Owing the the COVID-19 pandemic, F1 drivers were confined to spending time on simulator rigs. Among them is Williams F1 driver George Russell, who competes with the likes of Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Alexander Albon.
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The Mercedes junior has admitted that his sim racing exploits have begun to reap rewards. In fact, he noted that he is far quicker in the Williams F1 simulator, thus better prepared for the real-life grand prix season.
Speaking to The Race Esports Podcast, the Briton spoke of his sim racing ventures and whether it has improved his skills. He said, “[There was] one that was very interesting for me. I jumped onto the sim for the first time yesterday at Williams, that was my first day since pre-Australia, and post-Barcelona [pre-season testing].”
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George Russell
Did George Russell improve after his online racing stints?
The youngster spoke about how he thought that he would struggle to get back up to speed. However, as he got more comfortable, he began to pick up the pace, and he was pleasantly surprised.
He confessed that initially he treated this as practice and got quite frustrated. He began to think that all this was all useless, but suddenly he decided to change his approach.
George Russell concluded, “I could’ve very easily – the day or two prior to that – said ‘right, it’s not for me, not my cup of tea. I’m just going to leave it there. I’m a real driver and not an esports driver’. But you’ve just got to persevere with some things, and that’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned.”
In other words, once he got over the social barrier and personal bias against sim racing, Russell began to improve. Granted, he struggled to keep up with the more experienced gamers. However, he improved in leaps and bounds and dominated the proceedings.