Esports is making its way into the formula one racing world alongside coronavirus delays and restrictions. Formula One driver Lando Norris has officially launched an online eSports and creation team known as Team Quadrant.
Lando currently drives for McLaren and has used his newfound downtime to amass a twitch following over 600k. Lando told media sources that Team Quadrant is something he wanted to do for a long time. He also stated that while Quadrant will be heavily focused on racing, he wants to feature other popular eSport games as well.
In a press release, Lando’s team Quadrant said that the organization would first focus on content creation to expand its growing social media presence before venturing into eSports.
Lando is now the second driver to enter the eSports playing field after French driver Romain Grosjean launched R8G eSports. Grosjean’s R8G team is a simulated racing team competing on several different platforms, including Xbox, PlayStation, PC’s, and more.
The coronavirus pandemic has helped fuel esports as they were one of the only betting sports that remained active during the lockdowns. While other sports like the UFC and Korean Baseball were only down for a short time, eSports gained massive attention.
18+ online sports gambling sites started offering simulation odds, 24-hour virtual betting games, and more esport odds to offset their losses due to the global shutdown. Now that most restrictions have been lifted, the services mentioned above are here to stay and have garnished more attention than ever before.
While auto racing is among the more popular eSport options, other first-person shooter games such as League of Legends, Dota 2, Fortnite, and Counterstrike have paved the way for popularizing eSports. With the rise in popularity and players worldwide, betting on eSports has surged around the globe in 2020.
Team Quadrant still has a long way to go, but with the help of Lando Norris’s online following and day job, his team may become well-known in a short period. It will be interesting to see what content his team creates and if Quadrant can help push auto racing to the forefront of popular eSports.
The Formula One season is currently underway, so for now, esports will have to jump in the backseat and ride with Lando’s first passion.
