F1 Virtual Brazilian GP Results & Standings: Enzo Fittipaldi & Haas are champions

The 2021 Formula 1 season begins next month, but the Virtual GPs are back to fill the winter gap.

The Virtual British GP last week was a brilliant race and made it wide open for who could take the championship crown in Brazil.

Round 3 is the Virtual season finale and took place at the incredible Interlagos circuit in Brazil.

Round 1 winner Enzo Fittipaldi led the driver's championship going into his home race. However, Alex Albon, George Russell, and his brother Pietro were all in with a shout of the title.

Here's all the highlights from Round 3 in Brazil!

Sprint Race

The 5-lap Sprint Race decides the order in which the drivers will line-up for the feature race. Ferrari had won both of these events previously, with Tonizza and Leigh taking P1 in Austria and the UK, respectively.

Alpine's Nicolas Longuet got the perfect getaway from pole as Brendon Leigh chased him down. The slipstream is powerful in Brazil, and so it proved on the final lap as Leigh attempted to overtake around the outside.

Longeut held firm to take the win though and Fabrizio Donoso completed the podium in P3.

Virtual Brazilian GP Highlights

The start brought absolute chaos through the first corners. Arthur Leclerc took the lead off the line but Alejandro Lopez breaked too late and spun them both out.

The pack was jumbled up, as Dino Beganovic took the lead, Arnaud Tsamere assumed second and Russel jumped up to P3 after starting down in fifteenth!

Russell passed Tsamere on Lap 2 of 36, before taking the lead on the following tour. Enzo Fittipaldi, though, was in P3 and in the place he needed to take the title. Albon was also in fine form and had climbed up to P4.

Russell had checked out at the front, he'd created a five-second gap over Enzo Fittipaldi after just ten laps. Albon was trying to get onto the podium, but couldn't pass Beganovic.

Pietro Fittipaldi and Leclerc were having a ding-dong battle which ended with contact on the back-straight that almost spun the Haas driver round.

On Lap 17, Albon finally passed Beganovic but had over four seconds to claw back to E. Fittipaldi. Things went from bad to worse for the Thai driver though, as he earned a three-second penalty.

Jake Dixon was doing a fine job in the Mercedes and found himself in the lead momentarily during the pit-stops. After the tyre changes were made, it was still Russell, E. Fittiapldi and Albon on the podium.

The gaps out front were too large to see battles in the closing stages. The best action was for P6, with Leclerc and Dixon fighting side-by-side for several laps.

Russell would win the race at a canter, his seventh Virtual GP victory in a row. Enzo Fittipaldi's P2 was enough to win the championship though, and earn Haas the constructor's crown.

Final classification

So, it was George Russell in P1, followed onto the podium by E. Fittipaldi and Albon, but where did everybody else finish?

Standings

Enzo Fittipaldi is crowned the 2021 F1 Virtual GP driver's champion! Russell is P2 despite only competing in two of the three races.

And in the constructor's standings:

Social Media Reaction

With it being Valentine's Day, some drivers were going the extra mile to impress the viewers:

Russell's start was something that defied logic and nobody could explain it: