Thursday, 11 April 2024

This week, the 2023/24 F1 Sim Racing World Championship continued in Sweden. Debrief with our McLaren Shadow drivers Lucas Blakeley and Wilson Hughes, and Team Manager, Joel Chapman, after Round 4 and 5.

Critical info

Round	4 and 5
Driver Pairing	Lucas Blakeley and Wilson Hughes
Circuit	Silverstone Circuit and Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

You can catch up on all the action via the LiveStream.

Round 4 – Silverstone Circuit

Qualified	2nd
Finished	6th

Round 5 – Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Qualified	6th
Finished	2nd

“Another day of highs and lows here in Sweden, it was great to be back on the podium. We qualified well for Silverstone, finishing P3 but were promoted to P2 for the race start. Spa was a little trickier but I enjoyed the wet weather.

"The Silverstone race was a tougher one. "We went for an aggressive strategy. Thanks to Wilson for being such a team player throughout the race. Unfortunately, the power of the undercut was too strong, and I also got hit into, meaning we couldn’t do much more than P6. It was a tough one having started to so high and it being my favourite track, but still some good points.

“Moving into Spa, we executed the race really well, with some brilliant calls from my engineer, including going for the alternate tyre strategy. We saved our battery up well, and it was a fun battle with Bari Broumand, but ultimately didn’t have enough to hang on at the end of the final lap. I’m really proud of what we did during that race. We now look ahead to tomorrow for the final day of Event 2. Lots of work to do and more points to achieve.”

Round 4 – Silverstone Circuit

Qualified	16th
Finished	20th

Round 5 – Circuit Spa-Francorchamps

Qualified	14th
Finished	11th

“Day two was mixed for me. Qualifying was a bit tricky, I missed out on Q2 by four-thousandths of a second at Silverstone, which was a tough one but made it through for Spa despite struggling a little bit.

“Going into the races, we played a team game at Silverstone, so I did what I could to help Lucas by defending and trying to protect him from other cars. We gave it our best shot and although it didn’t quite play out how we wanted it to, I’m pleased we tried. For Spa, we decided to start on the Hards which worked very well as the race came to us with the fresh Mediums, it was a shame to just miss out on points when we were so close. It was great to see Lucas up there in P2 as well.

“I’m handing over to Dani for tomorrow’s races. I’m finishing my racing of Event 2 with two sets of points from four races, so I’m happy.”

Joel Chapman, Team Manager, McLaren Racing, said:

“We walk away from day two with a podium and a good haul of points, something we can be really pleased with. Qualifying was a mixed bag across the team, Lucas made it into Q3 in both, securing good positions for the race. Wilson performed well and narrowly missed out on Q2 at Silverstone.

“We went with a bold strategy for Silverstone, where Wilson was an ultimate team player. We realised it was going to be difficult for him to get through the field, so he focused on protecting Lucas. A few things didn’t go Lucas’ way, which was unfortunate, but we’re still happy to have secured points in that race.

“Spa was a great race for us. Lucas moved up positions brilliantly, doing a fantastic job and overtaking at exactly the right times. The engineers got the strategy spot on for both drivers, evident in Lucas fighting for the win right until the end. It was a shame to just miss out on points with Wilson, but he can be proud of what he’s done.

“We now look to tomorrow for the final two circuits of the event. Dani will be joining Lucas and we’re all looking forward to seeing what they can do. We hope to leave the event in a strong position in the Constructors’ Championship.”