Race of Champions: Sebastian Vettel’s jump start costs Mick Schumacher and Team Germany Nations Cup final spot

Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher’s Race of Champions Nation Cup came to an end after the four-time F1 World Champion commited a false start.

Lining up against current Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovich, Vettel moved off the line too quickly and although he managed to beat the Brazilian over the line, the five-second penalty he was handed pushed him to second place.

Team Germany needed Schumacher to beat Thierry Neuville to have any chance of reaching the final but he was unable to overcome the Team All Stars driver.

Drugovich and Neuville took on reigning Champions Team Norway in the final but were beaten by the father-son duo of Petter and Oliver Solberg.

Earlier, Lucas Blakeley added Valtteri Bottas to his list of F1 scalps as Team eROC knocked out Team Finland 3-1 in the opening round of the Nations Cup.

Blakeley, who scooped the e-Roc World Final crown on Friday after defeating Jarno Opmeer, also made headlines in last year’s event after he also got the better of four-time World Champion Vettel.

However, he was not able to beat the German this time round, with a mistake early making it impossible Blakeley to catch up to Vettel in their Nations Cup match-up for Germany to take a 1-0 lead.

Mick Schumacher was able to make it two wins out two as he narrowly beat Opmeer who also collided with the wall.

但团队eROC looked as if they would fight back with Blakeley ahead of Schumacher but another big mistake cost the sim racer.

Earlier, the Vettel and Schumacher connection got off to a good start after they knocked out David Coulthard’s Team GB alongside W Series triple champion Jamie Chadwick, the final score being 3-1.

Father and son duo Petter Solberg and Oliver Solberg, who are the reigning champions, have also advanced to the next round after seeing off Team France with a clean 4-0 sweep.

Team Sweden, Johan Kristoffersson and Mattias Ekstrom, also notched up a clean sweep over Team Nordic.

Revenge is sweet for Seb!

上海站失败@LucasBlakeley01in a rematch of their 2022 showdown#F1#ROCSweden@RaceOfChampionspic.twitter.com/XzMHRqVART

— Formula 1 (@F1)January 28, 2023