Wales' first Esports world champion hopes win will open doors in Formula One

Seeing the dragon flag on the top step of the podium, with a Welshman crowned world Formula One champion, may sound an unlikely fantasy.

But it's one Otis Lawrence, 18, from Swansea, has achieved - albeit in F1 Esports.

This isn't quite the world of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen but a professional programme promoted by Formula One, which involves young drivers using simulators with the official video game.

Otis believes it has given him "another way" into the elitist world of motor sport which some feel you have to be a millionaire to participate in.

Many successful drivers also use simulators - with some saying it gives them the chance to try new things and experiment.

Otis not only became the first Welshman to win the title, but the youngest F1 Esports world champion in history.

"You don't really see many Welsh people that are successful in motor sport these days," he said.

"So I'm really proud to represent the country, it's super cool."

F1 Sim Racing is a professional programme, promoted by Formula One using the Esports game.

It was created in 2017 using the official video game to allow its community of gamers to have better engagement with the sport.

More than 60,000 people tried to qualify for the finals in the first season, and these were watched by viewers from 123 countries.

It has grown every year since.

The overall prize money for the competition is $750,000 (£562,000), which is split between all the teams - depending on their finishing place.

While Otis won the series, his team, Alpine, finished second overall, meaning they took home $107,000 (£80,000) to be split between members.

He hopes it will "open a lot of doors", adding: "You can be really successful. Especially with a championship behind you."

Otis started gaming in 2014, before realising he wanted to pursue it as a career, and now wants to keep winning Esports championships.

Otis has loved Formula One from a young age, saying he's been watching "since I was born".

His dad was a keen sim racer, so naturally, he put his son into the driver's seat and quickly realised that he had a natural ability for it.

He started playing for fun until the official Esports series launched in 2017.

"I started getting really good and knowing that I could do well," he added.

"It just went from there."

Otis has since driven for several teams, including McLaren and Aston Martin, after the established motorsport manufacturers started taking interest in the competition.

He added: "It's a really good pathway into it and a very cheap way as well."

While he is still early in his career, Otis has already started dreaming of a role in F1 - taking inspiration from others who have made the switch.

"I like the simulator stuff and do a lot of engineering," he said.

"It's really cool, and obviously I've got good contacts with a lot of people now."

Lucas Blakeley, from Irvine, North Ayrshire, made his sim racing debut seven years ago.

It came after a five year karting career that was curtailed due to the costs.

"I had to stop karting in 2015 but as one door closed, I put my energy into the sim racing and went down that avenue," he said.

His career in real racing took off in 2022 when he famously beat F1 champion Sebastian Vettel in the Race of Champions.

He followed this up by beating current driver Valtteri Bottas in 2023 and also competed in Formula Ford.

Blakeley said there are certain things that "will not transfer" from sim racing, but added: "There is a fundamental instinct that you need to have."

Blakeley said motorsports was already witnessing a shift towards sim racing as a way to avoid the extortionate costs of motorsport.

He still drives on his own simulator to "try certain things" and "experiment" before race weekends.

"Ultimately I'd say it comes down to what the individual wants," he said.

"But if they're not using the simulator, then they're wasting their time, because they're just not going to be as good as they can be."

Blakely said modern racing required a good knowledge of the technology that can help a driver and sim racing is part of that.

He added: "If you jump into a car having never touched one in the sim, you will take considerably longer to get those initial gains."

George Morgan, 34, from Monmouthshire, first commentated on a sim race during the Covid lockdown as, like many people, he had "nothing really better to do".

He was competing as a racer at the time too, but decided to try his hand behind the microphone.

The group "loved it" and recommended that he pursue it on a more regular basis.

"I got selected for around six or seven leagues and was broadcasting six or seven days a weekend right though Covid," he said.

He has since gone on to commentate on several competitions such as the International GT Open Championship and the GT Cup Europe.

"When the F1 Sim Racing World Championships laid out its intentions to run a series, in everyone's eyes, it seems there would be a crossover in technology [with Formula One]," he said.

He highlighted four-time F1 world champion, Max Verstappen, who has his own sim racing team.

"There's a lot of progression now in terms of technology," Morgan added.

"It has firmly catapulted us into a position where sim racing drivers are being used now for real life racing."

Morgan said there was still a "concept of elitism in motorsport" that meant quite a few talents do not get the chance as "they have very little cash".

It has become a "massive talking point", he said, among young drivers who are investing millions just to progress up the junior categories.

"The fact that sim racing exists gives the drivers a proving ground to show what they can do," he added.