The 2021 season was the second consecutive year contested in a fully remote, online format. Jarno Opmeer and Red Bull Racing Esports entered as the reigning Drivers' and Teams' champions respectively, with the series arriving at an inflection point: could Opmeer establish himself as a dominant multi-year force, or would a challenger emerge on the all-online stage?
The season marked a significant structural change for Opmeer: after winning in 2020 with Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen Esports, he moved to the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team. His new partnership with Dani Moreno gave Mercedes a formidable driver line-up that would prove decisive in both championships.
All ten official Formula 1 teams fielded esports line-ups. Key squads included:
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team: Jarno Opmeer and Dani Moreno
Red Bull Racing Esports: Frederik Rasmussen and other drivers
Ferrari Driver Academy Esports Team: David Tonizza and Brendon Leigh
Aston Martin Cognizant Esports Team: Lucas Blakeley and Daniele Haddad
McLaren Shadow: Bari Broumand and Daniel Bereznay
Alpine Esports Team: Nicolas Longuet, Fabrizio Donoso, and Patrik Sipos
Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN F1 Esports Team: Simon Weigang and Filip Presnajder
The 2021 grid featured a notably deep talent pool, with former champion Brendon Leigh racing alongside debut champion David Tonizza at Ferrari, while Lucas Blakeley continued his development at Aston Martin.
Jarno Opmeer won the championship again, becoming the series' first back-to-back champion. Frederik Rasmussen once more finished as runner-up for the third time across his career, continuing one of sim racing's most consistent but ultimately frustrating records of near-misses at the top of the standings. Rasmussen's former team, Red Bull Racing Esports, was dethroned in the Teams' Championship by Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports, who won the constructor title for the first time in three years.
The 2021 season underscored the competitive divide that had emerged between the top-tier drivers of the series and the wider field, with Opmeer and Rasmussen consistently operating at a level above their peers.
Jarno Opmeer won the Drivers' Championship for the second consecutive year, driving for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team. Frederik Rasmussen finished as runner-up. Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team won the Teams' Championship. Red Bull Racing Esports, the defending team champions, did not retain their title.
The 2021 season closed the online-only chapter of the series' history; live LAN events would not return until the championship was relaunched as F1 Sim Racing in 2023. Opmeer's back-to-back titles established him as the most successful driver in the series at that time, a record he would later extend to three championships in 2025. For Rasmussen, the pattern of finishing second set up one of the more compelling long-arc narratives in esports history — a four-time runner-up who would finally win the championship in the 2023–24 season, after finishing second in every previous attempt.