The F1 New Balance Esports Series 2018 recorded a public record of 1.2 million on selected television networks and 3.2 million people on the dedicated live stream. Over 100 million impressions were recorded on social media and 20 million online video views of F1 Esports content throughout the series. In a demonstration of how sport is reaching a new, younger and more digitized audience, 70% of viewers who have tuned in to see the final are less than 34 years old. The 2018 season culminated with Brendon Leigh who won his second Driverâ € â„¢ s Champsionship in a row after the success of 2017 in Abu Dhabi.Its clear dominance of the series, combined with the second place of his teammate, Daniel Bereznay, also pushed Mercedes AMG Petronas Esports to victory in the first Team’s Championship.Sean Bratches, Managing Director, Commercial Operations at Formula 1 said: The F1 New Balance Esports Series brought together the most talented motorsport players in the world for the second consecutive year. This year, the drivers have had the opportunity to become part of a Formula 1 team and race with the support of some of the most prestigious names in motor racing after an intense selection process. About 66,000 players have competed in four online qualifying rounds at the beginning of the year, to secure a place in the inaugural F1 Esports Pro Draft in July. During the qualification period, 1.1 million laps were completed on F1 2017, the official game, on PlayStation4, Xbox One and PC. At the Pro Draft, the F1 teams selected a total of 16 drivers from nine countries. â € “like the United Kingdom, Germany and Finland until far away Chile â €” to get on with them in the Pro Series Championship. The exciting finale of the award-winning F1 New Balance Esports Series, the Pro Series, includes three events broadcast live in London, UK. A total of 26 drivers representing 12 different nationalities joined their F1 Esports teams to compete on the official F1 2018 video game developed by Codemasters, for the $ 200,000 prize awarded to teams based on their ranking positions. More than 3,000 laps have been completed, covering at least 1,000 km of virtual tracks and employing over four hours of competition time.