Skip to content

F1 Sim Racing: Podium Despite Challenges On Day One of 2024 Finale

The final event of the 2024 F1 Sim Racing World Championship got under way in Stockholm on Tuesday, with two races around Mexico City and Brazil for our team of Jarno Opmeer and Dani Bereznay.

The Team went into the final three-day event in the fight for both championships on offer, but slipped back after a tough race in Mexico. Jarno, who started the day in P3 in the drivers’ standings, finished P9, while a late-race penalty for Dani dropped him to P10.

In the second race of the day, Jarno produced a typically gutsy recovery drive from P14 on the grid in Brazil to P5 – which later became P3 after post-race penalties were applied. The updated results also gave Dani a P10 finish.

Despite the silverware, yesterday’s results dropped Jarno to P4 and the Team to P3 in their respective championships. That leaves much to do in the final three races in the next two days. Jake Benham will step into the second car alongside Jarno for today’s races in Qatar and Las Vegas.

What the Drivers Said

“It was a difficult day for us today,” said Jarno.

“With all things considered I feel I drove really well, especially in Brazil. The engineering team came in really clutch with the strategy and P3 was a great finish."

Dani – who now prepares for a day of rest before the final race in Abu Dhabi on Friday – said: “It was a challenging day, but the engineers worked really hard.

“Both tracks were good for me. I made my way through the field, but I made a mistake in Mexico and that cost us a number of points.

The schedule for these events is very taxing and so I am looking forward to a rest day before Abu Dhabi.”

What’s Up Next?

The penultimate day of the season sees Qatar and Las Vegas take centre stage, and the team will look to bounce back and score as many points as possible against a competitive grid in Sweden.

“Wednesday is a new day, on two exciting tracks that will be very different,” said Jarno.

Jake, meanwhile, is raring to go for his first taste of action this week.

“I am excited to get back in the rig today, our first time on track at Vegas in the F1SRWC should make for an exciting race.

“The aim is to finish as high up the order and score as many points as possible for the team, we've both got a lot of work to do, but I am looking forward to the challenge.”

Both Qualifying and race sessions will be streamed live on F1’s YouTube, Facebook and Twitch channels at the following times (CEST):

1215: Las Vegas qualifying

1420: Qatar qualifying

1715: Las Vegas race, 25 laps

1920: Qatar race, 29 laps

Be sure to follow all the action on our Esports Team social channels:

Twitter: @MercedesF1Esp

Instagram: @mercedesf1esports