F1 Fantasy: Victory in China sends Team Papaya to the top

Norris struggled desperately in Saturday’s sprint race, slipping down to a lowly eighth place, while his teammate was ultimately unable to fight his way up from third to win. But McLaren’s fortunes changed dramatically in the main event as they secured an impressive one-two.

This saw Piastri move up the F1 Fantasy standings to 55 points and allowed Norris to stretch his lead as the season’s leading scorer to 39 points. With the Brit having now racked up a total of 100 points, the 26% of players who showed faith in him have been rewarded.

Ferrari fans will be feeling the complete opposite. After a spirited Sunday saw Lewis Hamilton pick up his first win in red, he and Charles Leclerc struggled all Sunday, and they were eventually disqualified — meaning they scored a combined -13 points, ouch!

McLaren success, Ferrari misfortune. These scorelines very much reflect the result of the race. But there were a few F1 Fantasy surprises further back. Let’s take a closer look.

Alongside Ferrari supporters, those who picked Alonso also had a woeful time in F1 Fantasy this week. The Spaniard’s second successive DNF in Shanghai leaves him with -36 fantasy points, the lowest of any driver.

Elsewhere, the likes of Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz, who many would’ve tipped to outperform their car and finish best of the rest this season, continue to struggle. While Sainz hasn’t got to grips with his new Williams, Gasly has just an eleventh-place finish to show for the opening two rounds. Both will be hoping for better in the races to come.

KICK Sauber pair Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg will also be aiming for a bit of stability. Bortoleto racked up 7 points in China, a big improvement on the -18 points he scored in Australia, but Hulkenberg dropped from 20 points to just two.

The Hulk’s 7th place finish in Melbourne could come in very handy for his team by the end of the season, but that’ll be of little comfort to the 36% of F1 Fantasy players who kept him for week two.

Of course, Oli Bearman pulled off several outstanding overtakes to earn the 20 points he picked up at the Chinese Grand Prix. But like Haas teammate Esteban Ocon, who notched 24 points of his own, he benefited hugely from the disqualification of the Ferraris.

Somewhat surprisingly, Racing Bulls also did well, with Yuki Tsunoda recovering from a pointless week one to score 6 points, and Liam Lawson notching an incredible 22 points. It probably helps that he started from further back. And it won’t do anything to ease the pressure he’s under at Red Bull, but what a call from the 5% of players who picked him!

The likes of George Russell and Max Verstappen also continued to score well at the front — although what do you expect for that kind of F1 Fantasy outlay? Kimi Antonelli was similarly reliable, picking up 29 points after a 32-point haul in Melbourne. The teenage rookie is already proving his worth in what’s turning into a tight fantasy season.

Appropriately, Neal Brett’s 'Papaya' team has stormed to the top of our F1 Fantasy standings for week two. Like in week one, they applied DRS to Norris, who brought in 82 points.

But they also had Ocon, as well as the McLaren and Racing Bulls as constructors, who brought in a further 167 points — enough to take them to the summit of our leaderboard.

Other members of our top six chose Russell and Verstappen as their star drivers, picking them up bagfuls of points, but not quite enough to challenge our resident McLaren fan. Think you can do better? There’s still time to join our F1 Fantasy league here.