Perhaps the most well-known and popular esports event series in racing, the new New Balance Pro Series 2025 has been much awaited – plenty of talented gamers fought their way through a tough selection process, before ultimately being selected as representatives for the 10 official F1 esports teams that are participating this season.
© F1 Esports
The announced esports drivers for the Pro Series 2019
Three players were selected by each team, and from a variety of countries across the world. Pending some final eligibility tests (that have nothing to do with gaming skill), the final roster for this year’s event series looks as follows:
Alfa Romeo Racing F1 Esports
Dani Bereznay, Hungary
Kimmy Larsson, Sweden
Salih Saltunç, United Kingdom
Ferrari Driver Academy
David Tonizza, Italy
Amos Laurito, Italy
Gianfranco Giglioli, Italy
Haas F1 Team Esports
Floris Wijers, Netherlands
Jan Fehler, Germany
Martin Štefanko, Czech Republic
McLaren Shadow
Enzo Bonito, Italy
Bono Huism, Netherlands
Allert van der Wal, Netherlands
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports
Brendon Leigh, United Kingdom
Patryk Krutyj, Poland
Daniel Shields, Australia
SportPesa Racing Point F1 Esports Team
Daniele Haddad, Italy
Marcel Kiefer, Germany
Lucas Blakely, United Kingdom
Red Bull Racing Esports
Frederik Rasmussen, Denmark
Joni Törmälä, Finland
Nicolas Longuet, France
Renault Sport Team Vitality
Jarno Opmeer, Netherlands
Cedric Thomé, Germany
Simon Weigang, Germany
Scuderia Toro Rosso Esports
Patrik Holzmann, Germany
Cem Bölükbaşı, Turkey
Manuel Biancolilla, Italy
Williams Esports
Álvaro Carretón, Spain
Tino Naukkarinen, Finland
Isaac Price, United Kingdom
That’s some lucky and talented players right there! If some of them look familiar, that’s not without reason – among other returning veterans, previous and current F1 Esports Series champ Brendon Leigh is participating again. He won both previous seasons – will he be able to extend his victory to a third season? Racing star Enzo Bonito, who managed to outpace pro racers in a real-life race earlier this year and thus made headlines is part of the competition as well, along with completely new talent.
© F1 Esports
The F1 Esports Pro Series 2025 events
Each and every one of them well earned their spot on the team, and with Ferrari joining as a brand-new team this season, it’s going to be more exciting than ever. Across four events in the London Gfinity Arena, these guys will be competing for a neat $500.000 USD prize fund. The F1 esports prize money is nearly double what was on offer last year!
The events of the Pro Series 2025 are happening on September 11th, October 2nd, November 6th and the Grand Final on December 4th. It’s only a few more days before the big launch with the very first of the four competitions, and players are already getting in gear, right along with their fans. All live events will be live streamed between 7 and 9pm BST on YouTube, Twitch, and also television partners in select locations. Sky UK, Ziggo in the Netherlands, MTV in Finland and Fox Australia will be transmitting the events.
F1 and Huya: a new partnership
Another piece of exciting news – just in time for the launch, Formula 1 signed a deal with Chinese live streaming platform Huya, opening up an entirely new market for themselves – as of next year, there will be a separate F1 Esports Series China Championship in order to add Chinese talent to the Pro Draft for the 2025 season. For the 2025 season, all players have been selected and the only question that remains is who will win it all this December at the Grand Final. As mentioned, both previous seasons were won by Brendon Leigh, an incredibly talented UK player. More than ever though, he has competition this year – 27 other talented players across 9 teams are coming for his title, and his teammates are of course gunning for the top spot as well – it’s anyone’s race this year!
In other words, it’s going to be faster, better and more exciting from here on out! Good luck to all participants of the Pro Series 2019!
