F1 Esports Series Pro: First win for Nicolas Longuet and Alfa Romeo in round 10

After a long and well-deserved break, the F1 Esports Series Pro returned to start the last three races of the season at the incredible and exciting Suzuka circuit.

This Wednesday night, a lot was at stake in this race and especially from the time of the qualifying race or Pole Position, as it is essential in this circuit.

The first win for Nicolas Longuet

In nine GPs during the season, the Alfa Romeo team did not know what it was to see a victory, and this changed in this last Suzuka GP thanks to the excellent performance of Nicolas Longuet, who achieved his first victory since 2020.

Thomas Ronhaar (Haas) took the pole earlier in the day, while Longuet (Alfa Romeo) started from second place and championship leader Lucas Blakeley (McLaren) from P6.

Race progress at Suzuka Grand Prix

Longuet had a spectacular start to the race thanks to an excellent choice of medium tires that allowed him to have a far superior grip and move into P1 at Turn 1.

As the race progressed, Longuet remained in the first place and was extending his lead, but many of us wondered if the tire choice had been 100% correct on Alfa Romeo’s part and if the drivers on hard tires would have an advantage in the long run.

The mediums worked better between lap 4, as Bereznay quickly passed Ronhaar with DRS on the pit straight.

Alfa Romeo at the top

Alfa Romeo’s time in the lead did not last long, specifically only more than one lap.

Ronhaar passed Bereznay again on lap 5. However, the gap between first and second place was more than three seconds, so Ronhaar would need a perfect second half of the race to win.

With the lead starting to shrink, Longuet ended his first stint on lap 11 and pitted. After exiting the pits, there was plenty of room for the Alfa Romeo driver to push the throttle hard at this race stage.

Bereznay and Blakeley were next to come in; the Scot was a surprise at this early stage, but the plan was to prioritize undercut potential over tire life.

Tire changes were good

The benefits were immediately apparent. Bereznay was undoubtedly shocked to see Blakeley fly around the outside of the hairpin at turn eleven.

All the front-runners who had not yet pitted did so in a hurry. Ronhaar proved to be the only exception, and his patience paid off handsomely.

Everything pointed to a Ronhaar victory

Everything seemed to indicate that Ronhaar was going to be the winner of the race, but he did not count on the risky intervention of Jake Benham. The second of the Mercedes had not yet entered the pits and was fighting for the first place, not having made any stop.

Longuet caught up with the Englishman on the main straight and passed him effortlessly. Ronhaar caught up to Benham midway through the S and almost crashed into the back of the Silver Arrow machine.

Finally, when Benham could no longer hold off Ronhaar, Longuet had already escaped into first place and moved to within three seconds. He was already unreachable for the poleman, so the Alfa Romeo driver got his first victory after two years.

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