F1 Virtual Chinese Grand Prix: Charles Leclerc beats Alex Albon to claim second successive win

Winner: Charles Leclerc's on-track abilities are seemingly matched in the gaming world
Getty Images
George Flood19 April 2020

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc beat Red Bull rival Alex Albon to record his second consecutive Formula One Esports Virtual Grand Prix victory on Sunday night.

Having won on his debut around a computerised version of the Australian GP track at Melbourne's Albert Park earlier this month, the Monegasque racer, 22, repeated his impressive showing on the virtual Shanghai International Circuit.

Fellow F1 driver Albon finished just behind Leclerc in second place, while the final spot on the podium went to Formula 2 driver Guanyu Zhou, who triumphed in the opening race of the series last month.

Williams' George Russell came fourth, with Stoffel Vandoorne, Esteban Gutierrez, Nicholas Latifi and Carlos Sainz also in the top 10.

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, Lazio striker Ciro Immobile and golfer Ian Poulter also took part in the race, but finished well down the field.

"I'm actually enjoying very much playing, and streaming," tweeted Leclerc - who only started playing Codemasters' F1 2019 video game earlier month - after his latest win.

"And I enjoy it even more when I win. But the post race celebrations are somehow feeling a bit different.

"Switching off the computer and go [sic] cook white pasta is a bit less glamour than spraying champagne on the podium."

Albon said: "I didn't crash this time which was the main thing. Charles got the better of me and I am disappointed, back to the drawing board for round three.

"Racing is the only sport where you could keep active in a realistic way. It's not the real thing but to keep time ticking over it's been really good."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in