Pair the original esports racing game with the team that has dominated F1 for the past seven seasons, and what do you get? The cars from this season and the next coming to the service.
Image credit: F1.com
iRacing have just announced that they will be partnering with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team to bring some new cars to the sim. Those being the W12 which is currently competing in the 2021 season and its eventual successor which will race in 2022.
There have been F1 cars over the years in iRacing, with the Williams FW31 from the 2009 season and the 2015 McLaren MP4-30. However, neither of those were as successful as the current Mercedes car has already been. So far in 2021, reigning seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton has won four times, currently within one win of scoring his 100th and having already achieved the triple digits of poles this year as well.
Well deserved rest for W12 this weekend. 😌 pic.twitter.com/iEin9Isnhm
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) September 19, 2021
iRacing and Mercedes go one step further
Not only will iRacing be working closely with Mercedes to bring the current F1 car to the service but also the 2022 car. This will be quite the task considering how vastly different next season’s cars will be, as they will utilise underbody aerodynamics/ground effect and thus are predicted to allow for much closer racing with dirty air playing much less of a factor.
In the press release, James Vowles who is Mercedes F1’s Motorsport Strategy Director and the individual behind the “Valtteri it’s James” comment had this to say:
We have been working closely with iRacing since the start of 2021 to bring the W12 to life in iRacing’s virtual environment. The intent was to create as accurate a representation of the W12 as possible from a performance and driving perspective. Throughout the process we have held a unique and close relationship with the developers, which has generated a model we hope everyone enjoys driving as much as our drivers have.
Developing the Mercedes F1 cars seems to be yet another step by iRacing to point the service in the direction of Grand Prix enthusiasts. They recently added the likes of current and former F1 race venues like Red Bull Ring, Hungaroring and Hockenheimring which all join circuits already on the service like Silverstone, Monza, Spa-Francorchamps, Suzuka, Interlagos, Circuit of the Americas and many more.
There’s also the fictional F1-inspired car that iRacing developed in partnership with Dallara, the V10-powered iR-01. That car is the one used in the returning Grand Prix Championship, but could its reign as the car used in that series be short lived should either the 2021 or 2022 Mercs prove more popular?
As of now, iRacing have only said the cars will be added at some point in the future as no official date or timeframe has been given. But you can be certain that the car that Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas currently drive as well as the one Hamilton will drive alongside his incoming teammate George Russell will both be available to be driven soon on iRacing.
Are you looking forward to driving the 2021 and 2022 Mercedes F1 cars on iRacing? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
