George Russell cruises to victory in F1’s Virtual GP finale
George Russell controlled the Virtual Canadian Grand Prix to claim a fourth successive victory in the grand finale of Formula 1’s official Esports series.
The Williams driver stormed to pole position by nearly half a second and turned in another dominant performance in the race as he led from start to finish to round out the Virtual GP series on a winning note.
George Russell controlled the Virtual Canadian Grand Prix to claim a fourth successive victory in the grand finale of Formula 1’s official Esports series.
The Williams driver stormed to pole position by nearly half a second and turned in another dominant performance in the race as he led from start to finish to round out the Virtual GP series on a winning note.
With Charles Leclerc absent due to clashing sim racing commitments in the Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans, Russell had already been crowned the unofficial Virtual GP champion and faced little challenge from his fellow competitors.
Russell led home Red Bull’s Alex Albon by 10s as Mercedes reserve Esteban Gutierrez completed the podium with the top three finishing in exactly the same order as the previous round in Azerbaijan.
17-year-old Formula Renault Eurocup racer Caio Collet impressed on his Virtual GP debut to seal fourth, ahead of YouTube content creator Ben Daly and fellow Renault junior Guanyu Zhou.
In the second Williams, Nicholas Latifi endured a frustrating home Virtual GP after contesting the podium positions early on. The Canadian spun out of third place after losing control of car coming out of the final chicane while battling Gutierrez, before recovering back into the top 10 to take seventh at the chequered flag.
Click here for full Canadian Virtual Grand Prix results.
Anthony Davidson, Callum Ilott and David Schumacher rounded out the rest of the points-scoring positions for Mercedes, Ferrari and Racing Point respectively, with the Haas duo of Pietro Fittipaldi and Louis Fittipaldi just missing out.
The race was littered with time penalties for corner cutting, with the most high-profile culprit being AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman was ultimately disqualified for multiple track limits-related infringements that saw him collect over 25s worth of penalties.
Real-world F1 racing returns next month when the delayed 2020 F1 season begins with the Austrian Grand Prix on July 5.
It may not be the real thing but it’s been such a buzz battling for wins with the lads again these past months. I’d missed that feeling!
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) June 14, 2020
Enjoyed the series way more than I expected. No matter what you do you’ve gotta give it everything!#VirtualGP Champ... cheers everyone! pic.twitter.com/HQmF13YlA0
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for Crash.net around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
