At the wrong end of a move by Alex Albon last weekend that was uncannily similar to the move that saw Max Verstappen barge his way through to secure victory in Austria last year, Charles Leclerc is finding eSports can be just as 'challenging' as the real thing.

Though events in Austria caused the Monegasque to subsequently react by being fully prepared to stick his own elbows out now and again, Leclerc feels that an abbreviated season, as currently being mooted by F1's powers-that-be, could lead to more incidents as the pressure intensifies and drivers take more risks.

"With less and less races people will want to take more risks," he told members of the media in a teleconference. "So we might have some surprises and it will be exciting to watch.

"I am sure Mercedes and Lewis are still the favourites," he added, "even in an eight-race championship, but probably we will all risk a bit more on track... risky strategies, risky overtakes."

Asked about readapting to racing after such a long break, he said: "It is going to be difficult. The mind-set, to find the bubble you need to be in just before getting into the car, this is something that once you don't do it for a long time it is difficult to get back to this state."

In terms of back-to-back races at the same circuit, the youngster feels that though this might not be the ideal solution it will probably be the only way a championship of sorts can be put together.

"We have to unfortunately," he said. "There are races that are already cancelled and races that will be postponed again. The whole calendar is going to be reshuffled so we have to think of alternatives.

"We have to make the most of this situation and if this means we race twice on the same circuit we should look at that to ensure the most races possible."

Indeed, on the subject of Silverstone, one of the circuits that could host back-to-back events, though the idea of racing on a reverse layout has been discarded, Leclerc would certainly be up for it.

"I've seen something about doing races the other way around, that would be very, very cool," he said. "That could be an interesting idea.

"We would definitely have to re-learn the track completely from scratch," he added. "I've done this in karting, to do one track in one way and then do it the other way. It would be very exciting to do a track like Silverstone the other way around, to arrive so quick in Becketts and then Maggotts would be very exciting."