Watch: Lawson performs well as Leclerc wins Chinese Virtual Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc dominated the Chinese Virtual Grand Prix earlier this morning as Liam Lawson performed well to take eighth place with AlphaTauri.

Some drivers elected to pit early while drivers such as Lawson elected to stay out longer, running on the medium compound tyres.

Leclerc and Albon pitted relatively early, with Albon’s strategy paid off well initially, taking the net lead from Leclerc after the sequence of pitstops played out.

Lawson took the lead from sim racer and YouTube personality Jimmy Broadbent on lap six.

Leclerc put the pressure on Albon, eventually passing him on lap 11. Lawson completed his pitstop on the same lap, coming out in 12^th.

The battle for third was heating up between Guanyu Zhou and Stoffel Vandoorne, although Belgian received a time penalty early on as the stewards started the blitz on track limits.

Lawson was locked in an intense battle with Antonio Giovinazzi, with the Italian reluctant to surrender eighth position.

With five laps remaining, Vandoorne passed Zhou for the third, although was unable to develop a sufficient gap to compensate for the time penalty.

Up the front, Leclerc cruised to victory with Albon trailing three seconds behind.