Russell dominates Virtual Brazilian Grand Prix as Haas takes championship

Russell at the Brazilian Virtual Grand Prix — Photo: © LAT Images

Formula 1

Russell dominates Virtual Brazilian Grand Prix as Haas takes championship

Russell took a sixth victory in a row in the series

Ewan Gale

Sunday 14 February 2021 20:27

George Russell dominated the final Virtual Grand Prix of the season at Interlagos despite starting from 14th on the grid.

Russell took advantage of a first-lap incident to take control of the race and canter clear of the field for his sixth consecutive victory in the series.

Second and fifth for Enzo and Pietro Fittipaldi was enough to confirm Haas as team champions.

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There was chaos on the opening lap when contact between pole sitting Alpine of French Comedian Arnaud Tsamere tagged Artur Leclerc, triggering multiple spins.

Russell made the perfect start, taking advantage of the ensuing carnage to jump immediately up to third position.

That soon became first on lap three when the Williams dispatched of Tsamere and Dino Beganovic, but a team radio message confirmed the British driver was concerned with his soft tyre strategy.

Enzo Fittipaldi and Alex Albon both made moves up the order to sit in second and fourth after 10 laps, crucially on the medium tyres.

Albon looked to have cracked the top three in his chase of Russell but contact with Beganovic cost the Red Bull test and reserve driver time. By the time the Thai-British driver got past the Ferrari, the gap to Fittipaldi was four seconds, with Russell a further six ahead when he made his stop.

A three-second time penalty all but ended Albon's slim hopes of winning as the chase for Russell essentially became a one-man job for Fittipaldi.

But Russell's relentless pace was uncatchable as he took a six-second victory ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi and Albon.

Beganovic remained ahead of Pietro Fittipaldi, whilst Leclerc recovered to fend off motorcycle racer Jake Dixon's Mercedes.

Tsamere finished ahead of Jimmy Broadbent in the McLaren, and Luca Salvadori completed the top 10 for AlphaTauri.