F1 racer Lando Norris launches a new esports org, Quadrant
Pro F1 racer Lando Norris has just announced his new esports organisation called Team Quadrant. His new organisation will look to bridge the divide between his in-person F1 racing and his more recent streaming and virtual racing. They will focus on virtual sim racing, but some recent hires seem to suggest that the organisation will look to expand into other esports games.
Why now?
When the Formula One 2020 season was delayed by the pandemic many of the stars of the sport moved to online and unofficial races. After competing in one of the biggest online races “Not the GP”, his popularity began to grow as did his love of virtual sim racing.
The team
This new venture will bring together his new online audience and a team of four other gaming and streaming stars:
- Aarav Amin: A star straight from the F1 2020 YouTube scene. He is one of the most popular Formula One game streamers.
- Steve Alvarez Brown: One of the best virtual racers and a driver that is well versed in karting and Gran Turismo, he looks like a natural addition to the team.
- Maria Bish: An interesting choice, she is relatively new to streaming as well as competitive gaming, but she has a considerable following around the game Call of Duty: Warzone. It is clear that the team is looking to expand outside of the racing sim genre.
- Niran Yesufu: He is not a competitive gamer, but he is a popular FIFA content creator, again spreading their focus outside of the F1 scene.
Speaking about the recent announcement, Lando Norris had this to say:
“I’m so excited to introduce Quadrant to the world. I’ve been working hard on this behind the scenes for a while now with my management ADD and it’s a great feeling to finally have everything in place. I’m a gamer at heart but I’m also passionate about apparel and getting closer to my fans. I’ve always been keen to build a brand of my own, so this is a great way to blend all of that together whilst having fun with a few of my good friends.”
Can they be competitive?
At the moment, it doesn’t look like the team currently working for Quadrant is set to take the esports gaming industry by storm. However, Lando has partnered with an established sim racing organisation, Veloce Esports. Their Chief Sporting Officer, Jamie MacLaurin, had this to say:
“Veloce Esports was a great match for Quadrant. We have worked with Lando before on the #NotTheGP series, and similarly with the other streamers on several other projects, so it seemed a perfect fit to bring everyone together. We’ve got some brilliant content coming your way and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for this exciting brand.”
It is far too early to tell how this new team will impact any sort of esports odds. The popularity of Lando and his new teammates will certainly bring in an influx of fans, but the structure for a serious and competitive team is not yet in place. In the meantime, you can always check out the official F1 esports competitions, our own Ian John recently reported on the new mobile F1 esports competition, the finals will take place in December 2020.
