Ferrari has joined Formula 1’s Esports championship for the first time, meaning that all 10 current squads will battle in the virtual world.
Formula 1 launched an Esports championship in 2017, with nine of the teams signing up, and last year Ferrari was again absent from the modified tournament format.
Formula 1 confirmed on Friday that Ferrari will join the existing nine teams for the 2019 championship, which will feature an expanded prize fund of $500,000, up from $200,000.
A Pro Draft will take place in July to determine the final driver line-ups, with the Pro Series taking place across 12 races in four live events, scheduled to begin in September.
“It’s a momentous milestone for the programme,” said F1’s Esports chief Julian Tan.
“It’s really exciting to see that all of F1’s teams have bought into the vision, that they see the huge potential of esports within Formula 1 and that they recognise the importance of the programme as part of our wider objective of reaching out to a new audience.
“It’s one of the first projects outside of the racing that has the participation of all 10 F1 teams and we’re really excited to have Ferrari on board and to complete the grid.
“We’re really looking forward to working with all of the teams to make this season a success.”
Looking ahead to 2019, Tan added: “Season 3 is going to be bigger and better.
“We’ve already had this huge expansion in our online qualifying competition, and our draft is going to be bigger as we obviously have all 10 teams involved and all of them will be picking at least one driver from the draft.
“Our Pro Series is also going to be bigger, as we’re going up from three events last year to four this year.”
Briton Brendon Leigh won the title in both 2017 and 2018.
