Why F1's showman is the big winner of its enforced hiatus

When Lando Norris spoke over the winter of needing to get more serious, and cut down a bit on his online banter, many in Formula 1 weren't convinced that such a move would really come to pass. After all, Norris' infectious sense of fun and his online presence through his sim racing commitments would mean he would never find it easy to switch off his followers and wipe away his cheerful spirit.

How thankful we are now that Norris found it so hard to really change because, at a time when Formula 1's season has been put on hold, he's exactly the showman we all need.

The McLaren driver's presence in Sunday night's bumper F1 Esports double-header - with the #NottheBahGP and the Virtual Grand Prix - was the perfect proof of this. Yes, he was always going to be the centre of attention. But, rather than it being for some sensational driving that allowed him to triumph against the professional sim racers, this time he grabbed the spotlight for being himself. Fun, cheeky, friendly and mischievous - and perfectly playing to his audience.

It all came about when, after a solid warm-up performance in Veloce's #NottheBahGP that hadn't been helped by getting caught up in a first-lap incident, he had hoped to nab a podium in F1's official Virtual Grand Prix. But his hopes were dashed before he had even turned a wheel in anger when a session disconnect removed him from the game server.

While some drivers would perhaps indulged in a complete rage-quit and gone off to do something else, Norris decided instead to have some fun on his Twitch channel, which had grabbed an impressive audience of 100,000 viewers. Having been egged on by the chat on his channel, he dialled up his friend Max Verstappen to ask for some advice about starting so far down.

"I would turn off the computer and watch it," joked Verstappen, who is not a big player of the F1 2019 game and thus elected not to enter the Virtual GP. "Is that a good tip?

"I expect you to fully send it into Turn 1.... so don't brake into Turn 1. Take everyone out. Then I would do one lap in reverse. And from there onwards I would just fully send it into the pitwall."

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It didn't end there though. Norris then phoned up team-mate Carlos Sainz, who seemed to not know who was calling him. He called his strategist Randy Singh, plus his performance engineer Andrew Jarvis. There was even time to speak to his boss Zak Brown.

"I don't like the way you turned in on Lewis Hamilton in Brazil, alright. But I didn't say that! Okay, you don't need to go all aggressive on me!" Lando Norris to Alex Albon

He also teased George Russell by saying he wanted some advice from the man on the grid who had the most experience of starting last. With the laughs over, Norris thought he could knuckle down and put a charge on in the race, but he suffered the same fate on the formation lap when the game disconnected again.

After some anguished screams about what had happened, Norris was forced to watch his AI-controlled car - which quickly got nicknamed Landobot - do the battling for him and make an impressive charge up to second in the race.

Just past the halfway point in the 14-lap race, Norris managed to get back in the game and take over his own car, so pushed on as best as he could. He eventually got locked in a thrilling fight for fourth place with YouTube content creator, streamer and commentator Jimmy Broadbent, which culminated in contact on the final corner of the race as Broadbent's front right wheel tagged Norris' left rear wheel and pitched both men off the track. Broadbent recovered first to take fourth, leaving Norris down in fifth.

After the chequered flag, with his fans clearly egging him on for some more teasing, he phoned up Alex Albon. His Red Bull rival was quick to get the first word in: "I watched you take out Jimmy at the last corner...the corner turned right and you turned left!" joked the Thai driver.

"Yeah, Alex," responded Norris quickly. "I don't like the way you turned in on Lewis Hamilton in Brazil, alright. But I didn't say that! Okay, you don't need to go all aggressive on me!"

It marked the perfect end to a breakthrough performance from Norris, whose entertaining Twitch stream will have likely opened some new eyes to him who may not have witnessed it before. And right now, as F1 seeks ways to keep itself and its stars in the spotlight, Norris could well be the sport's perfect poster boy to keep racing relevant and entertaining during the enforced shut down.

For in a sport that sometimes struggles to get the personalities of its main characters across, the ability to have one of its bright hopes for the future broadcasting to the world and coming across so brilliantly is something that F1 needs to embrace and encourage.

The Norris show had all the rawness of the team radio during a grand prix, but there was more fun to it all. You cannot get much closer to the life of a driver than having him phone up his F1 mates after being egged on by the crowd.

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Norris, like fellow eager gamer Verstappen, has a real opportunity to emerge from the suspended F1 season as a bigger star than when things got called off. Having hit a 100K viewers on his Twitch channel, and with the #NottheBahGP and Virtual GPs having hit a cumulative viewership peak of 600K on Sunday, there is certainly enough interest behind what's he up to away from F1.

And while some of F1's big names will lay low and stay out of the spotlight until the grand prix circus can get back on the road - even if that is 2021 - let's hope Norris ignores his call to tone things down and keeps doing what he is brilliant at: being an entertainer on track and off it.