Before the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc took to the F123 game for a virtual show run around the Las Vegas Street Circuit. He was joined by a number of other streamers and drivers including 2-time Wseries Champion, Jamie Chadwick.
Charles Leclerc and the rest of the gang took the F1 cars for a short 13-lap race around the Las Vegas Street circuit in the F1 23 game. However, before this, Charles did a few hot laps in the game just to warm up. While he was doing this, the people around him were nothing short of shocked at how well Charles was driving on a track he had never physically driven around.
Some of the people around him were surprised that he didn’t use the “Green stuff”. By this, they are referring to the racing line that appears when the assist is turned on in the game. Most amateur players use this assist to help them identify the right line going into every corner. If this line is not followed, you cannot get the most optimal time possible on the track.
“he doesn’t even have the green stuff. he doesn’t even have the lines, like where we’re supposed to drive, he’s memorized it already. this guy is so good!”
“he does it for a living”all of them admiring charles while he does a push lap 😭😭pic.twitter.com/QZzqR0LCoo
— clara (@leclercsletters) November 15, 2023
As an F1 driver, Charles Leclerc should know the racing line on every track. The drivers go around a track 50-70 times. So muscle memory plays a huge role in F1. However, this will be the first time the drivers take an F1 car around the Las Vegas Street Circuit. In other circuits like Monza or Spa, the drivers have driven around the circuit plenty of times so they will be aware of the braking points, racing lines, and more.
Although Las Vegas is a new track, the drivers including Charles Leclerc would have spent hours on the simulator trying out different setups and getting used to the track.
Charles Leclerc crashes during virtual show run in Las Vegas
After his hot lap, Charles Leclerc and the other streamers took part in a short race around Las Vegas in the game. Although Charles was leading for most of the race with Jamie Chadwick in 2nd place, Leclerc crashed his car into the wall allowing Chadwick to take the lead and finish ahead of Leclerc in the showrun.
This could be a small hint of what is to come during the race on Saturday night. Charles Leclerc has not had the best season this year. He already has plenty of DNFs this season. He is also the first driver in 12 years to have a DNF, DNS, and DSQ. Charles saw his disqualification during the US Grand Prix in Austin, and the DNS came in Brazil where he lost the hydraulics of the car during the formation lap.
Leclerc crashing in the virtual run show race so that he won’t crash in real race. Clever pic.twitter.com/oQQf1LReIt
— Mahir 🇹🇷🇬🇧 (@ScrewderiaF1) November 15, 2023
So not a lot of fans will be surprised to see Charles Leclerc not finish the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Charles mentioned that he wanted to take a religious trip to Lourdes to change his luck, but it doesn’t seem like he did that as he seemed to have flown straight to LA where he attended a Lakers game.
Ferrari fans will be hoping that Charles gets some luck during the Las Vegas Circuit. In the last race in a street circuit, Carlos Sainz was able to win the race. Charles will be hoping to repeat what his teammate did in Singapore.
Do you think we will see a non-Red Bull driver on the top step of the podium this weekend? Post your answers in the comments section below.