It’s fun and gamers as Real keeper and Ryder Cup ace race against stars of F1
FIRST, the Bahrain Grand Prix was to be held with no spectators, then Formula One bosses announced it would be postponed after a member of the McLaren team tested positive for the coronavirus.
However, on Sunday the race will go ahead, but in a virtual running, with McLaren’s British driver Lando Norris aiming to take the chequered flag.
Set up by Veloce Esports, the brainchild of two former racing drivers and an ex-football agent, this will be the team’s second grand prix of the season.
The first, a replica of last weekend’s postponed Australian Grand Prix, pitted Norris against former F1 drivers Stoffel Vandoorne and Esteban Gutierrez, as well Belgium and former Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and a raft of YouTubers.
All have pledged to return for race two, with Courtois promising to bring along some Real Madrid team-mates, while European Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter contacted Veloce to add his name to the grid.
“In the circumstances, we appreciate this isn’t a good time to get happy,” said Jamie Maclaurin, one of the company’s founders, with regular sport in lockdown amid the coronavirus. “But our philosophy is when people are down in the dumps, we aim to put on a good show.”
Melbourne was such a success that the race was viewed by 170,000 people live — making Norris the world’s mostwatched gamer at the time.
In total, three million people have watched it back, more than double the audience who tuned in to the actual race on Sky Sports last year. And Maclaurin is expecting even higher numbers for Bahrain off the back of the rising publicity.
He helped set up Veloce with Rupert Svendsen-Cook, a former British Formula Three driver, and another ex-racer, Jack Clarke. They now have a workforce of 15, which could rise off the back of their F1 success. But theirs is a muted celebration because their latest triumph around Melbourne only came at the expense of the real race being called off due the pandemic.
“It’s difficult to get too excited about it in light of everything,” said Maclaurin. “But it’s incredible what we’ve achieved in the past few days. The phones have been ringing off the hook and that’s awesome.
“Of course, we need to capitalise as a business, but we’re very mindful of what’s going on around us.”
Grand Prix drivers are approachable to many fans because of esports. Norris and his fellow stars will regularly race against gamers and converse with them online — so, too, Max Verstappen, who the Veloce team are also keen to lure onto the grid. “It’s a change from the days of Michael Schumacher, when he was untouchable,” said Maclaurin.
“Gamers can get in close contact and race and even talk online to the likes of Lando and Max.”
Norris can take losing to fellow gamers, but the ever-competitive Verstappen is apparently as driven to be the first to the chequered flag as if it were the real Bahrain Grand Prix taking place.
“Max is win or nothing,” said Maclaurin. “While our philosophy is to not take it too seriously, Lando’s outlook is very much, ‘Let’s have some fun, engage with the fans and see what happens’.”
More and more sports stars are getting involved, including Poulter, who contacted the team from his Florida home, where he has his own racing simulator. And now Veloce are looking at different sports and maybe other games to widen the net.
“We just don’t know how long the coronavirus lockdown will go on but, if it does carry on, we’d maybe even like to do a FIFA 20 competition with Premier League players midweek or else run a Call of Duty tournament. “We’re in touch with a few football agencies.
“There are a lot of gamers out there: Tammy Abraham, Marcus Rashford, Mason Mount and Mason Greenwood.
“All of those guys play, in fact, I’d said eight out of every 10 Premier League footballers game. “These guys are not going to be on the football pitch for a long time, so they would rather be busy, getting out there and boosting their profiles.”