The League’s Origin Story
The league was founded on August 26, 2021, by Swedver, Ronelox, Mateusz Rex and Dávid, who would later play an important role in the league. The original name of the league back then was LFBRL, which essentially stood for “Left Behind Racing League“. This name reflected the sentiment that the league’s early members felt left behind in the Formula 1 gaming community, given that they were still playing the F1 2018 game while the real-world F1 community had moved on to newer releases.
Initially, the league operated on the Magyar Formula Rajongók (Hungarian Formula Fans) Discord server, but it quickly outgrew this platform, prompting the need for a dedicated Discord server, which was established on October 24, 2021.
There were challenging times when league members couldn’t find enough racers, leading them to engage in friendly races among themselves.
The turning point came in December 2021 to February 2022 when a significant number of people joined the league, including key figures who still remain, such as Szniki, Legenda, Fooji, Bálint, BMW, Bunsz, Scolwerz, NeXo, and Rákoskutya.
LFBRL Season 1
In early January, preparations for the first season began based on Bálint’s idea, creating a sense of excitement within the league. The leaders of the league at the time were Swedver, Szniki, and Dávid. Maintaining a democratic approach, the racers voted on the conditions for the first season, which eventually kicked off on January 31, 2022, led by Robi, Maja and Agostino, the first commentators of the league.
Following the first race, Scolwerz joined the organizing team, where he started to develop an impressive point-scoring system, laying the foundation for a more structured operation of the league.
Later, due to a shortage of commentators, Swedver reached out to Zuppaq, a popular Twitch streamer at the time, who had little to no experience in F1 commentary. The rest is history, as Zuppaq embarked on commentating the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which turned out to be quite a chaotic race on the racers’ side.
The season was originally planned to have 16 races, resulting in a long and challenging schedule over several months. The final 9 races took place from April 4 to May 29, occurring over nine consecutive weekends. It’s safe to say that this feat will be hard to replicate, as well we don’t want to.
By the end of the season, Fooji, then known as BabyFooji, had won the individual championship with 133 points, followed by Scolwerz with 26 and Szniki with 30 points. Fooji also managed to secure the constructors’ championship for Red Bull with Number One.
Following this, the league took a break in the summer due to the exhaustion caused by the intense four-month racing season. During the summer, Bálint, Fooji, Zuppaq and NeXo joined the organizing team.
LFBRL Season 2
The second season started in a more professional manner, with the organizing team aiming for a higher quality broadcast. Rákoskutya joined the team with ambitious plans to improve the broadcasts, raising the quality of the project to a more professional level. While Zuppaq and Maja were still the league’s commentators, Swedver made appearances during certain races, followed by Attila. The broadcasts introduced replays and advertisements from RajtvonalMagazin.hu, another project led by Swedver.
But Fooji has left the organizing team late on, as the season started.
The season was spiced up with the introduction of sprint races, reflecting the real-life F1’s addition of sprint races to the F1 2018 game. It’s highly recommended to watch the races and results from that time as there were five different race winners, including Fooji, NeXo, Szniki, RF, and Scolwerz.
Scolwerz won the season with just a 3-point lead over RF, who joined the league halfway through the season. In the constructors’ championship, Fooji and Szniki secured the title for Haas.
A New Beginning and the “3rd Season“
As March 2023 approached, the organizers aimed to open a new chapter in the league’s history, including rebranding with a new name and philosophy. Thus, the Virtual Motorsport Racing League (VMRL) was born, with the goal of expanding to new horizons both nationally and internationally, bringing fresh vigor to the Formula 1 eSports community.
This marked the beginning of the 3rd season, essentially a fresh start in the new era, setting higher standards for both the audiovisual broadcast and overall professionalism. Maja had to step down, and her place was taken by Attila and the newly joined Levente, who alternated during commentary. Fooji even tried his hand at commentary during a race.
In contrast to the previous season, there were just three scheduled sprint races, and the number of main races, originally set at 12, was later reduced to 11 due to driver-side issues.
In this season, RF, who joined the league in the middle of the previous season, dominated the races, winning a record-breaking five consecutive races and a total of seven out of eleven. This earned him 243 points, claiming the constructor’s championship as well and overshadowing the competition.
Summer Season of 23′
With increased interest from racers, along with the quirks of F1 22 and ambitious goals, it became clear that the VMRL was ready to move up to a higher level. In July 2023, the league introduced a summer pre-season, attracting a record number of racers who competed in five races to prepare for the upcoming autumn season.
The organizers originally planned to have two divisions, but due to the high demand, they were forced to merge the divisions. RF also participated in this season, securing victory with 93 points.
In August, Scolwerz made an emotional farewell to the organizing team after serving for one and a half years, through many challenging months.
VMRL Season 2
After Scolwerz’s departure, there was some panic within the team. However, the organizers managed to regroup and began the 4th season under the new VMRL era, which is essentially the 2nd season in the new structure.
A significant boost came from a partnership with Simboostr, who supported the 2nd season with financial prizes, making the league unique in Hungary with substantial rewards, thus enhancing the seriousness of the league. Simboostr’s support had a significant impact on the broadcast quality, the evolving FIA system, and the entire ecosystem surrounding the league.
As the season advanced, Levente, who had previously served as a commentator, joined the organizing team and as well as etneveL too, taking on the role of an assistant organizer.