received in recent years.

Its most notable tournament is in collaboration with all-electric motorsport series Formula E where drivers are competing for a share of €4,000 (~£3,377) in prize money across virtual tracks inspired by real-world locations.

The 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship is set to get underway with all 10 F1 teams creating rosters to compete on the virtual stage.

With three drivers lined up for every F1 squad, the 30 drivers will be competing for a share of the $750,000 (~£615,513) prize pool across three events and 12 rounds of racing action.

The F1 Sim Racing World Championship is F1’s official virtual esports competition which is cnetred around its flagship game franchise of the same name. The goal of the competition is to bring more engagement to Formula 1, especially during the winter break for the F1 squads.

The 2025 edition marks the eighth season of the programme and it will take place on F1 24, developed by Codemasters and published by EA Sports.

Last year, the 2023/24 Driver Championship went to Frederik Rasmussen of Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing, who beat Kick F1 Sim Racing Team driver, Thomas Ronhaar, in the last round. Scuderia Ferrari Esports emerged as the World Constructors’ Champions.

The first event will kick off on January 14th, as the drivers will be racing 29 laps in Melbourne’s Albert Park Street Circuit, followed by three other races in the following two days.

The remaining eight races will be split into two separate events, the first one taking place from February 12th to February 14th, and the second from March 25th to March 27th.

The races will be broadcast live via the official F1 YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook channels, as well as the dedicated F1 Esports social media channels.

The F1 esports scene has undergone a major rise and fall over the few past years. The COVID-19 lockdown allowed the game title to thrive, reaching over 400,000 peak viewers at the F1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix Series Vietnam back in 2020.

That being said, the competition wasn’t able to maintain the same level of engagement in the following years, with the 2023–24 Formula One Sim Racing World Championship left in a state of uncertainty following delays caused by a change of organisers and last-minute race cancellations.

The revamped F1 Sim Racing World Championship made the return in April 2024. Despite having much lower numbers than its peak, it still gathered a peak viewership of 42,877 in Event Two, according to Esports Charts, signalling that there is still an active community around the F1 esports scene.

Sim racing company Veloce Esports has announced a large-scale partnership with American simulation racing equipment brand Thrustmaster.

Thrustmaster will become the official sim racing equipment partner for Veloce Esports, helping equip Veloce drivers and create content together.

Thrustmaster is one of the world’s most popular brands of sim racing hardware. It produces a wide range of products, such as steering wheels and bases, pedals, shifters and gamepads. Thrustmaster is also a partner of various sim racing events and companies, such as the FIA Rally Star, 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual, Ferrari Esports and others.

The partnership with Veloce Esports will see Thrustmaster equip the organisation with its hardware, but also work on activations, product reviews, YouTube content and community events with the racing brand. In addition, Thrustmaster equipment “will be showcased in competitions, content series, and activations featuring Veloce’s talent.”

El Rey Guiri (David Castilla), Tiametmarduk (Benjamin Daly) and Aarava (Aarav Amin) were named as VeloceThrustmaster ambassadors.

The two companies have announced that the partnership will also be used to promote the newly-released Thrustmaster wheel, the T598. Éric Mindjimba, the Influence, Event & Esport Manager at Thrustmaster noted that the upcoming partnership will make the most out of the company’s 30-year experience in the gaming space.

Callum Upchurch, Group Business Development Director at Veloce Media Group, said: “We are excited to welcome Thrustmaster as our Official Sim Racing Equipment Partner. With a stellar reputation for innovation and quality, Thrustmaster consistently sets new benchmarks with cutting-edge products like the revolutionary Direct Axial Drive base: the T598.

Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing, the sim racing division of Formula One team Red Bull Racing, has extended its partnership with hardware manufacturer Fanatec.

The multi-year renewal includes the creation of Oracle Red Bull Racing Formula One Team licensed products. The licensed products include the likes of sim-racing steering wheels and cockpits.

Fanatec, a subsidiary of hardware peripherals brand Corsair, initially partnered with Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing in 2021.

The first of these products is the ClubSport Steering Wheel Formula Red Bull 2024 launched in November last month. Additionally, the partnership will also result in Fanatec products being fully integrated into Oracle Red Bull Racing hospitality packages and Paddock Club experiences for both the Oracle sim racing division and the Formula One team’s offerings.

Interestingly, Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing recently entered into a multi-year partnership with gaming controller manufacturer SCUF Gaming, another subsidiary of Corsair. The extension of this multi-year partnership with Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing marks Corsair’s continued efforts to expand in sim racing.

On the renewal of the multi-year partnership, Belma Nadarevic, Senior Director of Marketing at Fanatec, commented: “Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing continues to be an unstoppable force at the highest level of professional esports, and it is a pleasure to be part of their success story.

“Together, we’re exploring new avenues for creating unique experiences and licensed products that bring sim racing and real-world motorsport ever closer. We’re thrilled to launch the limited-edition wheel and can’t wait to show you what else we’ve been working on.”

The FIA, motorsport’s global governing body, has approved the creation of an esports regulatory framework at its latest FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting.

The first-of-its-kind framework, known as the FIA Esports Code, will be used to regulate sim racing competitions as well as provide legal frameworks for national events to take place.

According to a release, the creation of the FIA Esports Code is the first framework focused on sim racing to be created by a sporting federation. The FIA noted that ‘fundamental elements’ from the International Sporting Code (ISC) have been adapted to make sense within the world of virtual motorsport.

The creation of the framework forms part of the FIA’s Vision 2030 initiative comprising of five key areas that include uniting the motorsport community and ensuring sustainability within all forms of activities sanctioned by the Federation. More details on the initiative are expected to be revealed in 2025.

Throughout 2024, the FIA has expanded its presence within esports and the sim racing sectors. In May, it collaborated with sim racing platform iRacing to launch the F4 Esports Global Championship which features a licensed recreation of a FIA Formula 4 car alongside drivers competing for a share of a $25,000 (~£19,588) prize pool.

In October, the Federation began a process to identify game developers for a partnership relating to the inaugural Olympic Esports Games. The goal is to create or adapt a sim racing title to be used at the event taking place in Saudi Arabia next year. Details on any selected developers haven’t been revealed.

Interest in sim racing exploded in 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic bringing all real-world motorsport to a halt. With real-world events taking place regularly once again, seeing the FIA creating frameworks to regulate esports events is a significant step to ensure consistency is maintained by sim racing organisers and drivers competing.