Virtual Canadian GP: Ilott in the points in Montreal

The Ferrari Driver Academy (FDA) Hublot Esports Team came away from the Virtual Canadian GP with an eighth place courtesy of Callum Ilott and a 15th with Gianluca Petecof. The race held at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit was the final round of the “We Race On” programme set up by Formula 1 to provide some entertainment for the fans during the lockdown period resulting from the pandemic. As usual, again today, apart from the FDA drivers, also on duty were the professional sim rivers, David Tonizza and Enzo Bonito. They struggled a bit having just taken part in the Le Mans 24 Hours Virtual, a daylong marathon on the legendary La Sarthe circuit, which ended just four hours before the start of the Formula 1 GP. 

Virtual GP. Qualifying for the event for the real race drivers and celebrities saw Callum Ilott and Gianluca Petecof fought it out to the nearest hundredths. In the end, the Englishman was 12th fastest, one place ahead of his team-mate. In the race, both guys got away well, with the Brazilian the best of the two. However, Petecof was then involved in a multiple collision at turn 1, after which he was last but one. The team decided to split the strategies on the two cars, with Petecoff making two stops, with two stints on Medium tyres having started on the Softs. Ilott made a single stop changing from Soft to Hard. Nothing much happened in the closing stages and Ilott crossed the line in eighth place, while Petecof made up four places to come home 15th. The winner was George Russell for Williams, who had been one of the big stars of this virtual Grand Prix series, along with Charles Leclerc. Now the action switches from virtual to real with the Austrian GP coming up on 5 July. 

Pro Exhibition Race. After taking part in the Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans, Enzo Bonito and David Tonizza struggled quite a bit in qualifying, because the format of this phase was modified without any prior warning. Drivers did not have the usual 10 minutes of running, but just a single lap on which to do their best. This unexpected qualifying scenario did not help the FDA Hublot Esports Team drivers, with Tonizza penultimate on the time sheet and Bonito one place ahead of his team-mate. In the race, Enzo recovered well and managed to finish 13th, but David could do no better than 19th. Now the guys in the FDA Hublot Esports Team are focusing on the 2020 F1 Esports Pro Series which starts at the end of the summer.