The first Race for the World event was a sometimes shambolic affair on the track, but succeeded in its goal of raising a significant sum of money for charity.
The drivers behind the three-round series set themselves the target of raising $100,000 for the World Health Organization’s Covid-19 Solidarity Relief Fund. With the first of three rounds complete, they are one-third of the way there, having brought in over $33,000.Alexander Albon won the opening race at Yas Marina. Second place went to footballer Thibault Courtois, followed by Leclerc’s younger brother Arthur, who is also a Ferrari Driver Academy member.
He was followed by Albon’s younger brother Luca, and the elder Leclerc. Norris, who lost places with a slow pit stop and was one of several drivers involved in crashes after a Safety Car restart, recovered to seventh behind motorbike racer Luca Salvadori. Louis Deletraz, Antonio Fuoco and Nicholas Latifi completed the top 10.
Christian Lundgaard had taken pole position in the original qualifying session for the race, but that event was called off after the drivers realised they had left ‘ghost mode’ enabled. He led the eventual race, only to be was disqualified following an attempt by the drivers to arrange a ‘competition caution’ to close the field up.
Lundgaard claimed the runner-up spot in the second race, held on the Silverstone circuit, behind Arthur Leclerc. Luca Albon made it two younger brothers in the top three, followed by Norris and the winner’s Ferrari-driving sibling.
The series will continue with two further races on Tuesday. Donations to the WHO charity fund can be made here.
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Jere (@jerejj)
11th April 2020, 20:50
LOL.
Ash Price
12th April 2020, 4:40
What a load of rubbish. All sim racing is just a game, not a sport like the real thing, but the F1 and this sim platform are total crap. Watch the Indy Racing series for a guide as to how it should be done.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
12th April 2020, 10:56
I agree that this is a game, but I’m not gonna speak ill of a game that raises £33 grand for charity!
Dave
12th April 2020, 13:36
Ash. Nobody’s got a gun to your head or anything. Just some people having fun, playing a game & raising money for charity. Chill out ha
Carlos Medrano (@carlosmedrano)
12th April 2020, 5:37
If your a f1 fan it was the funniest thing ever, a ton of inside jokes between the drivers about f1 stuff. Also the crashfest was hilarious
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
12th April 2020, 13:06
I am proud of the drivers for getting this organised so quickly and finding a way to do some good in the world from their own homes. It felt like being invited into a game between friends, and I think benefitted from this. Highlighted when someone (who I never managed to identify) said, “We are live on TV” on two separate points during the cast, which restored order… …for about 4 seconds each time. It’s probably the best insight we’ll get into what these drivers are like when there isn’t a camera pointing at their faces. There are already professional, semi-professional and official series abound; what we got was something more personal.
Looking forward to the rest of this week’s events.