Norris adds another Esports win to his collection

Finley Crebolder
Lando Norris: McLaren driver

Lando Norris: McLaren driver

Lando Norris raced to another Esports victory in Veloce’s new Versus format, with Nicholas Latifi being knocked out in the semi-final.

In the latest episode of the #NotTheGP series, Veloce moved away from a standard 20-driver race and instead pitted contenders against each other in a 1 on 1 in a knockout competition.

Lando Norris faced Sacha Fenestraz in the first round and, at Interlagos race track, came from behind to advance to the quarter-finals. Did he exceed track limits with his overtake? We really can’t say. (Yes, yes he did.)

The other F1 driver to take part, Nicholas Latifi, also made it to the last eight where he got the better of YouTuber aarava and set up a three-legged semi-final with another, Tiametmarduk.

Norris joined the Williams man in the final four and faced off against former Haas driver Esteban Gutierrez, who scraped through the previous round thanks to a disqualification for his opponent, Stoffel Vandoorne.

This time it was the Mexican who suffered that very fate as he was penalised for taking Norris out in the final sector of Suzuka.

Norris thus progressed to the final to face Tiametmarkuk, who narrowly beat Latifi 2-1 in their semi-final. The YouTuber got the upper hand with a win in the first race before seemingly letting Norris past on the final straight of the second to set up a one-lap decider.

The McLaren man made the most of it. He was running behind for most of the lap but, with the benefit of slipstreaming, dived down the inside of the second to last corner at Spa to take the lead and the title.

Maybe his new haircut is helping with aerodynamics, or maybe he’s just really good at this stuff. Either way, fair play, Baldo.

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