F1 Fantasy: McLaren DSQ changes everything in Vegas

Landon Norris cruised into the weekend knowing that if he beat rival Max Verstappen by nine points or more, only his teammate could deprive him of a first drivers’ crown. Though a bold move into turn one backfired, allowing the Dutchman to take the lead, he still seemed to have clinched a valuable 18 points.

That is until after the race—when both McLarens were disqualified for plank wear. Fans have revelled in the fallout, as the team’s attempt to see out the championship with no in-fighting has spectacularly backfired. In Vegas, they ultimately scored no real points and picked up a -24 point penalty in F1 Fantasy.

Elsewhere, Mercedes were bang on form. George Russell was ballsy off the start, initially taking second from Norris. Steering issues slowed him down, but he still finished on the podium and inherited P2. Kimi Antonelli was similarly impressive, inheriting P3 after a mammoth 50-lap stint on hard tyres.

While Mercedes picked up 62 points, the most of any team in this week’s F1 Fantasy, Ferrari put on another disasterclass. Okay, they earned 41 in-game points. But they were never in contention—and Lewis Hamilton had a shocker. P19-8 is not deemed a success at Ferrari. His form is so poor, it’s arguably history-making for a driver of his ilk. Another very difficult weekend for the Brit.

As usual, when a top team messes up, this presents a golden opportunity to F1’s midfield. Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar was one of the biggest beneficiaries. He was brilliant all weekend, at one point pressing his team to be aggressive with their strategy—and he was rewarded with P6 and 16 fantasy points.

Sainz wasn’t quite able to replicate his podium heroics from Baku, but he did manage P5. The Smooth Operator was exactly that in the race. He stayed out of the trouble caused by Gabriel Bortoleto’s lunge into the opening corner and raced cleanly from there for 16 points of his own.

In joint first with Sainz, Ollie Bearman is F1 Fantasy’s most popular driver. The youngster drove solidly throughout, managing to avoid the kinds of incidents that have occasionally dogged his rookie season, taking a respectable 10 points for P10. Teammate Esteban Ocon was similarly clinical, earning nine points for ninth. Silently effective from the Haas pair!

The only other real winner was Nico Hulkenberg. After some questionable qualifying form that has seen the German outperformed by his less experienced teammate in recent times, he did okay over the weekend with P7 and 11 in-game points. A solid return to form for the Hulk.

Alongside McLaren, longtime backmarkers Alpine continued to suffer. Lead driver Pierre Gasly only managed to beat his teammate and Liam Lawson, who crashed into Piastri on the opening lap. At this point, he must be counting the laps to the end of the season—never mind the races.

Gasly picked up -2 fantasy points for his performance; Lawson earned -1. Other poor performers included Aston Martin, who failed to capitalize on McLaren’s misfortune. They took home P11 and a DNF for -18 points in F1 Fantasy, and boss Andy Cowell is now under serious pressure.

Compared to his teammate, I’d also make the case that Yuki Tsunoda had a shocker too. He took home nine fantasy points, not the worst return. But when you consider that he finished P12 in a race where Verstappen won and closed in on the title lead, there are big question marks.

You could say the same of Alex Albon. Of course, he’s not losing out to Sainz in the same manner. However, he was punished for running into Hamilton in the opening stages. This saw him hit with a five-second penalty. He eventually retired, earning him a -17 fantasy point penalty to boot. Bortoleto was rightly hit with -20 points for his opening lap antics. The less said about his weekend the better.

McLaren’s disqualification has not only changed the picture in the real drivers’ standings, it has re-energized the fight for GP247’s F1 Fantasy league. 44th Gear, who has led our ranking for much of the season, is now just nine points ahead of MarioF1_2025. Both teams chose wisely, opting for Verstappen over Norris or Piastri, but 44th Gear lost 20 points for extra subs.

In terms of value for money, Mercedes and Haas drivers are becoming the picks of the bunch. Despite being so far behind his teammate, Tsunoda also continues to pick up points, and Hadjar is starting to regain form as well. Ferrari, by comparison, is horrendous value for money—with both drivers valued at over $20m. For a few million more, you can get Verstappen, the game’s new top scorer on 675 points.

With the gap at the top of GP247’s F1 Fantasy league closing to just a few points, it’s all to play for. There’s still time to join our league for the last couple of rounds. Stay tuned for full coverage of the title run-in (in real life and F1 Fantasy), starting in Qatar from November 28-30, 2025.