The Miami-based Puerto Rican will line up in
Racing Point colours in a field with eight regular F1 drivers,
including Ferrari's Charles Leclerc who will still be a home
favourite on simulated streets.
Mercedes Valtteri Bottas, last year's world championship
runner-up behind six times champion team mate Lewis Hamilton at
Mercedes, and Renault's Esteban Ocon will be making their
virtual debuts.
Hamilton, winner in the principality from pole last year, is not
taking part in an event that is mainly for fun but with some
bragging rights.
The live-streamed virtual race comes on the weekend that was
scheduled for the Formula One showcase, absent from the calendar
for the first time since 1954 as a result of the COVID-19
pandemic.
Formula One last raced in December but is hoping to get its
delayed season going in Austria without spectators in July.
Bottas, whose instagram feed has given an insight into his
training and recreational activities at home in Finland, will
partner Mercedes' Mexican reserve Esteban Gutierrez.
Ocon lines up with Nicolas Prost, son of four times world
champion Alain, for Renault.
The other F1 drivers competing are Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa
Romeo), Lando Norris (McLaren), Monaco-based Thai Alex Albon
(Red Bull) and the Williams pairing of George Russell and
Nicholas Latifi.
Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joins Norris in
McLaren's lineup while Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois
returns with Alfa Romeo.
Motorcycle rider Luca Salvadori will race for AlphaTauri while
former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher's son David joins Fonsi at
Racing Point and Hawaiian pro surfer Kai Lenny comes on board
for Red Bull.
All will be racing from their homes on simulators.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
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