McLaren has reminded us that the Shadow Project finals - the culmination of their esports project looking for more racing talent - will be taking place on January 16 and 17 next week, and we even have a teaser to prepare us for the action.
Seven competitors will descend on the McLaren headquarters in Woking to be crowned the best, and the winner will receive a seat on the Shadow esports team and get the chance to join the organisation's esports development program and work with the F1 team. These seven finalists are as follows:
- Ebrahim Almubarak, Bahrain, qualified via Atyaf eRacing
- Miguel Ballester, Spain, qualified via Forza Motorsport 7
- Henrik Drue, Denmark, qualified via Real Racing 3
- Igor Fraga, Brazil, qualified via the Logitech G Challenge
- Xiang Gao, China, via HTC Vive
- Marcus Jensen, Denmark, via iRacing
- Nuno Pinto, Portugal, via rFactor 2
Ben Payne, Head of esports at McLaren, said: "We've been blown away by the number of talented gamers who have taken part in the competition this year. We've created the most open and inclusive racing esports tournament on the planet, with players competing on multiple platforms on the biggest games. This year, more than ever before, the competition shadows McLaren's real world. We're treating them as we would one of our Formula 1 drivers, and this is reflected in the challenging week-long Shadow finals. The semi-finals had me on the edge of my seat, so I can't wait to see what the final brings."
You can watch the finals running from 19:00 to 22.30 GMT on January 16, with the event finishing between 19:00 and 20:00 GMT the day after, all of which you can watch on McLaren's YouTube channel. Are you excited for the finals?