George Russell wins his fourth race in a row, dominating from pole and leaving his mark on a phenomenal series.
A year after the controversial 2019 race, the circuit Gilles Villenueve hosted the last Virtual Grand Prix. This brings to a close the ‘official’ F1 virtual series, which has been taking place on the original 2020 race weekends. George Russell was the favourite heading into the event, after taking victory at the previous 3 races. Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc chose to participate in the Virtual Le Mans 24h and did not take part.
Race Report
It was an all Formula One top 3 as George Russell fulfilled the expectations of many, taking pole position almost half a second from the Red Bull of Alex Albon. Nicolas Latifi recorded his best qualifying position with 3rd, 0.6 seconds off his teammate’s time.
George Russell continued his trend of perfect race starts, pulling away from the pack immediately. But behind, a tense battle began between Albon, Latifi, Guiterrez, and Caio Collet. Nicolas Latifi ended any hopes of a Williams 1-2, colliding with the wall of champions on lap 4. His race prospects didn’t improve as he picked up 4 penalties before crossing the line.
Russell had managed to build a 4 second lead by the time he made his first stop. However, this gap extended as Albon collected a 3 second penalty for multiple track extension warnings whilst attempting to catch the Williams driver. As Russell raced ahead comfortably, multiple battles took place across the grid. Ben Daly made a stunning overtake, going 3 wide against Callum Ilott and Nicolas Latifi into turn 13. His charge through the grid was hampered by multiple penalties.
Russell introduced interesting new tactics against his rival on lap 23, the Williams driver offering to slow down so Albon could catch up. Unsurprisingly, Albon declined this offer. Pierre Gasly was disqualified on lap 26, the only disqualification of the entire series.
The race concluded in a similar style to the previous events, with Russell unchallenged upfront. The gap was 6 seconds on track as he crossed the line to win the race, not including the 3 second penalty. Notably, Russell didn’t pick up a single penalty across the series, a masterclass from the British driver. Esteban Gutierrez continued to impress, picking up another podium with a solid drive.
Formula One will return with the first live race in Austria on the 5th of July.
Full race results:
- George Russell
- Alex Albon
- Esteban Gutierrez
- Caio Collet
- Ben Daly
- Guanyu Zhou
- Nicolas Latifi
- Anthony Davidson
- Callum Ilott
- David Schumacher
- Pietro Fittipaldi
- Louis Deletraz
- Ted Bloemen
- Juan Manuel Correa
- Gianluca Petecof
- Aarava
- Nic Hamilton
- Simon Neil
- Jon Olsson
- DSQ Pierre Gasly
Featured image credit: WilliamsF1.com
