Chinese Virtual Grand Prix Live Stream – How To Watch

Chinese Virtual GP Live Stream

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This weekend sees the third race in the Formula 1 Virtual GP race series. This week’s race takes place at the Chinese GP circuit. The F1 Virtual GP series has been designed to ensure that real F1 drivers are competing during this period of no real races. The format was created so that Formula 1 fans were still able to watch Formula 1 racing on weekends where a real race should be taking place.

This weekends race will take place at the Shanghai International Circuit in China, and takes place on the same day which the original event was scheduled for.

Who Is Driving The Chinese Virtual Grand Prix?

This weekend there are seven real Formula 1 drivers entering the Chinese Virtual GP. They will be joined by other racing drivers, sports stars and celebrities.

This weekend’s race sees Carlos Sainz Jr joining the virtual grid for the first time in the Virtual GP series. He will join his real life team mate Lando Norris to complete McLaren’s driver lineup. Previous Virtual GP race winner Charles Leclerc will be returning and driving for Ferrari. Leclerc won his debut race at the Virtual Australian GP and will be looking to make it two wins out of two races this weekend.

Other Formula 1 drivers will be returning to race again including George Russell, Nicholas Latifi, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alex Albon.


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Joining these Formula 1 drivers are a host of Formula 2 drivers including Juan Manuel Correa, Guanyu Zhou and Callum Ilott. Guanyu Zhou is the only other Virtual GP race winner on the grid after he won the first ever Virtual GP at Bahrain.


Will Max Verstappen Be Driving In The Chinese Virtual GP?

Max Verstappen will not be entering the Chinese Virtual GP despite being a well known sim racer. Max has stated that the reason for not entering any of the official Virtual GP races is that he isn’t familiar with the F1 2019 game. All races of the Virtual GP series use Codemasters official F1 2019 video game as their racing platform. And Max doesn’t race in this game.

In an interview with Dutch broadcaster Ziggo Sport, Max said the following: “No, I won’t. Especially since I never play that game. It will take days to understand the game just a little bit better. And I don’t want to get into it right now.

“Also because I’m very busy with the other racing games. So switching between all those games just doesn’t work for me. And on top of that I always race to win. I’m not going to drive around somewhere at the back. Then I’d rather not participate at all.”


Full Chinese Virtual GP Driver Lineup

Team Driver
Mercedes Stoffel Vandoorne
Mercedes Esteban Gutierrez
Ferrari Charles Leclerc
Ferrari Callum Ilott
Red Bull Alexander Albon
Red Bull Thibault Courtois
McLaren Lando Norris
McLaren Carlos Sainz Jnr
Renault Guanyu Zhou
Renault Ian Poulter
AlphaTauri Liam Lawson
AlphaTauri Ciro Immobile
Racing Point Anthony Davidson
Racing Point Jimmy Broadbent
Alfa Romeo Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo Juan Manuel Correa
Haas Louis Deletraz
Haas Pietro Fittipaldi
Williams George Russell
Williams Nicholas Latifi

Where Can I Watch The Chinese Virtual GP Live Stream?

The full live stream of the whole event will be available to live stream on the official Formula 1 website, as well as their official Youtube channel and Twitch. Join the live stream at F1.com

You can also watch the live race around the world on popular sports channels such as Sky Sports F1 and ESPN. Tune in to the official live stream here.


What Time Does The Chinese Virtual GP Start?

This weekends event will start at 18:00 BST on Sunday April 19th.

The format for the event will start with a qualifying session where all drivers try to set their fastest lap time. These lap times will then form the starting grid for the race. The race will then start and will be a 50% distance race. This means there will be 28 laps for all drivers to compete for the win.


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Article written by Mjolnir

Mjolnir is one of the main setup creators and content writers for SimRacingSetups. He has had years of experience in sim racing, both competitively and casually. After a decade of sim racing experience, he co-founded SimRacingSetup.com to share his passion and knowledge of sim racing and Formula 1 with other sim racers.
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