F1 Fantasy: Lando Norris takes the spoils in Miami double-header

After messing up his starts in both the sprint and main event, Antonelli did excellently to fight back past Norris and Charles Leclerc to take the Grand Prix win. However, it being a sprint weekend shakes things up a bit. Second plus a sprint win gave Lando 54 in-game points, first and sixth earned Kimi 42 points. 

Elsewhere, a resurgent Max Verstappen was arguably the driver of the weekend, making his way back through the field after an uncharacteristic spin in the Grand Prix to take fifth. Without this mishap, it’s possible the Dutchman would've been on the podium. But an impressive showing still earned him 52 fantasy points.

Hamilton, who struggled after damage caused by a clash with Franco Colapinto, wobbled home in sixth. In truth, he was behind his teammate all weekend—he was lucky to get 20 points in F1 Fantasy. Leclerc himself made a right mess of the main event, spinning out at the end, but still took home 27 in-game points.

With 42 fantasy points, George Russell didn’t have the worst weekend in the world. But given that he’s in this year’s dominant car, it’s surprising that he finished so far behind his less experienced teammate. He's now 20 points behind in the real-life standings. 

Before we get into the rest of this week’s results, just a quick reminder that GP247 has its own F1 Fantasy league. If you’re interested, it’s still possible to sign up here. 

This week there were some really surprising point scorers in F1 Fantasy. The biggest shock was Cadillac actually competing in the sprint. Checo Perez was rewarded with 19 points. Not a bad showing from the team after just four races in Formula 1!

Carlos Sainz, who was annoyed by Verstappen’s divebombing antics, picked up the same number of points for a respectable P9 on Sunday. Alex Albon also scored 20 in-game points for tenth. Given how poor Williams has been this season, it was almost a return to form for the beleaguered Grove outfit. 

Aston Martin enjoyed a similarly positive weekend. Not only did their drivers avoid breaking down, they seemed to have solved the teeth-rattling issues of the early races. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will be hoping to escape the back of the grid soon, but they still earned 37 points in F1 Fantasy.

He only earned 13 in-game points, but Colapinto arguably had his best weekend in F1. After being outperformed by Ollie Bearman at the start of the season, Eseteban Ocon also earned 14 fantasy points, 8 more than his teammate. He didn’t earn any real points, but he seemed to be back on par in Miami. 

At the moment, Isack Hadjar is finding out just how difficult it is to be Verstappen’s teammate. “Le Petit Prost” was unable to compete at the same level in the Grand Prix and eventually hit the barrier with an unforced error. He pulled a great overtake on Colapinto in the sprint, but his DNF saw him hit with -16 points. 

Nico Hulkenberg got unlucky with breakdowns in both the Miami races. However, he too has been off the boil at recent events—a DNF & DNS make him this week’s worst performer with -29 points. Around a third of all F1 Fantasy players have either Hulkenberg or Hadjar in their driver lineup. Perhaps it’s worth considering one of the other game’s “bargain buys” instead!

Then again, Audi have flattered to deceive in general. Gabriel Bortoleto looked points-capable but faltered in 12th for 7 fantasy points. 

Other poor performers include Liam Lawson, who crashed into Pierre Gasly, flipping him into the barriers. The Kiwi has generally been better this year, but a poor showing in Miami was rewarded with -12 points. The likes of Bearman didn’t have a great weekend either with 6 points. Not amazing for the 60% who selected him. 

We have a new leader in the GP247 F1 Fantasy league after the Miami Grand Prix. The Sammyed F1 Racing Team is now at the top of the pile by 14 points. Choosing Antonelli, Ocon, Perez, and Colapinto, alongside McLaren and Ferrari as constructors, was enough to send him clear at the top. 

Looking at the drivers’ current F1 Fantasy valuations, it’s really the backmarkers that are offering the best value for money. Aston Martin, Cadillac, and Williams all overperformed this weekend; it was the status quo at the front. The top four teams are priced accordingly. 

Interestingly, just 8% of players chose Lando Norris. Quite surprising for a current world champion! Only 17% chose Verstappen as well. Let’s see if those numbers change as Red Bull start getting their act together. Without having to resort to a long stint on hard tyres, who knows where he would’ve finished?

In both F1 Fantasy and the real thing, there’s still a long way to go in this year’s championship. It’s advantage Antonelli, who’s clear at the top in both standings. Let’s see if that changes when F1 reconvenes in Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix.