Following the 2020 F1 eSports Pro Draft, eleven drivers have been whittled down and the ten teams have made their choice of drivers, from a total of 45 entrants.
Haas F1 eSports Team were the first to choose their drivers from the 45 prospectives. They decided on Simon Weigan, who had done a stint with the Renault Sport Team Vitality last year. Competing only four times in the Pro Series, he was still able to make an impression, scoring eleven points. During the course of the on-going COVID-19 crisis, he also competed in the F1 eSports Pro Exhibition Series, for both Haas and the McLaren Shadow team.
AlphaTauri eSports have chosen to retain the services of Italian Manuel Biancolilla, continuing on from last season, driving in two races in Germany and Belgium, securing a point in the race at Spa-Francorchamps, also competing in Exhibition races for McLaren over the course of the worldwide lockdown.
Since the 2018 season, Mercedes-AMG Petronas eSports have struggled to replicate the form they demonstrated that year. In an attempt to turn those fortunes around, they have hired Iranian Bari Boroumand, who has three victories to his name from the Pro Draft qualification, and a podium in an Exhibition race when he was driving for the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN F1 eSports Team.
The BWT Racing Point eSports Team have had a solid amount of victories over the past few years, Marcel Kiefer being able to secure a win last year, while Lucas Blakeley took victory at the Pro Exhibition race at Monaco earlier this year. They have signed Shanaka Clay, who put in a very strong performance in the Exhibition races, and once again putting in a stand out performance in Azerbaijan and Canada, when he scored points and took a victory, also deciding to retain Daniele Haddad. With three outstanding drivers signed on to the team, it may not be long before they are challenging for a Championship
McLaren chose to sign the Spaniard Dani Moreno, who is relatively new to the world of eSports. He competed in the Pro Draft last year, but lost out on a place due to a mishap that befell him during classification.
Greek Michael Romanidis joins Williams eSports, making up their three-person team for this season. He has taken part in five Exhibition races over the past few months, and scored points in three.
Renault made the decision to on two drivers from the 45 entrants: Fabrizio Donoso Delgado, who was running up in the 2017 season finale held at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, and Casper Jansen, who will make his début in October when the Pro Series kicks off.
Alfa Romeo Racing have signed Austrian Dominik Hofmann, who took part in the 2018 Pro Draft, but missed out on being selected. He completes the team’s three-man driver lineup for this year.
Ferrari Driver Academy Hublot eSports Team selected Filip Presnajder; the Slovakien managed to completely out perform his rivals in qualification, taking four victories in the Challenger Series. He joins the Italian squad as they head into their second season of eSports competition.
Red Bull Racing eSports were the most successful team last year, winning the Teams’ Championship. In an attempt to ensure that this form continues, they have taken on Finland’s Tino Naukkarinen, who was the first ever driver to be chosen in the 2018 Pro Draft. He also has several podium finishes to his name, after competing for Williams for two seasons. He will race alongside Frede Rasmussen and Marcel Kiefer.
