In the round-up: Reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen declared the Virtual Le Mans 24 Hour simracing event a “clown show” after his team lost a likely victory 18 hours into the race when they disconnected from the server.
In brief
Verstappen slams Virtual Le Mans “clown show”
Reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen declared the Virtual Le Mans 24 Hour simracing event a “clown show” after his team lost a likely victory 18 hours into the race when they disconnected from the server.
Verstappen was leading the simracing event in the #1 Team Redline entry with team mates Luke Browning, Jeffrey Rietveld and Diogo Pinto until they disconnected from the race’s server with only six hours remaining. The race, held on Motorsport Games’ rFactor 2 platform, had been stopped multiple times on Saturday due to a “security breach” with the server.
“They call it ‘amazingly bad luck’, well, this is just incompetence,” Verstappen said on the Team Redline Twitch stream of the event.
“Honestly, it’s a joke. You cannot call this an event – a clownshow. That’s why it’s better to retire the car, because driving around in P15 for six hours makes no sense for everyone. Just a disgrace for all the effort we put in as a team.
“I hope the organisers of today also consider where they put this race going forward, because on this platform it’s not going to work.”
The race was won by the #2 Team Redline entry, driven by IndyCar racer Felix Rosenqvist, F2 champion Felipe Drugovich, Luke Bennett and Chris Lulham.
AWS graphics making F1 “more accessible” – Smedley
Formula 1’s director of data systems, Rob Smedley, says that Amazon’s AWS data graphics during race broadcasts are intended purely to make the sport “more accessible” to new fans.
AWS data has been used to display informative graphics during F1 broadcasts, including predicted overtaking difficulty and tyre wear levels among others. However, the graphics have received criticism from fans for being uninformative or misleading.
“What we were trying to do there with Formula 1 was to make the sport more accessible again to fans,” Smedley explained during the Autosport International event.
“I wanted to bring what we see during a race weekend, when you’re sitting on a pit wall and you’ve got all of those squiggly lines and the myriad of data and data sources, that’s something that the fans never get to see. It’s a key and integral part of Formula 1, of any motorsport.
“It’s just about bringing snippets of that in what we call ‘human readable format’ – you shouldn’t need a maths degree to understand it. But hopefully it’s working.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Perez: Red Bull driver will have one eye on Daniel Ricciardo – Coulthard (BBC)
“For Checo to look at how many victories Max had and how many he had, it’s not like he is just having to polish a few corners. This is a major rewrite, a software update. If you use the same ingredients in the cake you will get the the same cake. You need to change it if you want something different.”
Five young drivers Aston Martin should support with its new junior team (Formula Scout)
“Luke Browning – the 20-year-old is yet to announce where will race in 2023. His racecraft and one-lap pace are strong, but his budget is not the best and some further Aston Martin support could help land him a race seat for this year. He is also among the brightest-shining Britons on the single-seater ladder who is currently without F1 affiliation.”
Formula E is not an F1 feeder series, it’s world class on its own, says Sam Bird (Daily Star)
“It does showcase that the drivers in Formula E are just as capable of jumping into Formula 1 and being good enough, but it is in no way, shape or form a feeder series and I don’t want people to think that or say that. It shows that there are not just 20 world class F1 drivers in the world and the rest are rubbish.”
Vernon Kay back as Formula E host with Mexico start (Bolton News)
“It’s really competitive. It’s not about how much money you can invest in your team. It’s now season nine, brand new car, brand new rules, brand new tyres, everything is new. So, I think we are going to wipe the slate clean. “
The Le Mans Virtual Series Is DAMAGING Sim Racing! (Kireth via YouTube)
“Strong video but someone needs to do it – the huge amount of opportunity with the Virtual Le Mans series on rFactor2 and especially the Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans is being wasted and with these glitches turning sim racing into a laughing stock!”
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it to us via the contact form.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
🎤🏉🧑🚀🏁 pic.twitter.com/MjKAmfa2sN
— Esteban Ocon (@OconEsteban) January 15, 2023
That @MercedesAMG x F1 livery. 🤩
Presenting the new SL63 Motorsport Collectors Edition, featuring original W12 paintwork. 👌 pic.twitter.com/DQxAYPO2mZ
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) January 15, 2023
Congratulations @AlAttiyahN @matthieubaumel on this 5th victory at the @dakar with @TGR_W2RC, and to @SebastienLoeb Fabian Lurquin @BRaidXtreme for their 2nd place.
Great achievements to launch the 2023 @FIA @OfficialW2RC season!#W2RC #Dakar2023 pic.twitter.com/STKxvYyIcQ
— Mohammed Ben Sulayem (@Ben_Sulayem) January 15, 2023
So @LeMansVirtual again proves to be a joke with multiple red flags, timing issues, multiple disconnections & game freezes causing the results to be a complete lottery.
This event causes HUGE damage to sim racing, right infront of the big manufacturers & teams.
What a shame…
— George Simmons (@GeoSimRacing) January 15, 2023
What about when you have an engine failure or mechanical in real life, isn’t is the same …? https://t.co/UMmTkjhiXL
— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) January 15, 2023
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Dave and Daniel Martinez!
