How Much Do F1 Esports Drivers Earn

If you have never played a racing game before, or regularly get beaten in online races, you're not likely to win any cash prizes. 2018 was Formula 1's first full season in esports and was split into 2 stages. In the first stage that opened in April 2018, online racers were offered the incredible opportunity to earn a place on the official esports driver line-up for one of the official F1 teams. Over 66,000 gamers participated to vie for a spot in the official F1 teams' esports team who competed in the F1 New Balance Esports Series and a chance to win a share of the $200,000 prize fund. The series drew a record audience of 5.5million across selected TV networks and live streams online.

Mercedes took the 2018 Team Championship and Brendon Leigh became two-time Driver Champion. GT Sport is also heavily sponsored and has teamed up with many racing teams in the past, and they host events regularly that put the best racers up against real racing drivers, such as Lewis Hamilton. Holding these events in places such as Monaco, famous for its Grand Prix, helps to make professional sim racing a very lucrative prospect for many. These games include titles such as iRacing and GT Sport as discussed, but the F1 series of games is another common one to pay a lot of money to winners. IRacing is perhaps the most commonly referred to when it comes to professional sim racing, due to the fact that it is widely regarded as the most realistic racing game that is still accessible by a large number of racers.

The official esports drivers will then represent their teams in the second half of the season as they race in the three live events that will determine the 2018 F1 Esports Series Teams' and Drivers' World Champions with a prize fund of at least $200,000. Following the success of the inaugural competition last year, which saw Great Britain's Brendon Leigh crowned as the first ever champion in Abu Dhabi, Formula 1 has renewed its partnership with Codemasters and Gfinity for the 2018 F1 Esports Series. Also, DHL have joined the Series as an official sponsor as part of the extension of their partnership with Formula 1. However, there are other ways of making money in sim racing aside from jackpot prizes. If you have a good rig, and are a skilled sim racer, you can hire out your rig for private tuition. Many of our customers do this, and it is a great way to earn extra money.

Equally, instead of hiring out your rig, you can tutor someone over the internet instead, helping them improve. You might not make £100k a year from this, but could be a nice little supplementary money earner. Professional sim racers are those who make money from playing sim racing games. There are many different income streams within the broader sim racing genre, and these can include things like sponsorships and earnings from streaming. These can both pay a lot, and so can simply winning tournaments and competitions consistently. In order to make money through these methods you will need to be picked up by a sponsor or have a platform on which to stream or deploy ads, or to accept donations.

This usually means you will also need to have an audience, and so a lot of professional sim racers use their YouTube or Twitch following to start earning money from their sim racing. The F1 Esport Pro series is considered one of the hardest esports in the world due to its small roster, fine margins, and minimal room for error. The F1 teams are just as ruthless with their drivers in esports as they are in real racing series.

All 10 teams compete to sign the best drivers every year and are not afraid to cut ties with drivers that aren't performing. Maintaining a seat in the F1 pro series requires immense skill, consistency, and at times luck. Bringing you the latest news, reviews, updates, opinions, and insight from the most recognized and respected names from the world of racing games.

We are building a positive community of likeminded gamers, sim racers and fans and we want you to be a part of it. September's event is the first of four live shows in London between now and December, with drivers and teams competing for a prize fund of $500,000. A professional sim racer is someone who gets paid to play sim racing games.

To qualify as a professional sim racer, you just have to make some money through your sim racing. Furthermore is that by excelling in sim racing, you could also end up getting a funded drive in a real life racing car! Obvious examples of this was GT Academy, which pioneered putting sim racers into real racing cars to show that their racing ability did transfer to real life racing too. Pro Series - All participating players race in 25-50% races over a series of events that are broadcast live. It may well be the case that whichever team dominates over the long term in esports, might well be the one that takes over the sport as a whole.

The amount of work involved simply makes it a difficult goal to strive for, but one that is not impossible. With the rise of e-sports, it is only going to get easier to make even more money as a professional sim racer. Aside from that, as we have said above, it could be a good way to get into real racing. If that is something you would like to do, then professional sim racing could be a good choice. If you perform at a reasonably high level, your profession sim racing career will most likely follow a similar career course to real racers. As new, younger players come onto the scene with faster reflexes, they will start to take over from the older drivers who are advantaged with experience.

The F1 Esport Pro Series consists of 12 races on the most recent Codemasters Formula 1 game. Points are given to the top 10 drivers of each race based on their finishing position. You can have the race of your life with countless overtakes but finish outside the top 10 and have nothing to show for it. Unlike the real racing series, all the cars have an equal performance which makes overtaking very difficult. Therefore, having a good qualifying is key for points in the F1 Esport Pro Series.

However, there is often less than a second separating the entire grid in many qualifying sessions. So consistently starting in a good position is only for the best of the best. Operated in conjunction with Gfinity, a global leader in esports events and competitions, there are six weekly qualifying rounds in total with the first beginning on Monday, 12th February.

Round One challenges you to set the best time in a two-stage rally in Australia using a Group A car. The top two times on each platform will qualify for the quarter finals. Motorsport Network is committed to utilizing its global reach of motorsport fans to live-stream and promote the event, amplified by 200+ of the world's most influential journalists with coverage across 21 editions in 17 languages. In the first, online racers will be offered the incredible opportunity to earn a place on the official esports driver line-up for one the official F1 teams. As sim racing becomes more popular, and the competitive scene gets more coverage and becomes increasingly publicised, people begin to take more seriously aspects like car setup and car liveries. Various eSports teams partner with affiliates , and these eSports teams who compete in championships require professional liveries incorporating all their sponsor logos.

Formula 1 Driver Salary Cap The same way as in a real race, an attractive and vibrant paint job draws attention to the car and thus the sponsors, a livery on your sim car is exactly the same. We have so many top-line drivers who can win and be successful in F1 Esports, and I'd love to see a full on championship held every week similar to that of a lot of online League championships, such as Apex Online Racing. As much as I like the idea of the three races in one event, F1 Esports seems a bit safe and lacking behind the FIA Gran Turismo Championships in many departments. As you can imagine, a lot of gamers want to make their way into the Esports series but it's only two drivers per team in one race. So three drivers are signed and you'll see some drivers prioritising more time on some tracks over others to get the best possible result, albeit that does come with its downside.

Both 2018 and 2019, Frederik Rasmussen lost out on being runner-up and a shot at the championship respectively because he elected to step down and have his teammates race. If you are a good sim racer already and have a good work ethic and are willing to put the time in, there is no reason that you could not be the next big star of the professional sim racing world. There is potential to earn thousands of dollars doing so, and you could also find yourself racing on the real track someday if you get really good at it. If you don't already, you can start streaming to continue earning with your sim racing. Alternatively, you could offer your expertise as a service through tuition, helping to grow the next generation of sim racers in the process.

You can make some decent money by selling your video game skills, and so it could be something to consider. In that event, it fell to another Dutchman, Rudy van Buren, to take the plaudits at the end of several elimination races and a grand finale. Van Buren's story is quite different to Verstappen's -- a former karter, he gave up on racing due to its financial demands, only to take up sim racing in his twenties. His prowess online led him to McLaren's World's Fastest Gamer competition, which he duly won to earn the role of McLaren F1 simulator driver for the 2018 season. The British driver, F1's Rookie of the Year in 2019, is known as a hardcore sim racer. Norris raced in the Veloce Esports edition on Sunday evening and was supposed to go straight into F1's official event, although to anyone watching the broadcast, he was notably absent from qualifying as technical issues kept him out of the session.

So, now that you know how who can make money through sim racing, it is worth talking about what games you can play. Like most genres within the e-sports category, there are plenty of different options. According to the website esportsearnings.com, there have been 47 racing games with paying competitions over the last decade or so. SteelSeries is a leader in gaming peripherals focused on quality, innovation, and functionality, and the fastest growing major gaming headset brand globally.

Founded in 2001, SteelSeries improves performance through first-to-market innovations and technologies that enable gamers to play harder, train longer, and rise to the challenge. SteelSeries is a pioneer supporter of competitive gaming tournaments and esports and connects gamers to each other, fostering a sense of community and purpose. SteelSeries' team of professional and gaming enthusiasts help design and craft every single accessory and are the driving force behind the company. The F1 Esports Series will see the world's top online racers battle it out on F1 2017, the official game of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, in an effort to win a place in the first ever Pro Draft in July.

The Pro Draft is where the official Formula 1 teams involved in the F1 Esports Series will select their drivers for the second part of the season. In 2020, to take the place of the 2020 Formula One World Championship, Formula 1 launched the "Virtual Grand Prix", a series for entertaining F1 fans while the season is disrupted. The Virtual GP began with the Virtual Bahrain Grand Prix, with Guanyu Zhou as the inaugural winner. In addition to Zhou, F1 drivers George Russell, Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon won the other virtual races. George Russell with 146 unofficial points won the series with Albon as runner-up at 108 points. These events were also supported by Formula Two with Arthur Leclerc crowned as unofficial champion by four points ahead of Louis Deletraz having taken more pole positions following the Canadian Grand Prix.

In recent years, some of the world's most talented professional sim racers have successfully transitioned into real-life racing. Back in 2017, McLaren entered the esports industry for the first time by launching the McLaren Shadow Project, a virtual racing programme that shadowed their real-life racing teams. However, due to Red Bull's drivers scoring more points than Ferrari's due to Tonizza's teammates not scoring any points, Red Bull won the team's championship and with it, the majority of the now $500,000 prize pot. Formula 1 is one of the biggest motor racing championships in the world and this year will be the 72nd event of the Formula 1 World Championship. Ahead of the race, let's have a look at the Bahrain Grand Prix 2021 prize money, and how to watch Bahrain Grand Prix 2021 live. The 2019 F1 tournament had a prize pool of half a million dollars, and although this is obviously being divided up between the top players, it is still a lot of money.

However, just because there is money in the e-sport of sim racing, it doesn't mean that it is easy to make a living just by winning races. LONDON - Formula One has more than doubled the prize money for this year's esports world championship, with the virtual teams racing for a very real pot of $500,000 (£381,534) compared to last year's $200,000. Once drivers have been picked, The Pro Series will then take place between September and December across four live events to decide the F1 Esports Series' teams' and drivers' championship and the winner. Founded in 2012, Gfinity has established itself as one of the world's leading esports companies. The Gfinity Esports Arena at Fulham Broadway, London is the home of UK esports showcasing regular tournaments across the full range of competitive games. The chosen drivers have a chance to earn points for the F1 eSports Drivers' and Constructors' championships.

In addition to being chosen to represent their respective teams, the winners will also be gifted a portion of the prize fund distributed to the teams based on final standings. At least 9 of the 10 Formula One teams offered positions in their esports driver line ups as part of the series inaugural Pro Draft. Eager to join a top-notch Formula One team, around 66,000 gamers participated in the 2018 F1 Esports Series powered by New Balance. As an added bonus, there was also a chance to win a share of the $200,000 prize fund. A year later, the sport underwent it first full season in esports and split into 2 stages. The opening stage kicked off in April 2018, and the winners were offered an opportunity to earn a place on the official esports driver line-up for one the official F1 teams.

Furthermore, experienced racers who know how to maximise each tenth of lap time through optimised car setups will offer an individual setup/packages of them, for a fee. Wherever there is competition, people will pay for anything that gets them an upper hand. Lewis Hamilton, who replaced Michael Schumacher at Mercedes in 2012, has become an icon on the same level as his predecessor.

Last year, Hamilton matched Schumacher's record with his seventh F1 drivers' championship, and he has dominated the competition with his earnings the way that Schumacher, the world's highest-paid athlete in 2000 and 2001, once did. The 36-year-old signed a two-year contract extension with Mercedes this summer, following up on a three-year, $140 million deal in 2015 and a two-year, $100 million extension in 2018. He is also the founder of X44, a team in the new off-road electric-SUV racing series Extreme E. Leading the pack is Mercedes superstar Lewis Hamilton, who is on pace to earn $62 million on the track in 2021. That figure includes a $55 million base salary—more than double what his closest competitor is guaranteed—as well as a projected $7 million in bonuses for race wins.

"So that accessibility point, I think is really important in sim racing, and that's one of the biggest differences with other real life, I guess, 'sport game' esports. Drivers would go for individual glory, whilst a prize pot of $200,000 would be distributed among the team's for their position in the final standings. This means that you will have to work a lot no matter which method you choose, as if you don't, you simply will not make as much money. If you are treating it as a side income, this is a fine approach to take.

However, if you want to go full time with professional sim racing there is a lot more to it than simply racing a few laps of a track a couple of times a year. You will probably follow a virtual racing circuit, made up of different tournaments and other events throughout the year. Becoming a professional sim racer is not quite as simple as with other jobs, as there is no application process and no job board to search through for vacancies. The only real requirement is that you enjoy sim racing, although having a background in real racing also helps. Like the F1 championship, the ESports series will also award an extra point to racers for setting the fastest lap.

Meanwhile, a Chinese F1 ESports Championship is also to start in 2020 with the launch event to take place during the Chinese GP next weekend. Formula 1, the pinnacle of motorsport, today announced their entry into the esports arena with the launch of the Formula 1® Esports Series. The competition, starting in September 2017, will see fans and gamers from all over the world battle it out to uncover the best virtual F1 driver and be crowned the Formula 1 eSports Series World Champion. In Abu Dhabi, at the end of a three-race event, the first Formula 1 Esports Series Champion will be crowned on the same weekend as the final 2017 Formula 1 Grand Prix. The winner will be named the Formula 1 Esports Champion Expert for 2018 and will automatically qualify for the semifinals of next year's F1 Esports Series.

They will be offered the opportunity to live the full experience of a Formula 1 race by attending one of the 2018 Grand Prix, and become a character in the F1™ 2018 videogame. Many gamers dream of competing in the F1 Esports Pro Series 2020 and helping a real-world Formula 1 team earn their share of the $750,000 prize pot. Only the fastest and most-dedicated drivers reach the top of any series, and F1 Esports is no different.

He still had in the back of his mind the notion that he could and should get the chance to prove himself in the real world. So when a BMW team in Turkey flew him to the south of France and put him into a GT4 race at Paul Ricard, just to see what he could do in a real car, there were a few operational issues. With few Formula 1 driver salaries publicly available, Forbes relied on financial documents, legal filings and press leaks as well as conversations with industry insiders and consultants to compile this list. Drivers typically receive a base salary plus bonuses for points scored or for race or championship wins, with the amount depending on the size of the team and the experience of the driver. After two years away from the F1 track, Fernando Alonso is back with Alpine.

The 39-year-old, once at the center of the series' Spygate and Crashgate scandals, has rebuilt himself into a tremendously popular driver, in part by broadening his auto-racing horizons. In recent years, he has competed in the ​​Indianapolis 500, entered the Dakar Rally and won the endurance races 24 Hours of Le Mans and 24 Hours of Daytona. The Spaniard won the drivers' championship in 2005 and 2006 with Renault—an earlier incarnation of his current team. "The truth is, you know, they are regular human beings. They are incredibly interested in things outside of just gaming. Certainly, our pro drivers are big fans of real-life racing and some of them aspire to be real-life racers themselves. "We're at a point now where we're trying to take some of the equity and authenticity that the team have built within sim racing esports and pivot that a little bit into a gaming and lifestyle brand and evolve what McLaren Shadow stands for.

Over the weekend of what should have been the Vietnam Grand Prix, we were treated to some Esports action as we have come to expect. The highlight of the weekend arguably was the second rendition of the F1 Virtual Grand Prix. Develop and customise your own F1® car from the ground up, race for one of the 10 official F1® teams, and challenge opponents from around the world to thrilling multiplayer Duels. While Russell took an interest in esports racing, having previously progressed through the traditional driver development channels, Turkish driver Cem Bolukbasi only ever knew racing in video games and simulators before he progressed to Formula 3. What really makes Russell stand out from the pack, though, is the fact that he is every bit as successful in F1 esports as he is on real life tarmac.