George Russell was in a league of his own in Sunday’s virtual Monaco GP, the Williams driver blitzing the field and crossing the checkered flag with over 39 seconds in hand over Mercedes’ Esteban Gutierrez.
Russell enjoyed a clean race, contrary to his rivals who spent the better part of 39 laps bouncing off the walls with reckless abandon but with little consequence as damage was turned off on the F1 2019 platform.
However, the event was littered with dozens of penalties, but with little impact overall as transgressions were so widespread.
Organisers through some torrential rain in the mix for qualifying, but the elements were dismissed by Haas’ Pietro Fittipaldi who did justice to his falily’s name by putting himself on pole by comfortable 0.414s margin over Russell while Racing Point hopeful and F3 charger David Schumacher was an impressive third.
Louis Deletraz, headed the Leclerc brothers, Charles and Arthur who rounded off the top six.
Russell enjoyed a perfect launch off the grid and led the field into Ste Devote from Arthur Leclerc, Fittipaldi and Schumacher.
©Formula1
Russell – running on the medium compound tyres – quickly broke away to isolate himself up front, leaving his rivals to battle among themselves behind.
The younger Leclerc was among the first to pit, switching from softs to mediums, while Fittipaldi slotted into second but significantly adrift from Russell.
The race unfolded with multiple tussles taking place up and down the field. An over-enthusiastic Norris tried to put one over on both Leclerc brothers at Ste Devote, only to plough into the barriers and ruin Arthur’s promising race while Charles avoided the commotion.
As Russell enjoyed a drama-free late pitstop and cruised to his second Virtual GP win, a two-stop strategy put Gutierrez in contention for second, the Mexican prevailing over Leclerc despite a contact between the two drivers three laps from the checkered flag.
Thanks to fresher tyres, Red Bull’s Alex Albon, who had started 9th and survived several hard-fought battles, edged Arthur Leclerc for fourth after an epic late scrap while Fittipaldi, Norris, Latifi and Deletraz and Schumacher completed the top ten.
Valtteri Bottas finished 11th on his Virtual GP debut, the Finn getting caught up in an opening lap contact with Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi at Casino Square.
Unfortunately, Renault’s Esteban Ocon was nowhere to be seen, the Frenchman having encountered a technical glitch that deprived him a chance to race.
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