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Once more unto the breach, dear friends. Once more. This weekend sees the F1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix series wrap up in fine style, with a blast around the fan-favourite Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
This digital incarnation of the Canadian Grand Prix serves as a prologue of sorts for the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, which will finally see Formula 1 racing resume on-track on the weekend of July 3-5. But before all that, there are scores to settle, and milestones to hit in the digital world…
This Sunday’s race will see five current F1 drivers take part in the swansong race. Valtteri Bottas returns for Mercedes, with George Russell on course for a fourth straight win after another dominant performance last weekend in Baku. The pair are joined by fellow F1 drivers Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, and Nicholas Latifi.
Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil will be taking to the track for the first time, lining up alongside Gasly at AlphaTauri. In the other half of the Red Bull camp, former gold-medal winning skier and current YouTube sensation Jon Olsson makes his debut for sister team Red Bull. F1 YouTuber Tiametmarduk has his brakes calibrated and makes a second appearance for McLaren, after an impressive 8th place finish in his debut in the Virtual Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Fellow content creator Aarava makes his debut in the series for Alfa Romeo, setting up an exciting F1 YouTuber Championship throwback.
Formula 2 Virtual Racing might have wrapped up last weekend in Baku, but both F2 and F3 are represented once again. Guanyu Zhou, who kicked off the series with a win in the Virtual Bahrain Grand Prix, returns for Renault. David Schumacher is also back on the roster with Racing Point, Louis Deletraz lines up once again for Haas alongside his fellow test and reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi and, Callum Ilott steps into the digital ring again after last racing for Ferrari Driver Academy in China.
There are some big numbers on the table this weekend. The leading narrative is that of George Russell, and whether he can make it a juicy quad of victories on the bounce. Fellow competitor Charles Leclerc last week remarked that Russell is “fast enough to make top five in the Pro Series” – so it’ll be a fierce competitor that stands in his way this weekend.
Though there’s no championship on the line, his Williams team have accrued an incredible 154 points in our unofficial standings, leading from Ferrari Driver Academy who have 130, and Mercedes who are on 125. And while there’s nothing at stake, surely the bragging rights will be high on the agenda for all involved.
Guanyu Zhou has only taken part in two Virtual Grands Prix to date, but notched a podium in both of them, so he’ll be hoping to maintain 100% hit rate of spraying the digital champagne.
Ahead of the Virtual Canadian Grand Prix, the F1 Esports Pro Exhibition race will light up the track, featuring the very highest echelons of professional esports sim racers. It gets going from 16:00 UTC, lasting around an hour. Following that, the Virtual Grand Prix will commence at 17:00 UTC, running at 50% distance. The broadcast will be available on the official Formula 1 YouTube, Twitch and Facebook channels as well as selected TV broadcasters.
Keep your ear to the ground on social media for more driver announcements as we get them! We hope you enjoy the show.
