Russell defeats Leclerc to win thrilling Barcelona F1 VirtualGP

George Russell passed Charles Leclerc late on to secure a maiden Formula 1 VirtualGP victory at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The Williams racer – who started the 33-lap encounter from pole position – had to fight to back following a poor start that saw him drop to fifth.

He quickly managed to find a way past real-life team-mate Nicholas Latifi to retake fourth, and moved into third as Alexander Albon peeled off into the pits early as he pursued an aggressive two-stop strategy to try and take his second consecutive VirtualGP success.

Russell was then able to catch and pass Mercedes F1 tester Esteban Gutierrez for second a few tours later, quickly turning his attentions to leader Leclerc.

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The bulk of the front-running drivers – including Leclerc and Russell – stretched out their early Soft tyre stint until lap seven of the 33-lap encounter, where they pitted for the Hard rubber to get them to the end of the race.

Russell looked to have the measure of the Ferrari on the harder tyre though, closing down the machine ahead and pressuring Leclerc, setting the fastest lap of the race as he managed to inch into DRS range.

The duo began to battle as the race entered its final third, before a three-second track limits infringement for Russell looked to have ended his victory chances early.

Undeterred he continued to push Leclerc, passing the Monegasque several times across the closing laps before finally making a break as he managed to pull away from DRS detection with just a few laps remaining.

Russell’s efforts looked futile though as Leclerc remained within range to secure victory, but was given a lifeline as Leclerc picked up his own three-second track limits penalty on the final lap.

Russell ultimately had pulled far enough ahead of Leclerc to not be pressured across the final tour of the Spanish circuit, crossing the line 2.5 seconds clear of the Ferrari, who just held onto second ahead of Gutierrez.

Albon took the chequered flag fourth as he struggled to make his bold strategy pay off, the Red Bull driver picking up a penalty of his own as he attempted to chase down Gutierrez towards the end of the race.

Latifi managed a relatively lonely fifth as he struggled to maintain the pace of the leading drivers, but headed the impressive Anthony Davidson who brought home the second Mercedes sixth – the ’15 World Endurance Champion elevated ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi who was yet another to pick up a track limits infringement.

Pietro Fittipaldi was eighth for Haas, while the top 10 was completed by the second Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco and Renault junior driver Max Fewtrell.

Sergio Aguero managed a solid 14th in his maiden VirtualGP, the Manchester City Premier League footballer impressively heading both Nicholas Hamilton and ex-Force India F1 man Vitantonio Liuzzi at the conclusion of the contest.  

Lando Norris meanwhile suffered yet again a horror race, the McLaren racer getting caught up in an incident early on before retiring for good at around mid-distance.