Q-Esports F1 - The Final
The F1 season rounded off last Tuesday with a blistering final race at the Abu Dhabi track.
Q-Esports travelled down to Oxford to compete against all the other teams in our split, and I was reminded once again of the most outstanding fact about our team: they stand up and compete against anyone. #TeamQE was by far the youngest team in the league. The man who won the race in the end looked around the teacher's age, but that doesn’t intimidate Q-Esports one bit.
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Because of the timing of the race, we travelled the same day we returned from Easter break — we hadn’t had any time to practise. How much would we be able to hit the ground running on the day? But our students spent the whole journey discussing the layout of the track. It’s a specialism of ours; nobody in the league takes a corner better than C. It’s instinctive. This was actually the final race for both M and C: C is going on to study Games Design at university, and M will become an apprentice engineer for a rally team down south. You can see how their experiences with Q-Esports have given them both a great head start for what awaits them next. |
Some early wing damage to both cars left them struggling throughout the race, but even with that, they still outperformed almost half the grid, finishing 11th and 15th. The fight and passion never went away. C almost missed out on 15th, locked in a battle with another racer for the final five laps. The other car had been pitted more recently and was showing no signs of wear and tear. The racer was in his mid-twenties and had boasted during practice that he’d spent every waking moment of the last week preparing. C hadn’t had that opportunity and was driving a far more damaged car — but he’d decided that position was his, and so it was. There was nothing 16th could do to get past him. C used every bit of discipline, every ounce of inner strength, and all the confidence he’s built over the last few years at QE to limp his car across the line just ahead of the other racer. Outstanding.
We finished 9th out of 65 schools, colleges, and universities. Yet another top-10 finish; yet another season where we’ve improved, pushed, and written our place among the country’s elite. A fine swansong for both M and C, who I’ll dearly miss seeing in the F1 rigs.
A small personal note: our amazing photographer Alex joined us on this trip to gather footage for the upcoming QE documentary. An obvious time to get this would have been during the opening lap — always the most exciting part of any F1 race, right? Well, there won’t be much footage of me in that moment. Just before the lights went out and the race began, C and M gave each other their customary pre-race fist bump and “good luck, mate.” I realised all at once that it was the last time I’d ever see that fist bump between them, and thought of every single race I’d seen it before — dozens. Some preceding victories and joy, others losses and frustration. But all of them are creating memories and formative moments for our students. I turned away from the camera.
If you are interested in joining Q-Esports, join us at our next Open Day or book a private tour of the QE Faculty. Fill out the contact form to learn more.
