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Formula Student has always been seen as the testing ground for the next generation of world-class engineers to utilise their skills and provide students with relevant challenges that mirror those in industry. Launched in 2021 and now involving 47 universities around the world, the Formula Student Sim Racing Series challenges student engineering teams to participate in regular races and formal engineering challenges throughout the year.
Backed by the rich heritage and expertise of Williams Racing, Williams Esports has earned a reputation as one of the leading esports teams in the world. Their commitment to developing talent and innovation perfectly aligns with the core values of the FS Sim Racing Series and this partnership signifies a shared vision to provide valuable new opportunities for talented students to hone their simulation and modelling skills to maximise real-world performance.
As part of the partnership, Williams Esports will host the Formula Student Sim Race Series in the Williams Esports community, throwing a further spotlight on the series to a wider audience as it progresses. They will also host the finals of the series at their world-class facilities at Williams’ headquarters at Grove, where teams will be able to use high-level sim racing rigs to compete for this year’s championship. Those attending the Formula Student competition at Silverstone in July 2023 will also have the chance to try out the sim racing rigs for themselves.
Dan Jones, Chief Judge for Formula Student: "In 2020 we ran the virtual FS event from our homes, with sim racing for the Dynamic Events. The growth in the Sim Race series since then has been fantastic and a prime example of Formula Student continuing to innovate and broaden our offering to the students.”
"We are delighted to formalise this partnership with Williams ESports. Hosting the live final for our 2023 series at their world class facility is an exciting first step on this journey and we look forward to sharing our plans for the 2024 series and beyond with the teams soon."
For the 2023 series onward, Williams Esports will also provide dedicated support for the regular engineering challenges taking place between races. These see teams submit an engineering analysis on a single sheet of A4 paper to determine the problem and solutions they used, implementing data from their MoTeC files to support their theory. These are judged by a suite of engineers from various disciplines, using a benchmark submission from Williams e-Sports for comparison.
Steven English, Director of Williams Esports: “We’re delighted to announce this partnership with Formula Student. We’ve been collaborating for some time, as we have shared interests in this space, so it’s great to formalise the relationship and allow us to build more mutual value together in future. We’ve invested heavily in recent years in sim racing engineering and have learned how closely the practises of real world and virtual race engineering are aligned. We use all the same tools, methods and skills as motorsport, so we’re able to use sim racing as part of a career development pathway for aspiring motorsport engineers.”
The finals of this year’s Sim Racing Series will be streamed live from Williams Esports at Grove on the afternoon of 21 July 2023 during the Formula Student 2023 competition; to follow all the action simply visit the Formula Student YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@fsimeche