Points at Silverstone but disappointment at Monza for the FDA Esports Team

The Ferrari Driver Academy Esports Team picked up nine points on the first of two days of racing in the second round of the championship that runs on the official Formula 1 game. Starting at Brendon Leigh’s home circuit of Silverstone, the Englishman finished sixth and David Tonizza was tenth. However, things then took a turn for the worse in Monza with Leigh involved in an accident and the Italian picking up a penalty following a collision with another driver, while he was near the front of the field.

Mid-field. As was the case in the opening round, qualifying did not go too well for Leigh and Tonizza. David got no further than Q2 at Silverstone, where he was 13th fastest, while Brendon made the cut to Q3 but could do no better than tenth. In Monza, both got no further than Q2.

Fight back. In the race, the FDA Esports Team sim drivers used their skill and experience to work their way up the order. Starting on Medium tyres they both made up two places to eighth for Brendon and 11th for David. The pit stops came on laps 4 and 5, to take on the Softs and they pushed hard from there on. Brendon passed Marcel Kiefer (Red Bull Racing) and picked up the pace to the extent he was able to get ahead of Joni Tormala (Scuderia AlphaTauri Esports) to finish sixth in a race won by Frederick Rasmussen (Red Bull Racing). David got into a scrap for ninth with Josh Idowu (McLaren Shadow) whom he passed although in the closing stages he had to give best to championship leader Jarno Opmeer (Mercedes AMG Esports,) thus finishing tenth.

Missed opportunity. At Monza, it was Tonizza’s turn to shine, moving up from 14th to fourth place at the chequered flag, with a great pass on Lucas Blakeley (Aston Martin Esports) and Sebastian Job (AlphaTauri.) But “Tonzilla” tangled with Rasmussen on the last lap and the Italian was deemed responsible, picking up a 10 second penalty, which dropped him down to 15th. As for Brendon, his race was pretty much over by lap 8 when he was involved in a collision with Tormala and Simon Weigang (Alfa Romeo Racing F1 Esports.) That meant he had to pit for repairs and rejoined last, eventually finishing 19th. The race was won by Kiefer. The third and last race of the second round, set at Spa-Francorchamps, takes place tomorrow. As usual, the action can be seen starting at 20.30 CET on the FDA’s Facebook channel-  @FDAFans – as well as Formula 1’s Facebook, YouTube and Twitch channels.