As Alpine Sim Racing prepare for the final event in this year’s F1 Sim Racing World Championship, they lead the Teams’ standings by 15 points, while Otis Lawrence sits P1 in the Drivers’ standings — 25 clear of second place.

Following a historic 1-2 finish last time out, the team is in strong form heading to the title showdown event and the chance to win a share of the $750,000 prize pool. Ahead of the season finale, we spoke to Otis Lawrence about his campaign so far.

The Welsh team spirit

Otis grew up in Swansea, not too far from his Welsh team-mate Josh Idowu, who lives just outside Newport. The duo are flying the flag for Wales in this year’s F1 Sim Racing World Championship, with the Welsh dragon helping fuel their quest for victory in this year’s competition.

Alongside Dani Bereznay, who will celebrate his 26th birthday on the day of the season finale, the trio and their race engineers have built a strong sense of unity throughout the 12-race campaign.

“The team is fantastic,” says Otis. “Honestly, I’ve never been happier with any other team in my life. The passion is incomparable to any other team on the grid — and we’re the hungriest for victory as well.”

A generational talent

Josh is also generous when it comes to praising Otis’ talent behind the wheel. After his debut season last year, the 18-year-old has become an instant star of the Sim Racing world, having taken his third victory of the season at Event 3.

“Otis is probably the most exciting young talent on the scene,” says Josh, while former racer Tomek Poradzisz, now race engineer for Otis, is also full of praise: “Objectively and also subjectively, he’s the biggest rising talent right now. His raw speed is absolutely insane.

“Across both qualifying and race, there are aspects I’ve never seen before in sim racing. It’s how he achieves the lap time, how effortless it is. He’s a great talent.”

The start of the journey

Otis first started playing the F1 game in 2014 on the Xbox 360 when he was six years old. In 2021, with a new wheel, he started putting in the extra time to compete more seriously.

After making his professional debut last year, Otis joined Alpine Sim Racing for 2026 and has been quick right from the outset. “Last year was my first season, and we made a few mistakes on the strategy side, but I was just learning as much as I could.

“I’ve gone into this season with the exact same mindset as last — I just need to enjoy it. It’s not going to matter in 100 years if I’ve won a championship or not. I’m delighted to be fighting for the title, but there’s no point putting pressure on yourself.”

The hours of dedication

Speaking ahead of the Event 4 season finale, Otis revealed how much time he spends getting up to speed on the simulator, and also how he is able to balance his work with his studies.

“We spend hours each day behind the wheel, but also work with our engineers to analyse the data,” says Otis. “After the engineering debriefs you can see the difference in driving styles between myself, Dani and Josh. I’m able to carry more speed into certain corners, but we’re talking fractions — there’s not much difference, to be honest.”

“We devote our lives to Sim Racing. It’s work ethic, but it was hard to do as much driving as I can as I’m also studying for my A-levels now, in engineering and business.”

Championship showdown

Event 4 of the F1 Sim Racing World Championship will again be held at Formula 1’s state-of-the-art Media & Technology Centre and features three challenging circuits in Mexico City, São Paulo and Abu Dhabi.

The action in Mexico gets underway at 20:00 UK time on Wednesday, followed by the two races in Brazil and Abu Dhabi on Thursday. It’s set to be a dramatic showdown to decide both the Teams’ and Drivers’ F1 Sim Racing Championships.