F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Norris: Drivers helping fuel Esports boom during lockdown

McLaren driver Lando Norris says that the drivers are a key ingredient behind the dramatic explosion in the popularity of motor racing Esports competitions during the coronavirus lockdown.

With no real world motorsport possible during the current pandemic crisis, fans have been lapping up virtual racing action instead.

“I think everyone is kind of forced into looking at Esports, because that’s the only thing that can really go on right now," Norris told Motorsport.com this week.

"There’s no other stories you can really come up with and talk about," he added. "It’s grown massively, only in these last weeks, and I think it’s only going to continue to grow.”

Norris pointed out that a big reason for Esports' sudden rise in popularity is the way in which current drivers from Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR and Formula E are getting involved.

Last week's official F1 Virtual Grand Prix race saw Norris go up against Charles Leclerc, Alexander Albon, Carlos Sainz, Antonio Giovinazzi, George Russell and Nicholas Latifi.

“The competitions have been set up well," Norris acknowledged. "But we as drivers have done a good job as well - trying to set up these competitions, get together and try and set it all up, as well as all the competitions like F1 and Not the GP.

"There’s a lot of driver WhatsApp groups and so on, where everyone is talking and chatting and trying to set these things up.

©Instagram

"I'm having fun as it is with what I'm doing," he told Autoweek "I've done a lot of races on a lot of different programs, Esports events. I'm having a lot of fun."

This weekend Norris will make his highly anticipated debut in the IndyCar iRacing series, racing on a simulated Circuit of the Americas. "I guess that means the practice starts now then!" he tweeted after getting the official invitation to take part.

But even for a long-time fan of online gaming, Norris concedes that Esports is only a stand-in for the real thing.

"We're not in the perfect situation for everyone," he admitted. "Real racing is what I love the most doing.

"I live two minutes away from McLaren, I cycle there most days or I run past, it's sad to see it in the state it's in [under lockdown].

"The quicker we can get back to all of us working together and doing the job that we want to do [the better] - which is working together as a team, trying to improve the car, beat the other teams.

"We want to be doing that as soon as possible. At the same time it's not down to us, it's down to the safety of everyone else."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Leclerc confident Ferrari ‘has a shot’ at F1 Constructors’ title

Charles Leclerc believes that Ferrari has a genuine “shot” at beating rival McLaren to Formula…

60 mins ago

Komatsu: F1 teams united against Audi 2026 cost-cap offset

Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu has revealed that nine Formula 1 teams stand in opposition…

2 hours ago

Las Vegas GP: Hamilton leads Mercedes 1-2 in trouble-free FP1

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell led the field in a chilly but trouble-free first practice…

3 hours ago

2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix Free Practice 1 - Results

Full results from Free Practice 1 for the Las Vegas Grand Prix in the United…

3 hours ago

Aston Martin says performance shortfall led to Fallows exit

Aston Martin performance director Tom McCullough has shed some light on why the team’s former…

13 hours ago

FIA clamps down on plank loophole after Red Bull complaint

The FIA has issued a pivotal Technical Directive to F1 teams ahead of this weekend’s…

14 hours ago