Alex Albon penalty hands George Russell victory on Virtual Grand Prix return

Formula 1

Albon penalty hands Russell victory on Virtual Grand Prix return

A three-second time penalty for Albon dropped him to second behind Russell

Ewan Gale

Sunday 7 February 2021 20:28

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George Russell returned to the Formula 1 Virtual Grand Prix series with victory at Silverstone.

The Williams driver finished behind Alex Albon on the road, but a penalty for the Thai-British driver dropped him to second.

Callum Ilott finished third for Ferrari after leading much of the initial proceedings from pole position.

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Driving standards were improved from last week's Austrian event, although penalties for track limit infringements still played their part in determining the outcome.

Ilott stormed away in the opening stages of the race on soft tyres, taking advantage of his qualifying position courtesy of the pro driver sprint race used to determine the starting order.

Behind him, Albon got off the line nicely on the medium compound but was soon under attack from Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibault Courtois, who made a stunning overtaking move around the outside of the Red Bull test and reserve driver at Maggotts.

The Alfa Romeo soon tailed off however as the class of the real-world drivers shone through.

Russell and Albon were involved in a tussle for second position as Ilott stretched the lead to three seconds before his early pit-stop.

The Ferrari test drivers tilt at victory unravelled as his rivals stormed past on softer, fresher tyres in the second half of the race.

Whilst Albon was ahead on track, he was one of the drivers to pick up a penalty for failing to keep his car between the white lines, meaning Russell always looked favourite to claim victory.

The result looked to be confirmed with three laps to go when the Williams driver surged past on the Hangar Straight with DRS to boot, but Albon fought back to take the win, on track at least, with an identical move on the final lap.

Ilott himself had a three-second time penalty but had enough of a gap to Pietro Fittipaldi to stay on the podium, whilst the second Haas of Enzo Fittipaldi, last week's winner, rounded out the top five.

Ferrari's Robert Shwartzman rose to sixth ahead of Red Bull's Liam Lawson and Nicholas Latifi, but dropped to eighth with a penalty of his own, with Youtuber Benjamin Daly and Motorcycle racer Luca Salvadori completing the top 10.

Albon at least took a consolation for his lost victory by completing the fastest lap of the race late on.