Lando Norris has joked that he usually blames his Twitch chat for his mistakes after saying that trying to multi-task online “adds to the pressure”.
Norris won on his IndyCar esports debut on Saturday as he wiped the floor with a grid predominantly made up of IndyCar drivers.
The Brit was on pole and built a strong lead before an enforced Pace Truck (Safety Car) bunched the field up again. Norris would spin out on the last corner of the Circuit of The Americas track when racing resumed, but he had enough time to make amends and make an alternative two-stop strategy work for victory, a plan plotted with his former McLaren race engineer Andrew Jarvis.
As for who was to blame for spin, well it is chat’s fault of course…
“It does add some pressure,” Norris said.
“I have to split it between trying to interact and answer questions and say hello to my chat and focus on the next braking point for the next corner which often goes very wrong.
“I can’t multi-task with those two things particularly well. If I ever do make a mistake, I normally blame it on chat because I keep trying to read it while driving.”
Norris has welcomed the chance to defend his unbeaten start, but oval racing would represent a whole new challenge for him.
“That’s a big decision,” Norris added. “I would love to.
“I’ve done a couple of ovals in iRacing, not quite Indianapolis.
“Yeah, I think that will be a big challenge because I think there’s a lot of these drivers, IndyCar drivers, a lot more used to oval racing. I’m not at all.
“It’s going to be tricky.
“This [COTA race] is like them kind of coming into my world.
“I knew a lot of the tricks on iRacing about how to drive this particular car on this particular track.
“I think the oval stuff, how you save the tires, the fuel saving and everything, I think that’s much trickier in the ovals. I’m going to be having to play catch-up a bit more.
“I would love to. It’s going to be a completely different experience.
“If I am eligible, I need to just ask the team. Yeah, I might see you next week.”
Source: Read Full Article