After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the hole 10 races of the 2020 season to be called off, a range of F1 drivers immersed themselves in sim racing as a technique to take care of entertained and wait on sharp. The likes of Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Alexander Albon had been regulars in F1’s Virtual GP events, whereas Norris, Leclerc, Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly took share in the Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans co-produced by Motorsport Video games.
Ricciardo’s Renault teammate Esteban Ocon mentioned sim racing helped him to “take care of sharp and to take care of enthralling for competitors”, adding: “After I got right here lend a hand to the particular automobile, it didn’t feel like it used to be so arrangement lend a hand I drove it.”
Read Also:
Requested following Ocon’s comments if he used to be tempted to educate the lead of his company on sim racing, Ricciardo answered “now not critically”, sooner than explaining his concerns about becoming too immersed in the competitors.
“I’m very aggressive in one thing else. I do know if I bought [a sim], to accept on the stage that these guys are doing is going to score hours and hours and hours,” Ricciardo mentioned. “I’m now not going to horny be racing around at the lend a hand, and be the particular individual that races however doesn’t compete.
“I would lose days and days and months, possibly years on it. I horny selected now to now not recede down that rabbit hole, because once I’m in, I mediate I’m all in.”
Ocon revealed that he went so far as working alongside with his Renault F1 engineers to succor him put together for some of his sim racing events.
“To arrange for the Virtual GPs it be crucial to model so worthy racing, so worthy dedication sooner than,” he mentioned. “I used to be doing six hours per day for eight days, with my engineers, with every person. It’s a kind of hours.
“The extra you force, the extra you look lap time. There’s no secret.”
On listening to this, Ricciardo smirked and answered: “I’ll leave it to the younger generations.”
