- Formula 1 launches India’s first official F1 sim racing championship with Mumbai Falcons.
- Registrations open April 30; the national final heads to Mumbai in November 2026.
- A structured pathway from virtual racing to real-world motorsport begins here.
Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited has struck a formal agreement with Formula 1 to run India’s first official F1-sanctioned sim racing championship.
Registrations open on 30 April 2026 through the MFRL App, available on both Google Play and the Apple App Store. The national final is scheduled for Mumbai in November 2026.
The competition will run on F1 25, the same game used in the global F1 Sim Racing World Championship. Players can compete on PC, PlayStation 5, or Xbox.
The format moves from online qualifiers through city-based simulator rounds before reaching the national final.
Formula 1 has not run a programme of this kind exclusively for any country before, according to X account @DesiRacingco, which first reported the partnership.
The championship carries F1’s official sanction and branding. Mumbai Falcons holds the rights to host it in India.
What the championship is trying to do
The organisers describe the championship as “a credible first step into the wider racing ecosystem” for young Indian drivers.
The stated goal is to connect virtual competition with real-world professional motorsport.
For India, where circuit access is limited and the cost of karting and single-seater racing is prohibitive, that pathway is significant.
Aspiring Indian drivers typically need to travel to Europe to train and compete at a professional level.
Sim racing does not eliminate that barrier entirely. However, it gives talented drivers a structured way to be noticed.
Mumbai Falcons has already demonstrated what that kind of early identification can produce. They have played a role in the careers of Jehan Daruvala and Kush Maini, both of whom went on to compete at the top levels of single-seater racing.
Why Mumbai Falcons?
Mumbai Falcons was founded in November 2019 by Ameet Harjinder Gadhoke, Navjeet Singh Gadhoke and Teja Ranade Gadhoke.
The team became the first Indian outfit to finish in the top three of the F3 Asian Championship.
In February 2022, the team won both the Driver and Teams Championship in the Formula Regional Asian Championship.
The team’s partnership with Italian outfit Prema Powerteam produced its biggest result in 2023.
Mumbai Falcons won both titles in the inaugural Formula Regional Middle East Championship with Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who has since made it to Formula 1.
Most recently, the team took two championship titles and the overall Teams’ Championship at the UAE Rotax Max Championship 2025-2026 season.
Mumbai Falcons is not new to sim racing either. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the team participated in the Indian Sim Racing League.
Ameet Gadhoke said at the time:
“There was a lot of great racing by the competitors, which shows the potential and talent available in our great nation.”
That involvement planted a seed that has now grown into a formally sanctioned F1 programme.
MFRL CEO Moid Tungekar has previously spoken about building “international standard infrastructure” to grow motorsport in India.
Gadhoke has spoken publicly about his ambition to produce a world champion Indian driver.
F1’s push into sim racing
Formula 1 launched its sim racing programme in 2017. In its first season, more than 60,000 players attempted to qualify for the LAN finals. The competition drew viewers from 123 countries.
The programme has grown considerably since then.
The 2026 global F1 Sim Racing World Championship launched at DreamHack Birmingham in late March. Nine official F1 teams now field three-driver rosters in the global series. The prize pool stands at $750,000.
F1’s Chief Commercial Officer Emily Prazer set out the commercial logic at the 2026 global launch.
“Esports provides a unique opportunity to reach new audiences and connect with a younger generation of fans, giving them additional pathways to engage with the sport and their favourite teams,” she said.
She added that F1’s investment in a purpose-built sim racing facility at its Media and Technology Centre “reinforces our long-term commitment to F1 Sim Racing.”
India fits neatly into that expansion strategy. The country has a large and young population, and its esports industry is growing.
The sector has traditionally been built around mobile titles like BGMI and Free Fire, but there is a recognised push to broaden it.
An Outlook Respawn industry report noted that India “must intentionally nurture fighting games, sports simulations, and select PC titles by building grassroots pathways.”
What comes next
Registrations open on 30 April 2026. The MFRL App will serve as the central hub for the championship.
Online qualifiers run over the coming months, followed by city-based simulator rounds, and then the national final in Mumbai in November.
The multi-platform format, covering PC, PS5 and Xbox, should bring in a broad range of participants. The championship’s structure mirrors the global F1 Sim Racing series.
It uses the same circuits, competitive formats and team liveries. Whether it produces India’s next generation of racing drivers is a question only time will answer, but the framework to try is now in place.
