Australian F1 GP attracts record audience – online

Formula 1’s loss has become a massive online sports gain, with a host of current and former GP drivers attracting more than a million internet viewers for a digital re-run of the aborted 2020 Australian F1 Grand Prix on Sunday.

McLaren’s Lando Norris alone had more than 70,000 people watching his live Twitch video feed during two GP tournaments run by Veloce Esports on Sunday afternoon.

Using the 2019 F1 game, Norris battled through from the back of the grid over 29 laps of the Albert Park track, making his the most viewed channel on the entire Twitch platform.

Also streamed live on YouTube, the event featured racers and gamers in an event dubbed Not The Aus GP and had 90 per cent more viewers than any other e-sports race.

Other leading motorsport professionals in the field included Mercedes-Benz Formula E (and ex-McLaren) driver Stoffel Vandoorne, former Sauber driver Esteban Gutierrez, Formula E front-runner Antonio Felix da Costa and British F3 accident survivor Billy Monger.

There was representation from the American side too, with former Williams and McLaren F1 star Juan Pablo Montoya, Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud and current Chip Ganassi IndyCar racer Felix Rosenqvist in the field.

But the gamers didn’t let the professionals have their fairytale Melbourne finish, with regular e-sports winner Jernej Simoncic claiming the first race and Sauber F1 e-sports driver Daniel Bereznay winning the second.

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen had an eventful time of it, being shoved into a spin in the first event.