McLaren’s Lando Norris has announced a charity $25,000 Minecraft Twitch Rivals tournament, set to take place on March 3.
The competition will feature some of the top gamers from around the world, while Formula 1 is also well represented.
Of the names confirmed so far, Norris is joined by Red Bull reserve and test driver Alex Albon, as well as former Renault junior Max Fewtrell.
With a $25,000 prize pool on the line for charity, the competition will start at 6pm GMT on Wednesday March 3, lasting for the remainder of the day.
There will be four teams, one of which captained by Norris, and they will compete across four stages designed in Minecraft for the event.
Game 1 will be called ‘The Walls’, followed by ‘Boat Racing’, ‘Bow Wash’ and then the Finals. All stages will be a mix of racing and PVP [player versus player] modes.
Norris recently started his own Esports organisation, named Quadrant, and the Briton was one of the key Formula 1 figures who helped boost the popularity of Esports, especially during the lockdown period before the 2020 Formula 1 season got underway.
This off-season though he has been cutting down his sim-racing activities in order to spend more time with his family.
“I asked Max Verstappen during the briefing of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix if he expects to race a lot on the sim this winter. For me, that is not the case, as I will be spending a lot of time with my family,” he told RacingNews365.
“I don’t have a sim with my parents and therefore I don’t expect that I will do much sim racing with Max this winter. I expect Bell (his helmet manufacturer) to send me a few more helmets. I like to make helmet designs, so it’s nice that Bell sends me some helmets.”
Norris is preparing for his third season in Formula 1 with the McLaren team, and after making a strong impression in his first two campaigns, scoring a combined 146 points and claiming a podium finish, Norris’ next challenge is to step up as a team leader and lose the young driver feel.
For 2021 he will have a very strong benchmark at the other side of the garage, that being seven-time race winner Daniel Ricciardo.
