Interview: Lucas Blakeley on moving to McLaren, managing pressure and beating Sebastian Vettel at ROC

Lucas Blakeley has had a phenomenal start to proceedings in the F1 Esports series this year, with him winning two of the opening three races and sitting on top of the standings.

The Scotsman moved to McLaren Shadow from Aston Martin for this year, and certainly looks well at home with the team, with him looking to build on the championship challenge he mounted last year, with Jarno Opmeer eventually beating him to the crown.

Ahead of rounds 4, 5 and 6 this weekend, then, we caught up with Lucas for a quick chat to discuss his move, his fine start to the season, and how he manages pressure in the intensely contested series…

First of all Lucas, how have you found settling in at McLaren?

“I’ve been part of a McLaren for a little while now and I’ve enjoyed it massively.

“It’s been like a massive breath of fresh air to be able to work with really good people and having good people around you. We’re really collaborating to work towards our desired goal, because everybody in the team wants the same thing and we really all want to succeed.

“We’re all just hanging out, we’re all getting on really well together, things are all just constantly building on themselves all the time. Everything so far has been really positive and that only excites me more about continuing and seeing how we can improve in areas.

“We seem to have done okay with it all so far, but we’re just constantly thinking about refining, every process, every communication, every technique, anything at all. I still have to pinch myself a little bit that I’m a part of this team.”

How much of last year’s title challenge experience can you apply to this year?

“Experience is always a factor. I mean, you’re fighting for the championship and I guess you’ve already been in