Russell seals Virtual Spanish GP victory after thrilling battle with Leclerc

There was late drama in Sunday evening's Virtual Spanish Grand Prix as George Russell snatched victory from Charles Leclerc right at the death.

Russell had sealed pole position for the race at the virtual Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya but had a terrible start, losing out to second-place man Esteban Gutierrez in the Mercedes and then Ferrari's Charles Leclerc who pulled off a brilliant move round the outside of the Williams into turn one.

By the end of lap one Russell was down in fifth and looked like he had it all to do.

Leclerc then took the lead from Gutierrez on the following lap with a move into Turn 1, and by Lap 4, Alex Albon – Leclerc's adversary from last week's Virtual Grand Prix at Interlagos – was up to second.

It looked like we might be set for a repeat of last week's incredible battle, but Albon pitted for tyres on the follwowing lap as he tried a different strategy to Leclerc that ultimately failed to pan out for the Red Bull man who eventually finished fourth.

Leclerc may have thought he was sitting pretty but on Lap 20 George Russell pumped in the fastest lap of the race up until that point and suddenly found himself closing rapidly on his Ferrari rival.

Five laps later he overtook Leclerc for the lead on track, but he already had a three-second time penalty for track limits infractions.

All Leclerc had to do was stay within three seconds of the Williams and his third Virtual Grand Prix victory would be assured, but then with just a lap to go in the race, Leclerc himself was slapped with a three-second penalty of his own, and Russell was able to cruise to the line to take the win.

The race was another terrific battle with the result up for grabs right up until the final few seconds of the race.

"I am feeling ecstatic, I’m not used to this winning thing – I’ve not done it for a long, long time. I’ve dearly missed it," Russell said after the race.

"When I got passed Charles and I knew I had that three second penalty I was pretty furious but when that radio message came in at the end and I heard he had the three second penalty I was almost wetting my pants," he added.

Here is your Top 10 order, and if you missed any of the action you can watch the full broadcast as live in the video at the top of this article.