F1 Fantasy: McLaren dominate, Hamilton storms back at Spa

On the opening lap, Piastri dived past his teammate to snatch the lead, setting up a tense battle for victory. When the pair pitted on alternate strategies, it seemed to be to be advantage Norris on the more durable hard tyre. But a string of errors ultimately left the Aussie just enough room to take the win.

As you’d expect, Piastri & Norris scored 42 and 39 points, respectively, more than almost any other driver. Having won the Sprint, Max Verstappen picked up 30 points, while Charles Leclerc registered the same score for an impressive podium—his fourth in six races.

However, the real surprise was Lewis Hamilton. After back-to-back Q1 exits in qualifying, Hamilton had put himself under pressure. Yet, as the track dried early on, the seven-time world champion was able to use all his experience and fight from 18th to seventh. This earned him driver of the day and saw him rewarded with a whopping 40 F1 Fantasy points.

It’s no secret that Liam Lawson has had a difficult year. Lawson was dropped by Red Bull after just two grand prix and sent back to Racing Bulls, where Isack Hadjar was already starting to show strong potential. In the last two races, though, the Kiwi has fought back a bit.

Following up sixth in Austria with eighth in Belgium will have done his confidence a world of good—and it earned him nine points in F1 Fantasy. The less said about his teammate Hadjar’s performance, the better. The 20-year-old struggled with the conditions and finished stone dead last.

Another solid Sauber performance also showed that they’re very much back in business ahead of Audi’s takeover next year. Only this time it was rookie Gabriel Bortoleto who stepped up to the plate to claim ninth and seven fantasy points.

On the face of it, Mercedes did pretty well too, scoring a combined 33 points in F1 Fantasy. But the Silver Arrows were worryingly far behind McLaren, Ferrari, and Verstappen’s Red Bull in race trim. Kimi Antonelli’s P16 finish wasn’t particularly impressive either. Mercedes will be looking for much better from the youngster in Hungary.

Traditionally, wet weather conditions create opportunities for drivers lower down the field, but there was no escape for the likes of Haas.

Though Esteban Ocon scored well in Spain, Canada, and Austria, neither he nor Ollie Bearman has registered points in the last two rounds. Compounding this, they scored just three fantasy points between them at Spa.

Nico Hulkenberg was unable to repeat his Silverstone heroics, coming home 12th for a single point in F1 Fantasy (and zero real ones). In truth, he never really looked like challenging.

Yuki Tsunoda had no such excuse—he looked to be having his best weekend for Red Bull, qualifying seventh. But he bottled the race and slipped to a sub-par 13th, earning him zero fantasy points.

Once again, Franco Colapinto did his own hopes of staying on the F1 grid no favors, coming home 19th for -3 points in F1 Fantasy.

Pierre Gasly scored points in tenth, not too shabby for an unfancied Alpine! But he was wheeled off the grid with mechanical issues in the Sprint, so he scored -16 in-game points.

The gap has closed at the summit of GP247’s F1 Fantasy league, but 44th Gear remains right at the very top. Piastri & McLaren seem to be the in-form pairing in real life and F1 Fantasy at the moment—team boss Gavin de Souza had both. His other choices, Ferrari and Aston Martin, also did okay, with the latter making places from the back of the grid.

In terms of surprise scorers, only 12% picked Hamilton and Lawson this weekend. Albon has consistently led Williams this term, and this was reflected in his popularity. 29% of F1 Fantasy players picked him for Spa, so fans are clearly recognizing his input.

On the flipside, 55% of players picked Hadjar, 34% chose Hulkenberg, and 39% selected Carlos Sainz. Of course, budget is a factor in F1 Fantasy. But with these three scoring six points between them, changes could be in the offing for the next race in Hungary.

There’s still time to join the GP247 F1 Fantasy league for the second half of the season here. Our full coverage of the campaign continues at the Hungaroring from August 01 to 03, 2025.