Under the lights of the EFG studio in Stockholm, Aston Martin Aramco Esports drivers Duncan Hofland, Fabrizio Donoso and Otis Lawrence took to the wheel for the opening rounds of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship. Three days of fast and frenetic racing culminated in a thrilling maiden victory for Otis. Hear from the F1 Sim Racing World Championship's newest winner and the team below.
16-year-old rookie Otis snatched victory by just 0.004s in a dash to the line to secure a memorable maiden race win in the F1 Sim Racing World Championship and conclude a positive opening event for the team that puts Aston Martin Aramco F1 Esports Team fourth in the standings with a tally of 47 points.
Event one round-up and reaction
In the opening race of the season at Albert Park Circuit, Otis finished in the top five and secured 10 points. Fabrizio finished the race in P17. Both drivers began on Mediums and finished on the Hard compound.
The following day, it was time to take to the Shanghai International Circuit. After 29 laps, Otis picked up a sixth-place finish and Duncan placed P18.
Later that day, the action continued with a race among the virtual sands of Sakhir. After qualifying P17, Duncan had a strong recovery drive, but a penalty meant he finished outside of the points. Having qualified P14, Otis climbed to eighth, picking up two valuable points.
In the event's final race, Otis claimed victory after 25 laps at Jeddah Corniche Circuit. The Welshman pounced at the final corner, running around the outside of Jarno Opmeer and taking the chequered flag just 0.004s ahead of his rival in a nail-biting drag to the line. The rookie leaves the first event of the season third in the Drivers' standings.
#45 | Otis Lawrence
"I'm feeling fantastic right now. It's surreal to win my first race in F1 Sim Racing. I've been dreaming about it for a while, it means so much to me. I really want to thank everyone in the team. Everyone has done a fantastic job working on setup and everything. I'm really happy."
| Round | Location | Finished | Started |
| Australia | Albert Park Circuit | P5 | P3 |
| China | Shanghai International Circuit | P6 | P9 |
| Bahrain | Bahrain International Circuit | P8 | P14 |
| Saudi Arabia | Jeddah Corniche Circuit | P1 | P2 |
#26 | Duncan Hofland
"For the race in China, I was unfortunately out in Q1 after a small mistake on the final corner. I picked up damage on Lap One after making up two positions. It was very unfortunate and resulted in my race being over. I tried to help Otis as much as I could by holding up other cars.
"In Bahrain, I was unfortunately out in Q1 again. In the race, I had a decent start but had an incident. I still managed to get back to P9 on track, but a three-second time penalty meant I was out of the points again.
"There weren't any points for me unfortunately, but Otis ended on a high with a race win in Jeddah. Very well done to him. We're going to go back to the AMR Technology Campus, analyse all the data from the weekend and take plenty of learnings, and carry the positive momentum from Otis' win into the season ahead."
| Round | Location | Finished | Started |
| China | Shanghai International Circuit | P18 | P17 |
| Bahrain | Bahrain International Circuit | P9 | P17 |
#8 | Fabrizio Donoso
"On my side, personally, I'm disappointed I didn't score points, especially in the last race in Jeddah where it was looking promising to get both cars high up. It was very unfortunate with the incident I had ahead of me. Ultimately, that gave us the win as I was helping Otis with DRS. That puts us P4 in the Teams' standings, so that's a great start. It's something we can look forward to, and we can build on the strong result that Otis had."
| Round | Location | Finished | Started |
| Australia | Albert Park Circuit | P18 | P13 |
| Saudi Arabia | Jeddah Corniche Circuit | DNF | P9 |
Next up
The season continues on 12 February. Beginning with 26 laps around Silverstone Circuit and concluding stateside at Circuit of the Americas, it's set to be a gripping three days of action.
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