Why F1’s pantomime Virtual GP is fun but unsustainable

There's little doubt that Formula 1's inaugural Virtual Grand Prix had wide-spread entertainment value, but the incident-strewn race and lack of sim drivers participating will do little to provide a sustainable platform for its Esports series to shine in the long-term.

The coronavirus pandemic has put Esports centre stage amid the cancellation of almost all real-life motorsport events for the next few months, and the host of sim racing events from across the spectrum on display last weekend - from NASCAR to F1 to IMSA - demonstrated the importance placed on remaining relevant by increasing or beginning an Esports output.

Veloce Esports was the first to launch an F1-based series, just days after the cancellation of the real-life Australian Grand Prix. Its first event - the #NotTheAusGP - attracted McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris as well as sporting stars from the wider world such as Real Madrid's goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. The first race was dominated by the top F1 Esports drivers, but there were plenty of entertaining battles throughout the field with the real-life drivers, streamers and celebrities. The standard of racing was far from the official F1 Esports series, but it was never intending to be.

F1 then announced its own Virtual GP for the following weekend, running directly after Veloce's second event, the #NotTheBahGP. Its grid was similar, with the biggest difference being the omission of any F1 Esports drivers.

Veloce ran a single half-distance race in its opening event, but opted to change to two quarter-length races for its Bahrain event. The second of which was a reverse-grid race, which proved to be an inspired decision. Watching the F1 Esports drivers battle through the likes of Courtois and ex-F1 drivers Nico Hulkenberg, Stoffel Vandoorne and Esteban Gutierrez was thoroughly entertaining.

The professional sim racers carving through a talented field in little time was a far better demonstration of their ability to the fans than the sim racers simply smashing the real-life drivers in qualifying. The event largely ran without technical issues, and once again the driving standards were hardly perfect, but nor did they need to be.

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F1's Virtual GP differed greatly in comparison. Norris and fellow popular streamer Jimmy Broadbent were booted from the session just moments into qualifying. There was a near half-an-hour wait after qualifying for the problems to be resolved and eventually the pair were able to start the race, only for Norris to lose connection again.

The 20-year-old's virtual car was controlled by the computer before he eventually rejoined the session halfway through the race and resumed control. While the issues provided entertaining viewing for his Twitch fans, as Norris called the likes of Max Verstappen, team-mate Carlos Sainz, boss Zak Brown and fellow 2019 rookie George Russell all live on stream, it meant the race distance was cut in half before it even began.

F1 Esports has stumbled across stars such as Brendon Leigh and Daniel Bereznay, but has struggled to properly market them enough to become well-known names within the motorsport world

As entertaining as the broadcast team was in filling the time, the production execution was lagging behind Veloce's as well as the other Esports series that had taken place over that and the previous weekend.

The start of the Virtual GP was farcical. Hulkenberg and Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic collided mere seconds after the lights went out, while three-time grand prix winner Johnny Herbert decided to cut Turn 1 completely and ascend from P15 on the grid to P1 on the run down to Turn 4. Gutierrez and 2020 F1 rookie Nicholas Latifi then violently collided seconds later, and many more opening lap incidents left stricken debris and spun cars all over the first sector of the track.

It was entertaining if you like seeing One Direction's Liam Payne's hopeless attempts at keeping an F1 car facing the right way or crashes every five seconds, but it left little taste of what the best of Esports can offer.

On the other hand, F1's live-stream currently stands at well over one million views on YouTube alone, comfortably its highest viewing figures for a virtual event since the inaugural F1 Esports finale in Abu Dhabi in 2017. This may suggest that the celebrity and brand appeal of the race far exceeds the importance of good, quality wheel-to-wheel racing. Surely there is little need for F1 to change its approach if the numbers are so high?

However, the problem is the sustainability of the product in the long term. F1, like other real and virtual championships, has an opportunity to showcase its Esports product. For the past three years, F1 has built up an F1 Esports series with the involvement of all 10 real-life teams as well as a $500,000 prize pool.

It has stumbled across stars such as Brendon Leigh and Daniel Bereznay, but has struggled to properly market them enough to become well-known names within the motorsport world. In the case of such drivers as Bereznay, it has been left to external sources such as Veloce to do the lion's share of the marketing of his personality. And as more time elapses since Ferrari's David Tonizza won the season three title, so does the number of fans who will remember his name.

The lack of any F1 Esports drivers in the Virtual GP was a missed opportunity in marketing those Esports drivers alongside the household motorsport names.

Obviously, there is a great pace differential between pro golfer Ian Poulter - who lined up alongside Virtual GP winner Guanyu Zhou in the Renault - and multi-F1 Esports race winner Bereznay, but there are plenty of ways to get around that, such as the reverse-grid solution employed by Veloce.

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Another possible solution would be to hold a 'show race' for the likes of Payne, Poulter and Herbert as a prelude to a more serious event for the professional sim and real-life drivers. It could even be made into a team event to avoid fans switching off after the celebrities have raced, with each F1 Esports team hiring one celebrity to compete alongside their leading Esports driver.

That celebrity could be a racing driver like seven-time NASCAR Cup series champion Jimmie Johnson - who entered the NASCAR Pro Invitational last weekend - or Olympian-turned amateur racing driver Sir Chris Hoy (below), who lined up for Red Bull in the Virtual GP.

Getting even more creative, there could even be driver swaps during the mandatory pitstop, where Brendon Leigh could take over the Mercedes from star guest Nico Rosberg. Anything is possible during this time, when more than ever before there opportunities exist to explore different options that were previously unattainable.

But the view that these events should be for professional sim drivers only, ignoring celebrities or real-life drivers because - with the exception of Verstappen and Norris - they'll likely forget about sim racing as soon as the real-life season starts, is wrong for two reasons.

There is a place for professional drivers within Esports, in particular, when the aim of many of these events is to provide a distraction to the horrific real-life events occurring, and many will remain in sim racing after normal service is resumed in the real-life racing world. Hulkenberg, for one, never considered sim racing previously, but was impressed with its merits and could stick around in the virtual world for years to come.

There's a sizeable gap that F1's virtual output needs to fill, and simply doing the same thing for round two will only result in a decline in viewership

The main concern both Veloce and F1's Virtual GP series will hold is the longevity of the product. The brand and celebrity appeal bring plenty of fans initially, but both series will need much more if they are to maintain the high viewing figures experienced while many motorsport fans are self-isolating.

F1's season is currently postponed to June, but this will likely extend well into the summer, so there's a sizeable gap that its virtual output needs to fill. Simply doing the same thing for round two will only result in a decline in viewership.

As outlined, there's no shortage of potential options F1 could consider to shake-up its Virtual GP format and showcase the best its Esports drivers - like Tonizza (below) - have to offer, as well as benefitting from a wonderfully diverse range of celebrities that are willing to support it.

It's currently unclear exactly when or how the fourth F1 Esports season will take place, with the Pro Draft initially mooted for April now in doubt. It would feel like a huge waste for F1 not to push its virtual talents during these unchartered times.

But while there is room for improvement, the Bahrain Virtual Grand Prix was an insanely popular maiden voyage into the gap left by real-life motorsport. No longer is F1 Esports an under-utilised branch of the real-life series, but a vital tool in keeping fans occupied during the postponement period, and more importantly invested in F1's future virtual output.