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A host of drivers have been announced for the opening event for Formula 1’s second Virtual Grand Prix series, with Williams F1 duo George Russell and Nicholas Latifi and Red Bull reserve Alex Albon headlining the roster.
Latifi and Russell, whose status as the unofficial winner of the inaugural Virtual GP series during the COVID-19 lockdown last year looks to have been firmed up by F1, are the only two drivers on the real-life 2021 grid set to participate in this Sunday’s season opener at virtual Red Bull Ring.
But while Albon has been demoted from Red Bull’s 2021 line-up in favour of Sergio Perez and is instead to represent the energy drink giant in the DTM, he too will return to the virtual F1 competition.
Red Bull-backed Dutch motocross rider Jeffrey Herlings, who won the 2018 MXGP title by virtue of taking 33 wins in 38 races but then had his two subsequent campaigns wrecked by injury.
Renault will be represented by two of its juniors, Oscar Piastri and Christian Lundgaard, both of whom made successful appearances for the team in the inaugural series.
Ferrari has likewise gone for an all-junior line-up, but while Formula 2 driver Marcus Armstrong is a newcomer to the event, the same is not true for Formula 3’s Arthur Leclerc.
Pietro Fittipaldi, who represented Haas for much of the 2020 Virtual GP run and then replaced the injured Romain Grosjean in the real-lief F1 team in the final two races of the season, will again be part of Haas’s virtual line-up – and will be joined by his Ferrari-backed brother Enzo Fittipaldi, instead of his usual team-mate Louis Deletraz.
Stoffel Vandoorne will be back as part of Mercedes’ Virtual GP line-up and will be joined on the grid by fellow ex-F1 driver Vitantonio Liuzzi, who had a single Virtual GP appearance with AlphaTauri last year and will again represent the Faenza-based team.
Finally, the sole non-racer confirmed on the Red Bull Ring grid so far is returnee Thibaut Courtois, the Real Madrid and Belgian national team goalkeeper.
After the January 31 Austria opener, the 2021 Virtual GP series will continue on February 7 before concluding the following Sunday.
The new season will feature a revised format, in which esports professionals qualify the cars for the race, and a formalised teams’ championship with “a charity prize fund”.
