After helping England to win its maiden ICC Cricket World Cup, all-rounder Ben Stokes will now take on professional Formula One drives on a racing track, but in an virtual platform. Stokes will participate in this weekend’s F1 Esports virtual Grand Prix alongside the likes of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Alex Albon. The drivers will compete around a virtual Albert Park in Melbourne.
Furthermore, the other renowned drivers who will feature in the “E-race” will be Williams’ George Russell, McLaren’s Lando Norris and WIlliams’ Nicholas Latifi. These E-Sport events are being held after the first eight races of the Formula One season were either postponed or cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Melbourne Park is traditionally used for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
3 days of practice so now going to do my first custom GP with 5 races in Australia…this is incredibly hard btw so need a little assistance 😂 pic.twitter.com/VRk04OvwuO
— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) April 2, 2020
The first F1 virtual grand prix was watched by over 350,000 people across all streams.
“Following the massive success of the F1 Esports Virtual Bahrain Grand Prix, we are thrilled to be able to come back online again this weekend to provide fans with some racing action,” Julian Tan, F1’s head of E-Sports said.
“A star-studded grid is shaping up with our F1 stars – past, present and future – as well as huge names in sports and entertainment.”
(With inputs from PTI)