possibilitytha t rancour might
leak into the real wor ld.
“That’s thethi ng that happens
when you get professionalraci ng
drive rs into something –we
all want to win, evenif it’s a
game. Whatever it is, we allget
competitive,” said ex-Sauber F1
drive r Marcus Ericsson, who was
involvedintheinter-driverbeeffollowing the chaotic end toIndyCar’s
iRacingseries. “Ithink there might be some rivalriesthat go onfrom
what happened iniRacing. It will be fun though.”
Thankfully, F1’s bandof 20-s omethingswho have sunk t heir
free time into simracing have been grown up about it. At no point
has there been any nastiness between the protagonists. It’s all led
to highly unlikely eventstaking place: Charles Leclerc dressing in
a bananasuit; Lando Norris shaving his head; andGeorge Russell
winning racesfor Williams(and winding up Alex Albon inthe
process). Fantastic! While other serieshave seen the negative impact
of takingdrivers away fromthei r PR
babysitters and letting them act freely, ithas
only been a good thing for F1.
We’ve seen the true colours of some
brilliantcharacters,offering sides previously
unseen.Twitchhas taken us to places even
Netflix’sDrive to Surviveseries hasn’t.
The hope isthat even inthe era of clo sed
events and social distancing, thesenewly
formed bromances can provelastin g.
Norris, Leclerc,Russell and co.are likelyto
be around for years to come.Ifth is kind of
cordiality canalso persist, it will give usa
likeable, open and positivegrid – something
that’s perhaps been lackingat ti mes.
The hubbubover sim racing may nowbe
coming to an end, but letus hope its positive
effects contin ue to be felt.Asthemotorsportworldbeginsto edge
back towardsnormality and the resumption of
on-trackracing, the Esportsscene willalso facea
transitional phase.Thes pike in interestinvi rtual
racing willundoubtedly have converted many fans
and racers but let’s faceit, nothing quite beats
the ‘real thing’.
For some drivers, incidents overthe last few
months will have a profound impact on their
racing futures. Inthe ca se of Formu la E drive r
Daniel Abt, it may have ended his careerentirely.
Abt was revealed to have useda pr ofessional
sim racer totake his place ina Formula E
‘Race at Home’event. The Audi driver later
apologisedand ex plained it was all meant to
be a joke, andthat he had envisionedturning
the exercise into a video. But his employers saw
no amusement inthe scenario.Abt was suspended
and then dismissed from Audi’s FormulaE squad
(run by his father), putting the brakes on his
motorsportcareer. Audi’s rationale was that its
values of “integrity, transparency and consistent
compliance with applicable rules” had been
breachedby Abt’ s sh enanigans.The episode served to reignitethe “it’s justa
game” debate that has rumbledthroughout the
Esports boomof the past few months. In the
absence of physical motorsport,the application of
the same laser-focusedmentality to sim racing has
hardly been unanimous.
Some have taken it far moreseriously
than others; and even if you doregard Abt’s
transgressionas trivial, there arewider issues
surrounding trust and integrity int he sportsworld
given theprevalenceof betting. There’salso th eMUCH ADO
ABT NOTHING?
PICTURE:SAM BLOXHAM.ILLUSTRATION:BENJAMINWACHENJE94 GP RACING JULY 2020
ThenegativityoverAbt’soffence
isatoddswiththegoodvibes
surroundingF1’sEsportsdriversTWITCH HASTAKEN
US TO PLACES
EVEN NETFLIX’S
DRIVETO SURVIVE
SERIES HASN’T
FINISHING STRAIGHTVIRTUAL F1
LUKE SMITH
WITH
@LukeSmithF1possibilitytha t rancour might
leak into the real wor ld.
“That’s thethi ng that happens
when you get professionalraci ng
drive rs into something –we
all want to win, evenif it’s a
game. Whatever it is, we allget
competitive,” said ex-Sauber F1
drive r Marcus Ericsson, who was
involvedintheinter-driverbeeffollowing the chaotic end toIndyCar’s
iRacingseries. “Ithink there might be some rivalriesthat go onfrom
what happened iniRacing. It will be fun though.”
Thankfully, F1’s bandof 20-s omethingswho have sunk t heir
free time into simracing have been grown up about it. At no point
has there been any nastiness between the protagonists. It’s all led
to highly unlikely eventstaking place: Charles Leclerc dressing in
a bananasuit; Lando Norris shaving his head; andGeorge Russell
winning racesfor Williams(and winding up Alex Albon inthe
process). Fantastic! While other serieshave seen the negative impact
of takingdrivers away fromthei r PR
babysitters and letting them act freely, ithas
only been a good thing for F1.
We’ve seen the true colours of some
brilliantcharacters,offering sides previously
unseen.Twitchhas taken us to places even
Netflix’sDrive to Surviveseries hasn’t.
The hope isthat even inthe era of clo sed
events and social distancing, thesenewly
formed bromances can provelastin g.
Norris, Leclerc,Russell and co.are likelyto
be around for years to come.Ifth is kind of
cordiality canalso persist, it will give usa
likeable, open and positivegrid – something
that’s perhaps been lackingat ti mes.
The hubbubover sim racing may nowbe
coming to an end, but letus hope its positive
effects contin ue to be felt.Asthemotorsportworldbeginsto edge
back towardsnormality and the resumption of
on-trackracing, the Esportsscene willalso facea
transitional phase.Thes pike in interestinvi rtual
racing willundoubtedly have converted many fans
and racers but let’s faceit, nothing quite beats
the ‘real thing’.
For some drivers, incidents overthe last few
months will have a profound impact on their
racing futures. Inthe ca se of Formu la E drive r
Daniel Abt, it may have ended his careerentirely.
Abt was revealed to have useda pr ofessional
sim racer totake his place ina Formula E
‘Race at Home’event. The Audi driver later
apologisedand ex plained it was all meant to
be a joke, andthat he had envisionedturning
the exercise into a video. But his employers saw
no amusement inthe scenario.Abt was suspended
and then dismissed from Audi’s FormulaE squad
(run by his father), putting the brakes on his
motorsportcareer. Audi’s rationale was that its
values of “integrity, transparency and consistent
compliance with applicable rules” had been
breachedby Abt’ s sh enanigans.The episode served to reignitethe “it’s justa
game” debate that has rumbledthroughout the
Esports boomof the past few months. In the
absence of physical motorsport,the application of
the same laser-focusedmentality to sim racing has
hardly been unanimous.
Some have taken it far moreseriously
than others; and even if you doregard Abt’s
transgressionas trivial, there arewider issues
surrounding trust and integrity int he sportsworld
given theprevalenceof betting. There’salso th eMUCH ADO
ABT NOTHING?
PICTURE:SAM BLOXHAM.ILLUSTRATION:BENJAMINWACHENJE94 GP RACING JULY 2020
ThenegativityoverAbt’soffence
isatoddswiththegoodvibes
surroundingF1’sEsportsdriversTWITCH HASTAKEN
US TO PLACES
EVEN NETFLIX’S
DRIVETO SURVIVE
SERIES HASN’T
FINISHING STRAIGHTVIRTUAL F1
LUKE SMITH
WITH
@LukeSmithF1