Giovinazzi to make F1 Esports debut in Virtual Vietnam GP

Alfa Romeo Formula 1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi will make his Esports bow at this weekend’s Virtual Vietnam Grand Prix.

Giovinazzi becomes the sixth driver on the 2020 F1 grid to have signed up for the second race of F1’s Virtual Grand Prix series, which has been devised to fill the gap without any real-life racing after the opening eight rounds of the season were called off due to the global COVID-19 crisis.

The 26-year-old Italian is joined in Alfa Romeo’s line-up by three-time grand prix winner Johnny Herbert, who finished 13th for the Swiss squad in the first virtual race in Bahrain which was won by Renault test and reserve driver Guanyu Zhou.

While Giovinazzi is no stranger to sim racing, Sunday’s race will be mark his maiden outing on the official F1 2019 game.

Fellow F1 drivers Charles Leclerc, Alexander Albon, Williams duo George Russell and Nicholas Latifi, and Lando Norris have been confirmed, with the celebrity contestants including England cricket star Ben Stokes, who will drive for Red Bull.

Sunday’s Virtual Grand Prix begins at 8pm BST and will be live-streamed on F1’s YouTube, Twitch and Facebook channels, plus selected TV broadcasters. The event will be formed of qualifying and a half-distance 28-lap race.

Because the 2019 F1 game does not feature the Hanoi Street Circuit which was due to host this weekend’s inaugural Vietnam Grand Prix, the race will be held at Melbourne’s Albert Park, the home of the Australian Grand Prix.

Virtual Vietnam Grand Prix line up so far:

Mercedes: TBC
Ferrari: Charles Leclerc, Arthur Leclerc
Red Bull: Alexander Albon, Ben Stokes
McLaren: Lando Norris, TBC
Renault: Christian Lundgaard, Andre Heimgartner
AlphaTauri: TBC
Racing Point: TBC
Alfa Romeo: Antonio Giovinazzi, Johnny Herbert
Haas: Pietro Fittipaldi, Louis Deletraz
Williams: George Russell, Nicholas Latifi