Sport has had to adapt to a new virtual landscape thanks to coronavirus

From online grands prix to digital tournaments, viewers can still get their dose of entertainment, says Jack de Menezes

Formula One ran the Virtual Bahrain Grand Prix live to replace this weekend's cancelled race (F1.com)

Another weekend, another complete absence of sport. The only solace comes via the fact that we are likely a little bit closer towards returning to normal and seeing the likes of Anfield and Twickenham reopening their gates.

But the weekend did at least bring something close to what we call sport, and that was through a series of virtual events played around the world. On Sunday, a number of Spanish league footballers took part in a Fifa 20 tournament that saw Real Madrid forward Marco Asensio emerge triumphant, something all the more enjoyable given he has missed the entire season so far with a serious knee injury. Meanwhile, a series of motorsport events gave Formula One fans plenty to enjoy across both days.

The action culminated with the inaugural Formula One Virtual Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday night, an event organised by F1 itself in an attempt to offer fans an alternative to the cancelled Bahrain Grand Prix. F1 plans to do this every weekend where a race should have been scheduled, while non-race weekends will feature events that fans themselves can enter.

Unfortunately, the first running of a Virtual Grand Prix did not quite go according to plan.

The event’s star attraction, current McLaren driver Lando Norris, found himself booted out of qualifying before it got going due to a connection error, leaving the pre-race favourite on the back row of the grid.

What had been promised to feature a number of current F1 drivers in a star-studded lineup actually transpired to feature just two, with only Norris and Nicholas Latifi able to compete. That said, surprise guest names included Olympic great Sir Chris Hoy and Liam Payne, of One Direction fame.

Hopes that the race would make up for the qualifying woes quickly went up in exhaust fumes as further technical difficulties resulted in the lights going out more than half an hour later than planned, meaning a decision was taken to cut the race distance in half to just 14 laps. It may as well have been a single-lap shootout for most of the grid, with the somewhat amateur level of the field leading to numerous accidents before lap one was completed. By that point, Norris had already been disconnected once again.

The field eventually settled down to provide plenty of on-track entertainment and good – if a little messy – wheel-to-wheel racing, and that’s when the reality set in.

This isn’t Formula One, and should not be held to the same standards that we hold Liberty Media, the FIA and the rest of the F1 circus to. It is something brand new that F1 has not really done before in an gaming industry that has taken them an eternity to get into.

The Virtual Grand Prix series is designed to entertain out of the good of everyone’s hearts. There are no appearance fees here, no prize money. We’re all just doing this to have a good time, and right now that’s crucial to helping us all get through this testing time in one piece.

Yours,

Jack de Menezes

Deputy sports editor