Dominant Russell scores sixth straight Virtual GP win, from 14th

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In the round-up: George Russell won the final Virtual Grand Prix race of the three-round season, while Enzo Fittipaldi and Haas finished as top scorers.

Russell extends winning run in Virtual GP

Despite lining up a lowly 14th on a grid decided by the results of the Esports Pro drivers’ race, Russell was up to third place by the end of the first lap. A first corner crash involving Arthur Leclerc, who was knocked into a spin after taking the lead, delayed several of his rivals.

Russell took the lead by lap three and was never seriously threatened for victory from there on. He came home ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi, who ended the series as top driver on points having won the opening round which Russell missed. Fittipaldi’s Haas team won the championship and claim the largest share of the $100,000 prize pot for the charity of their choice.

Alexander Albon collected a time penalty for track limits abuse on his way to third, as did 12 of the 17 finishers. With Nicholas Latifi sitting out the final race, Russell was the only active F1 driver on the grid at the end of the series, which didn’t attract any of the 2021 roster besides the Williams pair.

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Comment of the day

Is there a realistic chance we may see a rookie champion in Formula 2 this year?

Unlike the new wheels last year, the sophomore drivers won’t have to unlearn anything, and that will make them a bigger threat compared to rookies. I expect Shwartzman, Zhou, Lundgaard and Drugovich to be among the main protagonists this year, and if Carlin can maintain the same form they ended the year with, I see them being a threat with Ticktum and Daruvala as well.

Piastri might get lucky that he’s getting to drive for a team that is competitive and can actually run two cars equally competitively, unlike ART, which makes it much trickier for Pourchaire.
@Wsrgo

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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16 comments on “Dominant Russell scores sixth straight Virtual GP win, from 14th”

  1. I think a few hours ago there was a race called the Daytona 500, if ever VirtualRacefans is aware.

    1. @jeff1s why don’t you tell us about the crash fest then, given that this article was published way before that race even restarted.

      Shame on race fans to not accurately predict if the race would even complete on Sunday, or be postponed to Monday.

      It’ll clearly be in tomorrow’s round up.

      1. I don’t tell you about the crashfest because I focus on racing and information. It’s a slow-news-February season-opener for one of the major motorsport series. And I’m sure the article can be edited. Anyway, my bad.

  2. Even though this is more of an arcade game, and it’s hard to believe this was a pro series with entrants like Pieface23 and flowstreet26, it’s still a valuable run of wins for Russell as higher-ups likely don’t know what’s going on and will just see the headlines.

    1. @balue indeed, and definitely great for expanding his fan base. I think he’ll have won over a lot more neutrals. Fan engagement is key during these times where people can’t meet him at real life events.

    2. Pieface23? The FIFA rager?

        1. Well, who will be the next FIFA rager to enter the next Virtual GP series?

  3. Hey I got COTD! Many thanks :)

    1. Many congrats, @wsrgo.
      Always good to see an insightful CotD rather than one which is purely chosen to stir up repetitive debates.

  4. Zach (@zakspeedf1team)
    15th February 2021, 6:50

    They’re still banging on about Stroll at Istanbul? It was three months ago, he didn’t win, time to move on, jeez.

    1. José Lopes da Silva
      15th February 2021, 15:20

      People are still debating Suzuka 1989.

  5. You’ve somehow managed to miss out on the major social media news story of the day: that, according to his Twitter feed, William Storey and Rich Energy are poised to take a majority share in an existing F1 team, and are eyeing up the possibility of their own full works team in 2022.

    Sadly I was unable to watch Mr Storey’s video message all the way through to the end, but I think he went on describe what has happened to him as ‘The greatest witch hunt in history’, inform us that the Moon is in fact made of cheese, and ask how come is it that clowns are scary……

    Worth watching if you get a chance :-)

    1. @mrfabulous I guess the logic is to not mention that muppet and give him the press coverage that he desperately coverts.
      But you’re right, it was a hilarious load of rubbish. I think he needs therapy.

  6. The standard 2019 helmet design is still my favorite from Ricciardo, although I also like the new one.

    Re COTD: Yes, the drivers who did a full season in F2 last year have some advantage over the rest, but this doesn’t mean a driver such as Juri Vips, for example, couldn’t challenge for the title. A side note: By the time the 18-inch wheel rims debut in F1, F2 will have had them for two years already, so for this year’s (and or last year’s) F2 drivers to debut in F1 next year isn’t necessarily a bad thing as they will already have proper racing experience with the larger rim size before even the longer-time F1 drivers.

    1. Vips can’t really be counted as a rookie due to him running 8 races last year. Hitech was nearly competitive in every race and with a talent like Vips behind the wheel he could be counted as one of the early favourites for a top 3 position. How the Hitech raced last year looks like a great fit for him.

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