With real racing suspended for the duration of the coronavirus crisis, most of us will have been turning to our PlayStations and Xboxes for some circuit succour. Of course, there's always someone ready to take it that little bit further...
Aussie V8 Supercars - but in game form
In order to keep fans happy, the Australian Supercars series (the one with the awesome big V8 saloons, like a Down-Under NASCAR, but better) has been running an Eseries virtual gaming season, featuring a mixture of the best gaming racers and actual racers. And now, they've bagged a big one - Red Bull F1 superstar, Max Verstappen.
Verstappen made his Supercars Eseries debut on the 15th of April, 'driving' a Holden Commodore V8 saloon decked out in Aston Martin Red Bull F1 colours (which looks FREAKING AWESOME by the way). He was driving alongside series regulars Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup (Max and Shane already know each other through the world of virtual racing, it seems).
Three podiums out of four races
The opening race took place at Silverstone (well, not the real, physical Silverstone obviously, but you know how it works...) and Verstappen qualified sixth and finished second. Pretty good for a noob, even a noob with actual F1 wins under his belt.
The second race was a reverse-grid race at Silverstone, and as Red Bull's press and PR department accurately puts it: "That had carnage written all over it." Max started 25th and finished 18th having been caught in a first-lap multiple-car crash (again, not a real one...).
The third race switched, virtually, to the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona (the real version of which Max was just recently pounding around putting test miles on his Red-Bull Honda F1 car) and Verstappen again qualified sixth and finished second, just behind his bestie, and race winner, Shane Van Gisbergen.
For the fourth, and final race of the day - again at Barcelona - Max qualified fifth, and having led for a time, again finished second behind Van Gisbergen.
"A lot of fun and very hectic"
"It was a lot of fun driving in the Supercar races and very hectic. We got some good results in the end as well which I didn't expect. To be second three times is not bad at all and to be 1-2 for Red Bull twice with Shane is really good. We worked really well together, especially in the final race with the strategy as he pitted a bit later and had better tyres at the end which helped us keep the 1-2. I want to say a big thank you Supercars for letting me drive in the series and also to Red Bull for organising this and the very cool livery. Hopefully I can be back soon for some more action," said Verstappen after the event.
Max's teammate and Supercars star, Shane, added: "Round two of the Eseries was really cool and it was awesome to get my first race win for the series tonight. I was finally able to have a night clear of any carnage compared to last week but was glad to get through all four races without any incidents and managed to get four great results, which was nice. Working with Max was also great, we managed to get some practice laps together before the races started, which obviously helped us at both Silverstone and Barcelona, and it was cool communicating with him throughout the race. I was fortunate enough to also win $1,000 for my designated charity, Wings for Life - a Red Bull charity, which is a fantastic cause and an even better initiative by Supercars for the round winner."
For your next live racing fix, Red Bull says that Verstappen's F1 team-mate, Alex Albon, will race in F1's Virtual Chinese Grand Prix this Sunday 19 April alongside "a new mystery teammate."