Esports

Aston Martin Cognizant Esports Team can now focus on the playoffs and battle for the title after ending the regular season with a match against Team Redline. The two teams went head-to-head in the round selector and combined to select Monza as our favoured track while Team Redline opted for Spa-Francorchamps. Aston Martin Cognizant Esports Team has competed at both venues already this season, meaning it was a return to familiar territory. The round kicked off with the Relay Race at Spa as Daniele Haddad began the event from pole against Redline and F1 Esports Pro Series racer Enzo Bonito. Daniele put in the legwork for the race, and defended superbly from his rival at the first corner, despite some wheel-banging, to pull clear after Blanchimont before handing over the V10-powered car to team-mate Lucas Blakeley. Lucas took the joker lap for the team and finished with a sizeable buffer before Shanaka Clay jumped in and sealed victory in the opener after crucially breaking the tow on the Kemmel Straight. The Team Race at Spa followed the usual pattern, as wheel-to-wheel and on-the-limit racing took place at the opening corner, where the sprints can often be decided. Aston Martin Cognizant Esports Team’s chances of victory took a sizeable hit when Lucas was bumped from second to fifth at the start due to contact caused by Jeffrey Rietveld. While Rietveld was penalised, the damage had already been done. Daniele would finish third, and Lucas took fifth, following a three-second time penalty, as Shanaka rounded off the team’s efforts in sixth. With the scores now level, the round was decided at Monza, beginning with the Relay Race. Lucas made a stunning start from second on the grid to fight Bonito into the opening corner, going around the outside as the Redline driver outbraked himself and forced the former wide and onto the grass. Lucas would re-join ahead of his rival, and continued onto his joker lap but later incurred a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage at Turn One. He would then hand the car over to Daniele with a decent margin, although a minor error in the pitlane meant the gap to Redline was reduced. At the second chicane, Michal Šmídl collided with Daniele at entry and went straight across the run-off, earning the Redline driver a five-second time penalty of his own after illegally gaining several seconds. Shanaka would fight hard in the final stint to reduce the gap, but Redline held on to take a 2-1 lead into the deciding Team Race. The final head-to-head would end in a draw after a large coming together at the first corner. Shanaka made contact with a Redline machine, and the domino effect caught out the field. Lucas emerged from the chaos to lead and take the victory, but both Shanaka and Daniele, who had a clash with Bonito on the opening lap, were penalised. The pair ended up fifth and sixth, meaning the decider was a draw, and neither team scored points, giving Redline the 2-1 win. Having already secured a playoff place due to results elsewhere, the Aston Martin Cognizant Esports Team is gearing up for the next phase, taking place the week commencing May 17. Like the Aston Martin Cognizant Esports Team’s V10-R League machine? You can win one of 20 copies of our car. Head to our official Esports channels on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to find out how.

McLaren’s Lando Norris has announced a charity $25,000 Minecraft Twitch Rivals tournament, set to take place on March 3. The competition will feature some of the top gamers from around the world, while Formula 1 is also well represented. Of the names confirmed so far, Norris is joined by Red Bull reserve and test driver Alex Albon, as well as former Renault junior Max Fewtrell. With a $25,000 prize pool on the line for charity, the competition will start at 6pm GMT on Wednesday March 3, lasting for the remainder of the day. There will be four teams, one of which captained by Norris, and they will compete across four stages designed in Minecraft for the event. Game 1 will be called ‘The Walls’, followed by ‘Boat Racing’, ‘Bow Wash’ and then the Finals. All stages will be a mix of racing and PVP [player versus player] modes. Norris recently started his own Esports organisation, named Quadrant, and the Briton was one of the key Formula 1 figures who helped boost the popularity of Esports, especially during the lockdown period before the 2020 Formula 1 season got underway. This off-season though he has been cutting down his sim-racing activities in order to spend more time with his family. “I asked Max Verstappen during the briefing of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix if he expects to race a lot on the sim this winter. For me, that is not the case, as I will be spending a lot of time with my family,” he told RacingNews365. “I don’t have a sim with my parents and therefore I don’t expect that I will do much sim racing with Max this winter. I expect Bell (his helmet manufacturer) to send me a few more helmets. I like to make helmet designs, so it’s nice that Bell sends me some helmets.” Norris is preparing for his third season in Formula 1 with the McLaren team, and after making a strong impression in his first two campaigns, scoring a combined 146 points and claiming a podium finish, Norris’ next challenge is to step up as a team leader and lose the young driver feel. For 2021 he will have a very strong benchmark at the other side of the garage, that being seven-time race winner Daniel Ricciardo.

Electronic Arts have completed their takeover of developer Codemasters. The deal represents the biggest shakeup yet to the F1 game series, which has been produced by Codemasters since 2009. The F1 game’s recent success hadn’t gone unnoticed as at the end of 2020, rumours began to emerge of EA’s interest in potentially acquiring Codemasters outright. EA have enjoyed huge success in the gaming world, most notably of all with another sport-based title – FIFA. Takeover plans were approved by the Codemasters board at the beginning of February, and were not derailed by supposed interest from 2K Sports franchise owner Take Two. “This is the beginning of an exciting new era for racing games and content as we bring together the talented teams of Electronic Arts and Codemasters”, EA CEO Andrew Wilson announced in a statement. “Racing fandom continues to grow worldwide, and the franchises in our combined portfolio will enable us to create innovative new experiences and bring more players into the excitement of cars and motorsport”. While the F1 game was most likely the main driving force behind EA’s decision to acquire Codemasters, that isn’t the only title that the developer brings to the table. Other notable games that they are responsible for include DiRT, GRID and Project Cars. Frank Sagnier, CEO of Codemasters, was similarly enthusiastic about the partnership’s potential moving forwards. “The partnership with EA will enable our teams to take our highly-acclaimed franchises to new heights and reach a huge global audience through their network,” Sagnier added. “Together we can redefine the landscape of racing games to create even more compelling experiences for racing fans around the world.” EA does have a good track record when it comes to developing games with an automotive theme, as they are the driving force behind the successful Need for Speed game franchise.