On Monday, Elias "eliasn97" Nerlich conducted a tournament involving numerous streamers. Labeled the "F1 Streamer World Cup," it put out lots of chaotic sim racing action for viewers, helping the popular German streamer break the Twitch top tens for watch time and peak concurrent viewership.
As with every influencer sports event, there were tweaks to the rules and regulations compared to the actual sport itself. The F1 Streamer World Cup was scheduled over ten rounds (although it was shortened due to internet lag issues), and one of the most unique spectacles was the no-rules races in Monaco (considered the toughest track in F1) and Singapore (another street track that makes overtakes that much harder), making for an intriguing watch for viewers.
This latest sports video game-led activity from eliasn97 accumulated 194,046 Peak Viewers (PV) and 687,577 Hours Watched (HW). Many top influencers and celebrities from the German-speaking community participated, including Bundesliga 2 striker Sebastian Polter, YouTuber Timo "TisiSchubech" Tisi, and Simon "GamerBrother" Schildgen.
The F1 Streamer World Cup was broadcast live for over five hours, with 16 channels covering the action. In the end, it was the duo of Swiss footballer Bradley Fink and Twitch streamer Lukas "CutterLukas", one of the primary video editors for German star Maximilian Alexander "Trymacs" Stemmler, who emerged victorious.
Most watched and popular Twitch channels over the past week
The duo was representing Williams and accrued 338 points to handily win the entire thing. They scored 141 points more than any other pair, helped by the fact that CutterLukas is a big fan of Formula 1 and regularly creates livestreaming content on F1 25. With their triumph, they took home €3,000 in prize money alongside bragging rights as the best sim racers in the community outside of the professionals.
Eliasn97's coverage of the action also put him in the tenth spot by HW and PV when looking at the top content creators on Twitch over the past week. He turned up for the iconic F1 team Ferrari alongside German professional footballer Niklas "Willy" Wilson, but the two could only register 77 points and finished fifth in the overall constructors' table.
What is F1 25, and what are its livestreaming viewership stats?
F1 25 is the official video game of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship and has captured the attention of quite a few prominent streamers. Released on May 30, it is developed by Codemasters and published by EA Sports and is the eighteenth entry in the Formula 1 series.
The simulation racing title has received high praise from fans and critics on platforms like Steam. In fact, at the time of writing, it has a "very positive" review on Valve's digital distribution service and storefront, with over 3,400 users having left a review so far.
One of the top features of F1 25 is that it can be played in the Virtual Reality (VR) Mode. This has led to many calling it one of the installments in the series from Codemasters and the best since the fan-favorite F1 2020.
When looking at the livestreaming stats on Twitch, it is among the 20 most popular games on the Amazon-owned platform since its release day. Filtering the stats further down to just sports games, F1 25 is the second most popular title between May 30 and June 23, with only the newly released Rematch attracting a higher audience size.
Streams Charts has a vast database of games that keeps track of not just viewership stats but also top streamers and audience behavior. Users can also get specific details for release day stats on platforms like Twitch, which can be unlocked using the PRO subscription.
Most watched and popular Twitch Sports games since the launch of F1 25
That F1 25 has outdone legacy names like EA FC 25 and Rocket League is no mean feat, and speaks to the interest generated among fans for its gameplay and stunning graphics. Braking Point, the narrative story mode that began in F1 2021 and returned for a third time in F1 25, has also been credited with making a game that is all about understanding the concept of tire degradation that much more fun for streamers and players.
Speaking of creators, eliasn97 has by far been the most watched influencer for the game over the past three-odd weeks. He is the only one to have accrued over a million Hours Watched, which, incredibly, makes up 35% of the game's overall watch time between May 30 and June 23.
The list of the most watched streamers also has a distinctly European feel to it, with German names dominating the table. The only name to come from outside the continent is Brazil's Allan "oestagiario" Rodrigues, who is known for being huge on sports and dedicating a lot of his livestreams to content on this genre.
The F1 Streamer World Cup was another solid addition to the increasing catalog of influencer-led events that have taken over livestreaming over the past few years. Such exercises not only give the game being played an extra boost among audiences but also showcase the growing value of sports in the modern content creation sphere.
