Curious scenes at the virtual Formula 1 race in Silverstone: Jarno Opmeer takes victory in the pit lane with a “Schumi” maneuver
His maneuver was reminiscent of Michael Schumacher: Jarno Opmeer caused a stir in the sim racing scene on Wednesday.
In a virtual race at Silverstone, four drivers were battling it out for victory at the end. Opmeer was in third place and needed a miracle – or at least a good idea. So he steered his Red Bull RB21 into the pit lane. It was a clever maneuver, as it allowed Opmeer to cut corners 17 and 18 and save crucial meters.
The plan worked: Opmeer crossed the finish line first, 0.008 seconds ahead of the runner-up.
This brought back memories of the finish at the 1998 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, when Michael Schumacher also turned into the pit lane on the last lap of the race. However, “Schumi” had to serve a time penalty at the time. So Schumacher had already paved the way to victory at Silverstone with a controversial pit lane maneuver.
Opmeer’s virtual victory in the PSGL race is also controversial. Although he was officially declared the winner, doubts remain. The race result may be corrected retrospectively.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” “It’s not in the rules. That’s why we don’t expect a penalty.”
How Opmeer came up with his idea
The sim racer claims to have deliberately chosen the shortcut: “Anyone who pitted during the race lost two or three tenths of a second on the fastest lap. I noticed that. So I knew it was faster – and that it would be close.”
PSGL final lap for the win pic.twitter.com/U8aBk9Lj5F
— Jarno Opmeer (@jarno_opmeer) August 6, 2025
“When you try a trick like that, you never know if it’s going to work,” says Opmeer. “Maybe the victory feels even better because the gap was so tiny.”
“In real Formula 1, that wouldn’t be allowed. But in this league, there’s nothing about it in the rule book. That’s why I knew it was possible.”
Schumacher’s bizarre Silverstone victory
In 1998, things turned out a little differently: Ferrari driver Schumacher received a ten-second time penalty two laps before the end of the race for overtaking Benetton driver Alexander Wurz under yellow flags. The penalty caused confusion at the Ferrari command center – Schumacher was called into the pits at the end of the last lap and made to wait ten seconds in front of the garage.
What was unusual about this was that Schumacher had already crossed the finish line on his way to the Ferrari pits. So there was some discussion as to whether Schumacher had actually served his penalty.
Ferrari pointed to inaccuracies in the communication of the penalty. The race stewards therefore added the ten seconds to Schumacher’s race time. Later, they withdrew the penalty completely – and ultimately resigned from their positions as race stewards: an investigation had found “various errors” in the Schumacher case.
Schumacher retained his curious Silverstone victory.