Somewhere in a parallel universe on Sunday Formula 1’s Bahrain Grand Prix went off in spectacular fashion, as the floodlit Sakhir Circuit played host to a frenetic race full of wheel-to-wheel action.
Unless you have been living under a rock somewhere in a remote rainforest in South America (and as you’re reading this, you aren’t, and haven’t been) then you will be aware normality no longer exists.
Formula 1 instead filled the racing void, which is likely to last for most of 2020, with a Virtual Grand Prix. There were problems. There were glitches. There was also Johnny Herbert. It was mildly entertaining and passed some time when there is little in the way of anything happening, anywhere.
But if you happened to be solely watching the official Formula 1 live feed then you missed a half-hour or so of comedy gold, brought to you by Pro Gamer and former milk enthusiast Lando Norris, who has a part-time job racing actual Formula 1 cars.
Norris uses the Twitch platform to stream his various exploits on games – typically on the iRacing landscape – and was doing so on Sunday evening for his (hoped for) starring role in Formula 1’s official Virtual Grand Prix.
It went spectacularly badly when the F1 2019 game crashed on him prior to qualifying, leaving him in situ and at the back of the grid, but it provided him with the opportunity to be that cheeky chappie at the back of the school room. And in doing so his viewership rocketed into six figures, which for an online stream of someone sitting in a chair is enormous.
Norris got out his phone and started scrolling through his contacts, while asking his followers who to call. First up, Max Verstappen.
Verstappen declined an invitation to be part of the Virtual Grand Prix, citing a lack of experience on the platform, though was clearly not enamoured by the game itself.
“It’s a good game,” said Norris, half-heartedly. “Are you serious?” quipped Verstappen in response, having burst out laughing.
Norris needed advice starting from P19.
“Okay,” Verstappen went on. “I would turn off…the computer… Alright, so don’t brake into Turn 1, basically take everybody out, then I would do one lap in reverse, and from there onwards I would fully send it into the pit wall.”
Next up was his own team-mate.
“Who is this?” said a ‘confused’ Carlos Sainz Jr. upon picking up, before yelling “Landoooooooo” when he realised. Norris’ former race engineer Andrew Jarvis, the next victim, was slightly perplexed at what was going on.
Along with brief calls to McLaren CEO Zak Brown and FE racer Antonio Felix da Costa, there was still time for multiple digs at his contemporaries George Russell and Alexander Albon.
“I’m just about to start my race,” Norris told Russell. “And I’m starting last on the grid. And I wanted to call the person who has the most experience of last year from starting on the back row of the grid!”
Russell took it in good grace. “So you pull up, leave it in first, there’s obviously no-one behind you, then you fully send it… and P1”
The retort? “And at what point does Kubica get past you?”
Albon, having watched Norris’ final lap clash in the Virtual Grand Prix, offered a bit of critique. Shots fired. Shots fired back.
“Yeah, Alex, I don’t like the way you turned in on Lewis Hamilton in Brazil alright but I didn’t say that?”
It was an unexpected insight into the lives of a group of Formula 1 drivers who acutely represent the start of Generation Z. The age of the superstar is still in swing but humility and openness – and a sense of normality – is increasingly craved by supporters and spectators. The internet has facilitated that insight. And we are lucky to have this group of up-and-coming drivers willing to provide us with that insight and entertainment. Forget eSports, can we just watch Norris calling people every week?
