Bahrain Virtual Grand Prix result: Guanyu Zhou wins inaugural F1 eSports race cut short by technical problems
Guangu Zhou made history by winning the first Formula One Virtual Bahrain Grand Prix on a chaotic and technically-challenging night, as live motorsport returned to screens amid the coronavirus crisis.
Teething issues with the event could not mask the fact that F1 was attempting to bring a bit of light relief at a hugely difficult time, with the outbreak of Covid-19 currently sweeping the world and causing nearly all sport to be cancelled due to health concerns.
As a result, F1 have committed to running a Virtual Grand Prix each race weekend, with the first taking place at the Bahrain International Circuit. Unfortunately, the short-notice left many F1 stars unable to compete, leaving only Lando Norris and Nicholas Latifi as the only current drivers on the grid. But they were made up with a host of famous names, with former drivers Nico Hulkenberg, Stoffel Vandoorne, Anthony Davidson and Johnny Herbert all competing, while the more well-known names from outside of the sport featured Olympian Sir Chris Hoy and former One Direction star Liam Payne.
However, a lengthy delay that saw Norris unable to take part in qualifying meant that the race was cut to 25 per cent distance, leaving a 14-lap shootout rather than the 28-lap scheduled Grand Prix, and the technical gremlins returned when the current McLaren star was booted out of the race on the formation lap.
A lightning start from Herbert resulted in a 10-second time penalty as he cut the first corner to take the lead, but the veteran could not hold on as Philip Eng and Zhou quickly passed him to battle for the lead. Zhou elected to pit early, and utilised the undercut to take a healthy lead when the stops cycled through, leading by more than nine second and take the chequered flag. Eng lost second place on the penultimate lap to a charging Vandoorne, and although Norris was able to make a late charge when he reconnected to the session, his hopes of salvaging fourth ended in a collision with Jimmy Broadbent at the final corner, leaving him down in fifth.
The series will return in two weeks' time, with F1 set to announce a random venue to replace the postponed Vietnamese Grand Prix.
Welcome to The Independent's live coverage of the first Formula One Esports Virtual Bahrain Grand Prix as the sport attempts to replace this Sunday's cancelled race, in an effort to brings fans a taste of motor racing during the coronavirus crisis.
With all sports in the UK and most worldwide, F1 has announced a plan to hold virtual races each weekend where a Grand Prix was due to take place, having been forced to cancel the opening seven races of the season.
The first sees a star-studded line-up battle for the Bahrain Grand Prix - which of course saw Lewis Hamilton last year win on the track in Sakhir - but this year the victor will be sitting in the comfort of their living room.
Before that gets underway at 8pm, we'll bring you the 'Not The Bah GP' run by Veloce Esports as the series follows on from last weekend's opening 'Not The Aus GP'.
We're a little under 10 minutes away from the Veloce Esports event getting underway, so let's take a closer look at who will be competing this weekend following last weekend's 'Not The Aus GP' success.
There's an exciting blend of F1 drivers, motorsport names, famous sports athletes and leading sim races all involved, which could well see this event trump the F1 Grand Prix later on this evening. Lando Norris will be one of a handful who will feature in both, with the McLaren F1 driver a keen esports racer in his free time.
Other names include former Renault F1 driver Nico Hulkenburg, as well as current Williams star Nicholas Latifi. two other former F1 names will feature in Esteban Gutierrez - the former Sauber driver - and Stoffel Vandoorne, who Norris of course replaced at McLaren at the start of last year.
Two non-racing sports names set to feature are Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Ryder Cup great golfer Ian Poulter, while from the sim racing world will be current F1 Esports star Daniel Bereznay as well as James Baldwin, Jarno Opmeer, James Doherty, Cem Bolukbasi ans Sacha Fenestraz.
The first 25 per cent race(14 laps) will have its grid set by a qualifying session that will get underway imminently, while the second race will be a reverse-grid 25 per cent race (14 laps).
The entire field is out there and it's a busy track as qualifying gets underway, with Vandoorne and Norris the first to start their opening qualifying lap.
Renault's Jarno Opmeer goes top of the timesheet early with a time of 1:26.483, but he's immediately pipped by Alfa Romeo's Dani Bereznay with a 1:26.261 - no surprise given both are F1 Esports regulars.
James Baldwin slots into third - last year's winner of the World's Fastest Gamer series - while the first non-sim racer is Lando Norris in seventh just ahead of Thibaut Courtois.
A bit of drama early on in the session as pro golfer Ian Poulter has been ... disqualified. Why? We're not to sure, but that means he'll be starting the first race in 20th and last.
Steve 'Super GT' Brown is pushing the track limits early, although that's not a slight on the YouTube star as the entire field is finding lines well outside the track boundaries - where's the stewards when you need them?!
A bit of extra info for you, there's five minutes remaining in the 10-minute qualifying session, with damage on but set to reduced and tyre wear also active.
A strong second lap from Norris puts him up to sixth and into that third-row sport he said he couldn't achieve. Into the final five minutes we go and we're closing in on the last-lap shootout.
"F***!" - that says all you need to know for Norris' last corner as he runs wide on the exit, but he's still delighted with sixth place there that's a strong showing from one of the real-world racers.
Norris then battles with Ben Daly the whole way round his cool-down lap, knowing that he is seventh on the grid to prevent him from getting one final lap in. Sportsmanship is very much out of the window.
PietsMiet in the Renault is causing havoc out there as he crashes into a number of drivers on the opening lap, including Norris who is off for the second time on the opening lap.
There's plenty of action on track as lap four gets underway, with Jimmy Broadbent battling for eighth place while Norris gets by Poulter for 14th with a nice battle that runs from the penultimate corner to turn five.
