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 that situation, at least once in some form of capacity.

"You do have it in the back of your mind that you've got that experience, you've already felt certain emotions. For me, it's now just trying to do what I do best and not just focus on the driving, try and make sure that I'm executing good qualifying laps and making the right decisions in the race, not taking any silly risks.

"I know what I need to do and there's no one else in the world that puts more pressure on myself than me so it's more that I know what I expect of myself and I try and live up to that every time I go and basically go on the track.

"You do have a bit of experience from last year but it's a new game, certain things change as well but I'm in a great environment now, which certainly helps."

How much confidence did you take from beating Sebastian Vettel at the Race of Champions this year? Can it be applied to your challenge in the Esports series?

"People probably wouldn't believe me when I say this but I don't actually think that much about it. I definitely enjoyed the experience over there and I understand what I've done and achieved but I don't really get hung up on it too much because it's not really who am I. I acknowledge what I've done, but I'm just more thinking about the future.

"I don't take much for granted when it comes to driving. I don't take massive amounts coming from the previous event. I try and keep myself as grounded and as level as possible, because it means that there are not as many peaks and troughs, so I'm not like riding a roller coaster of emotion and your confidence is going up and down.

"I feel like what works for me is keeping myself on this flat, or as flat as possible, line. I arrive and drive and I know what I need to do every single time."

How do you deal with the pressure of battling for a victory in such closely-contested races that we see in the Esports series?

"I feel like if you're in the right headspace and you're in the zone, and you've got that confidence within yourself, then you can harness pressure.

"There are times where you're in practice races and sometimes you'll do things worse than you do actually in the real race because you're running at maximum, your brain's running at 100% and you're giving it everything that is within you to perform in that moment - no error can be made because if you do then you're gone.

"The best way I can describe it is that things almost slightly slow down a little bit. You're just running at the maximum capacity that you've got when you're really under that pressure.

"You've just got to believe in yourself, you think, 'no, I've got this, I can pull this off.' If you're going into it thinking 'what do I do, I'm going to get overtaken on the last lap,' then naturally negative thoughts might lead to negative results.

"It's all very easy to say but trying to reinforce your positive thoughts means positive things will tend to happen. I think that's quite key."

You earned two race wins during Event One in September, how do you reflect on that and being the early favourite for the title?

"I feel like if I'm able to do what I did in terms of execution and performance, then I naturally I feel good to go towards the next stages.

"It definitely feels like there's a lot still go and a lot can happen to be honest. The standings are very good but they are very, very volatile and things can change very quickly so I'm taking nothing for granted.

"People would maybe see the standings and think, 'oh, you must be relaxed,' but it's more about making sure that you utilise the best of this opportunity.

"This is the exact thing I've always wanted to be and it is the exact position that you've always dreamed of being in and so naturally, I try and make sure that you know, as few changes as possible, basically.

"If things are going well, why would I start changing things? We'll just stay focused on ourselves as a team and do what we've done really well so far this season and that should be the best recipe for us to continue good form."

What's your schedule like between events and how can you keep your rhythm going with them just once a month?

"It may seem like a long time, but you never feel that you've got enough because it goes very quickly and that's purely down to the perfection that's required. Everything needs to be perfect and there's so much to go through and then you're a few days away from competition and you've still got things that you want to check on.

"I'm always striving to be as minimally complacent as possible and also to try and be as perfect as I can. You don't want to have any nasty surprises. You want to be making sure that you've done everything that you can within your power effectively, to be in a good position.

"For this event the last week, in particular, has been very intense but all in a positive light. I feel like we've been working really well as a team and collaborating really well so it's been really enjoyable this past week.

"We've done all the mass bulk of the preparations and now it's about refinement. It's about building that confidence up, building that headspace that you're building yourself up to and up to."

"The races will be 50 minutes but will feel like an hour and 50 minutes and they are very intense. By the end of the third day you're tired and then you rinse and repeat - you have a little break and then you go again."

The F1 Esports series continues this evening, check out all the information around Event Two here.