George Russell extended his run of victories in Formula 1’s Virtual Grand Prix series with a consummate victory around the Baku City Circuit.
The Williams driver took pole position with a lap which put him on a par with some of the professional esports drivers. He shared the front row of the grid with Alexander Albon, and kept his Red Bull rival in check throughout proceedings.Albon ducked into the pits one lap before Russell and chanced a switch to the hard tyre compound. Russell opted for mediums, and emerged ahead of his team mate Nicholas Latifi, who had Albon in his mirrors. Albon soon worked his way past Latifi, who was yet to pit, but by the time he had done so Russell was three seconds up the road.
As the laps worse down Russell became increasingly concerned the degradation would bring his rival within range. But Albon was already starting to struggle with fuel use. Then, with a handful of laps remaining, he incurred a time penalty for track limits violations.
The outcome of the race was no longer realistically going to go any other way from that point on. Despite his penalty, Albon had more than enough time in hand over third-placed Esteban Gutierrez.
Lando Norris took his best finish in the series so far with fourth, while Oscar Piastri performed superbly on his debut in the series to finish fifth.
Pietro Fittipaldi came sixth despite being assaulted by his cousin Enzo going into turn one at the start, triggering a collision which also involved Piastri. Latifi, Ben Daly, Anthony Davidson and Jimmy Broadbent completed the top 10.
Charles Leclerc had a poor event. Having qualified only 10th he was involved in several first-lap incidents and finished 14th behind Thibaut Courtois, Pierre Gasly and the other Ferrari of Enzo Fittipaldi.
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Grid
| Position | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Russell | Williams |
| 2 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull |
| 3 | Louis Deletraz | Haas |
| 4 | Esteban Gutierrez | Mercedes |
| 5 | Oscar Piastri | Renault |
| 6 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Haas |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri |
| 8 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Ferrari |
| 9 | Lando Norris | McLaren |
| 10 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari |
| 11 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams |
| 12 | Ben Daly | McLaren |
| 13 | Anthony Davidson | Mercedes |
| 14 | Thibaut Courtois | Alfa Romeo |
| 15 | Gianluigi Donnarumma | AlphaTauri |
| 16 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point |
| 17 | Aymeric Laporte | Renault |
| 18 | Jimmy Broadbent | Racing Point |
| 19 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo |
| 20 | Matthias Walkner | Red Bull |
Result
| Position | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Russell | Williams |
| 2 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull |
| 3 | Esteban Gutierrez | Mercedes |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren |
| 5 | Oscar Piastri | Renault |
| 6 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Haas |
| 7 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams |
| 8 | Ben Daly | McLaren |
| 9 | Anthony Davidson | Mercedes |
| 10 | Jimmy Broadbent | Racing Point |
| 11 | Thibaut Courtois | Alfa Romeo |
| 12 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri |
| 13 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Ferrari |
| 14 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point |
| 16 | Gianluigi Donnarumma | AlphaTauri |
| 17 | Louis Deletraz | Haas |
| 18 | Aymeric Laporte | Renault |
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MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
7th June 2020, 21:33
Sooooo…
Schuey
7th June 2020, 21:37
Yeah that Russell boi is our boi gonna be champion material innit Brits!
stefano (@alfa145)
7th June 2020, 22:28
I keep my line that the F1 game is totally irrelevant compared to real F1, and still my suspicion is growing, that Russell might really be something else (I’ll admit that some part of me wants this to be true only to shed a better light on Kubica)
Kribana (@krichelle)
8th June 2020, 3:07
Russell might be doing this to get himself in the spotlight. He knows that both Mercedes drivers are out of contract this year, and I am guessing he is trying to put himself into consideration, even though this game is just a virtual world, whose mechanics and physics do not perfectly match to real life, it is still an impressive performance for 3 races, and two of those on tracks which are easy to crash. Car performance has been equal, so the driver has had to make the difference. He also did benefitted using the correct strategies.
I hope Mercedes keep him, and that he does not end up like Wehrlein.
Sham (@sham)
7th June 2020, 22:49
So he’s good at a computer game. I used to be awesome at Donkey Kong, and was unbeaten during one summer. Where’s the article about that?
Shimks (@shimks)
7th June 2020, 23:37
Hahaha! :)
PaulK (@paulk)
8th June 2020, 1:01
@sham, that’s on donkeykongfans.net on their historical summer streaks series.
jet
8th June 2020, 8:28
The argument keeps going that sim racing has no g forces and g forces are what you need to feel the road. So if a sim racer can beat a real racer without feeling the road, then good luck beating them once they can feel the road.
kenji
8th June 2020, 1:57
Real men, really drive, real cars.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
8th June 2020, 4:47
I’m fairly sure they’re real men, I’ve not met them, but I think they are, unless AI has really moved on.
Martin
8th June 2020, 15:02
There are some really dumb comments on this site.
Jere (@jerejj)
8th June 2020, 4:36
”professional esports drivers”
– But are they literally ‘professionals’ as in that they’d earn money for this stuff or is it just a reference for being experts in this form of gaming? Just to clarify.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
8th June 2020, 4:48
Yeah, people make money from this.
jet
8th June 2020, 8:35
I think I saw that the pro sim winner got $10,000. The pros get more I think, but everything they win goes to charity.
Graham (@guitargraham)
8th June 2020, 10:31
when sony held the very first playstation F1 event in 2002 i was world ranked 12 and finished 2 in uk. i won one (yes ONE!) of jenson Button’s gloves. times have changed! (the winner got to represent uk in world championships that were to have been held a couple of weeks later at the us grand prix at indy. unfortunately in the intervening days 911 happened and air travel stopped so i never knew if the final ever took place)
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
8th June 2020, 11:37
@guitargraham Ha! One glove, what a prize. Congrats on being 12th in the world though. You would have thought they could have stretched to two gloves, presumably there’s someone else out there with another lone glove equally frustrated.
Graham (@guitargraham)
8th June 2020, 16:13
undoubtedly! and many thanks! its a single mild seven blue drivers glove from his benetton era encased in an acrylic case/stand. when he won his title in 09 i remember turning to my wife and saying “well at least the glove is worth a bit more!”. during the qualifying tournament (which used special codes generated from a time attack around spa) i was actually No.1…for about half an hour. i stuck out like a sore thumb at the final at silverstone. i was a long haired 30 year old rocker in amongst teenagers that came with their dad. one day i’ll find my photos and get them digitised.
Hakk The Rack
8th June 2020, 7:08
I was great in FIFA1996, still had no offer from any league and now sitting behind my desk at the office. What the hell????
sean kettlewood (@skettlewood)
8th June 2020, 9:26
If you were good at it in 2020, its a $1 Million 1st prize for the pro league.
Txizzle (@txizzle)
8th June 2020, 10:54
Can’t help thinking back to the ‘Real men drive 40 polygons’ motto of GeneRally. xD