The latest iteration of the Formula 1 racing game franchise was released last week, and this is the second game in the franchise to be released since Electronic Arts bought the Codemasters studios on the 7th of July last year (though F1 2021 was only released a week after the purchased, so there would not have been any creative input from EA at the time). Since the California-based video game giant has had the FIFA license in its library for a long time, there was an interesting event held on the 5th of July this year in London, to celebrate the launch of F1 22. Unlike previous events on this ilk, it wasn’t the esports stars that took to the wheel for this event. This time, 10 F1 content creators were brought together in the Here East centre to have some fun with the new game, but that’s not all. To make this event unusual, 10 content creators from the FIFA world were also invited to take part.

The two groups of creators would face a One-Shot qualifying round, a single lap of Silverstone at racing speed to decide the grid for their race, followed by a 25% distance race (in this case, that works out to be 13 laps). The top five drivers from each heat would go through to a grand final, putting the top five drivers from both groups into another 25% distance race.

The F1 creators took to the stage first, and the seats were taken by Durk Chocolate, Aarava, Tiametmarduk, TommyT999, Matt212, Haydon Gullis, Tommy rage from Two Angry Gamers, Jessgames95, Alex Gillon &  Brrrake. Gillon & Gullis qualified on the front row, Tiametmarduk and Durk Chocolate right behind, and the fighting was very intense. Gillon took an early lead, second to fifth was an amazing scrap, positions changing at every corner, two and three wide moments throughout led to inevitable contacts, but this added to the action, as it was never certain who would remain in the crucial top five until the flag fell, especially since time penalties for track limits and speeding in the pit lane were plentiful. In the end, Haydon Gullis took the flag first, chased home by Tiametmarduk and Alex Gillon in short order, having had an intense three-way battle for the lead for several laps. Matt212 and Durk Chocolate were also through into the final.

Now the FIFA content creators took their places, represented by Bateson87, Pieface23, Chesnoid Gaming, Kirbz, FUTWIZ Dan, Lisa Manley, JDenman9, FG, FIFA Analyst & AJ3. The option was given to all drivers from both camps to use a control pad instead of the steering wheel, and some of the FIFA creators took this option. Whilst the expectation on the FIFA players was not as high as the F1 creators, a superb qualifying lap from Chesnoid secured pole position, alongside JDenman9, with Pieface23 (who had an unofficial rivalry with Durk Chocolate as Pieface had beaten Durk in a previous event) alongside FIFA analyst on row 2. JDenman9, who had taken the choice to run on the pad, stormed into the lead, and unlike the F1 heat, all 10 cars made it through the first lap facing the right way. The track limit penalties were already coming out by the time the first lap had ended, JDenman9 was being kept honest by Chesnoid, FIFA Analyst and Pieface in close pursuit, FUTWIZ Dan rounding out the top five. Whilst the FIFA field did spread out a bit quicker than the F1 group, there was no shortage of great racing and determination from the creators, and a shocking end to the race as the penalties were taken into consideration, the pole man Chesnoid Gaming, who had been comfortably in the top five all race, was knocked out by less than half a second. Through to the final was JDenman9 (who never lost the lead following his storming start of the race), FUTWIZ Dan, Pieface, Kirbz (who span on lap two and still made it through) and Bateson87.

With both heats done, the final grid was set by the drivers’ race times of their heats, and also the FIFA players were starting ahead of the F1 group, so the grid was JDenman9, FUTWIZ Dan, Pieface, Kirbz, Bateson87, Haydon Gullis, Tiametmarduk, Matt212, Alex Gillon and Durk Chocolate. The stage was set, the lights went out for the final time of the event, and again JDenman9 had a strong start, wanting to get as much advantage as he could over the F1 guys, who had a mixture of good and bad starts. F1 heat winner Haydon Gullis was last after a few scrapes before even getting to Brooklands, it was Tiametmarduk and Alex Gillon putting the moves in and up to fifth and sixth respectively. The fighting was fierce, the FIFA group not making life easy for the F1 creators, Bateson87 sadly falling off the back of the field, but everyone else was putting on a great show. It only took until halfway through lap two for the aforementioned rivalry between Pieface and Durk Chocolate to resume, as they were in the battle for fifth. Two and three cars wide, corner after corner, a fair amount of grass cutting, and a few nudges, all contributed to a grand finale to be remembered.

But who was victorious? Head over to the stream to watch the amazing action for yourself.