Shop
Max Verstappen, Shane van Gisbergen, and Jack Doohan are set to compete in the virtual world in a sim racing event on Sunday.
Team Redline has announced an event that fills the void left by the cancellation of the Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
It’s being run under the team’s ‘Real Racers Never Quit’ banner, set up as the pandemic gripped the world in 2020.
Verstappen, van Gisbergen, and Doohan have all been confirmed to participate in the race alongside others.
That includes Richard Verschoor (Formula 2), Antonio Felix Da Costa (Formula E), Oliver Rowland (Formula E), Felipe Drugovich (Aston Martin F1 reserve driver), Ayumu Iwasa (Formula 2), Isack Hadjar (Formula 2), and Jak Crawford (Formula 2), among others.
Set to start at 14:30 CET, it makes for a short turnaround for van Gisbergen, who will be in action at Symmons Plains as part of the Supercars Championship round that day.
Race 12, the weekend’s final encounter, is slated to finish at 16:45 AEST, with the sim event starting at 22:30.
It’s somewhat less pressured for Doohan, who was set to race in Imola this weekend as part of the Formula 2 Championship, which was also cancelled after the paddock flooded earlier in the week.
Full details of the event are yet to be released, though the artwork and timing suggest a Formula 3 encounter at Imola.
The event will be streamed live on Team Redline’s Twitch channel.
Verstappen is not the only F1 driver to compete online after the cancelled Emilia Romagna event.
Lando Norris took to Twitch to raise money for the Italy relief effort.
The McLaren driver spent hours online on Friday night in what amounted to a telethon as he played several gaming titles, donating a sum based on subscriber numbers, raising thousands of dollars.
Meanwhile, Scuderia AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda has gone a step further, mucking in with locals to help clean up in the aftermath of the flooding in Faenza – efforts which continue.
You asked, we delivered: RRNQ makes its long-awaited return this sunday! 🇮🇹🚀
Stay tuned for the line-up…@VerstappenCOM @redbull pic.twitter.com/G92ZkdwmGL
— Team Redline (@TeamRedlineSim) May 18, 2023
🚨 Shane van Gisbergen confirmed to join #RRNQ 🚨 pic.twitter.com/vWOC3qfxxd
— Team Redline (@TeamRedlineSim) May 19, 2023
🚨 Jack Doohan confirmed to join #RRNQ 🚨 pic.twitter.com/eIpqsdasIV
— Team Redline (@TeamRedlineSim) May 19, 2023
🚨 Max Verstappen confirmed to join #RRNQ 🚨 pic.twitter.com/veUQJti2yX
— Team Redline (@TeamRedlineSim) May 19, 2023
