Formula 1 has confirmed five of its current drivers will take part in this weekend’s Virtual Grand Prix, a fall from the seven which entered the previous race.
Charles Leclerc, Alexander Albon, George Russell, Antonio Giovinazzi and Nicholas Latifi will take part in the event. Neither of McLaren driver, Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz Jnr, have been confirmed in the line-up.Norris entered all three previous rounds but apparent internet connection problems limited his ability to participate and he did not drive at all in the last round. However we has able to take part in last weekend’s IndyCar iRacing Challenge on the Cir cuit of the Americas, which he won.
Sainz made his Virtual Grand Prix series debut at the last race and finished 10th after crashing on the first lap.
This weekend’s race will take place on Sunday May 3rd, when the Dutch Grand Prix was originally scheduled to take place. As the revised Zandvoort circuit does not feature in F1 2019, which the virtual grands prix are held on, the venue for this weekend’s race was chosen via a poll of fans. Interlagos was selected over Suzuka, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and Circuit of the Americas.
Among the other competitors confirmed for this weekend’s race are World Rally Champion Petter Solberg and Formula 2 driver Christian Lundgaard. Cricketers Ben Stokes and Stuart Broad, and football player Alessio Romagnoli will also participate.
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2020 Virtual Grand Prix at Interlagos entry list
| Team | Driver | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mercedes | TBC | |
| Mercedes | TBC | |
| Ferrari | Charles Leclerc | |
| Ferrari | Enzo Fittipaldi | |
| Red Bull | Alexander Albon | |
| Red Bull | Ben Stokes | Cricketer |
| McLaren | TBC | |
| McLaren | TBC | |
| Renault | Christian Lundgaard | |
| Renault | Petter Solberg | |
| AlphaTauri | Stuart Broad | Cricketer |
| AlphaTauri | TBC | |
| Racing Point | David Schumacher | |
| Racing Point | Jimmy Broadbent | |
| Alfa Romeo | Antonio Giovinazzi | |
| Alfa Romeo | Juan Manuel Correa | |
| Haas | TBC | |
| Haas | TBC | |
| Williams | George Russell | |
| Williams | Nicholas Latifi |
Alessio Romagnoli will also compete for an unspecified team.
This article will be updated.
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mrfill (@mrfill)
30th April 2020, 12:47
The other e races I have watched (indy, FE, motogp) were at least attended by most of the drivers and in the case of FE, virtually all of them. Yet F1 can only muster 5 for this race, having now lost the McLaren boys.
This is not the way to attract audiences.
Is it the game that is the problem or just drivers being pompous?
petebaldwin (@petebaldwin)
1st May 2020, 11:14
It’s a bit of both. For drivers like Norris and Verstappen, they are used to sim racing so they want to spend their time doing that rather than playing an arcade game. For others like Hamilton and Kimi, they wouldn’t be involved even if it was on iRacing.
Series like Indycar are difficult to compare with F1 because the whole set up is different – if you go to an Indycar race, the drivers are much more accessible and the whole thing is geared towards fan engagement rather than VIP exclusivity.