Round 1: Australian GP Recap

Fantasy F1 kicked off 2 weeks ago with round 1 in Australia and over 350 000 players signed up to prove they can create the best fantasy team. A spanner in the works already occurred as Round 1 produced many unexpected results. Let’s have a look at the top performing possible team from Round 1.

Best team - Round 1

Courtesy: F1

This team would have earned you a total of 223 points for Round 1 (Bottas 48 pts, Verstappen 33 pts, Russell 13 pts, Magnussen 42 pts, Kyvat 17 pts, Mercedes 70 pts) all for a total cost of $98,5m out of your $100m budget. One player, Roney537, correctly predicted this team and scored maximum points. Unfortunately, he did not enter this team into the global league and was thus either his second or third choice team.

Our teams review

Team 1: Hammer Time - My main team unfortunately got nailed (no pun intended) with Ricciardo and Grosjean both not finishing the race. This resulted in two negative point returns from drivers which limited the decent points of Hamilton and Verstappen who earned podium positions. Perez had a mediocre race and only earned a mere 1 point. Renault as our constructor also did not pay off due to Ricciardo’s -13 points for failing to finish although 19 points is still not bad, they could have attained over 30 points which puts them near to the performance of Ferrari and Red Bull.

I still strongly believe that this is a good team and we were just unfortunate with a double DNF. Hopefully this team can pick up some decent points in Bahrain.

Team 2: One Team Wonder - But hopefully not a one hit wonder, this was my best performing team that ranked in the top 1300 of 85000 in the Official F1 Instagram League. Mercedes as one team pick could not have worked any better. They earned the 1-2 in qualifying and the race and provided my team with a massive 150 points for Round 1.

Doubling up on Kyvat and Albion in Toro Rosso also provided some value as we attained an extra 25 points of which Kyvat scored 17. Earning a top 10 finish, not choosing Kyvat as my turbo driver cost me 17 extra points. Kubica also provided some points despite finishing and qualifying dead last. He was only 4 points behind the Red Bull of Gasly which for a third of the price provided some value for us.

Team 3: Hard Compound - A lower risk strategy that is more forward looking throughout the season. I am relatively satisfied with the return for Round 1. Earning 147 points while Sainz earned -14 and Giovinazzi only 2 points is not too drastic. Without mechanical issues, Sainz can still return some decent points. We were also unfortunate with Vettel’s poor performance but he will certainly have some positive results in the next few races. Red Bull can also improve if Gasly can work on his qualifying and they could become strong contenders to rival Mercedes points wise.

Overall, a strong start for my second and third team and I’m confident that Team 1 will pick up without suffering those DNFs. But things could be worse, let’s look at the worse possible team you could have selected for Round 1.

Worst team - Round 1

Courtesy: F1

Selecting this team would have bagged you a -43 points for Round one and it is easy to see why. With 3 DNFs and the remaining two drivers only earning 3 points while Mclaren suffered from one of those DNFs and no points in Melbourne, you are sure to lose points very easily. The team, however, is not indicative of any chosen team with only making use of $54,2m of the available $100m budget.

The points are as follows for this team (Ricciardo -13 pts, Grosjean -5 pts, Perez 1 pt, Sainz -28 pts, Giovinazzi 2 pts, McLaren 0 pts)

The top 5...

The above is just a graphic of the topic scoring teams, leagues, countries and Constructors. It is really interesting that Finland have the best average points as they most probably backed their countrymen, Bottas and Raikkonen who both had good weeks and saw their score increase. Furthermore, Russia in second as Toro Rosso and Russian nationals backed their driver, Kyvat, who too had a good week.

Round 2: Prepping for Bahrain GP

A strong performance in Round 1 can easily be diminished this weekend as anything is possible in F1. With no transfers being able to report on yet, I have decided to breakdown some of the in and out of form drivers, favourites among the community and value options for this week.

Who’s Hot

Drivers

  1. Bottas (Mercedes) - Points leader with 48 points. Opportunities this week: Race Win, Top 10 (Q3) qualifying, Fastest lap (5 pts). 
  2. Verstappen (Red Bull) - Although poor record at Bahrain (only 1/4 races finished), Opportunities this week: Podium finish, Finish and qualifying ahead of teammate (total 5 pts), Top 10 (Q3) qualifying. 
  3. Magnussen (Haas) - Best of the rest finisher. Opportunities this week: Top 10 (Q3) qualifying and finish. 
  4. Vettel (Ferrari) - Vettel has the most wins at Bahrain with four and poor pace at Australia is hopefully behind Ferrari. Opportunities this week: Race Win, Finish and qualifying ahead of teammate (total 5 pts). 
  5. Kyvat (Toro Rosso) - A strong performance to finish in top 10 in Australia. Opportunities this week: Gaining positions outside top 10, top 10 finish and finishing and qualifying ahead of teammate (total 5 pts). 

Constructors

  1. Mercedes - The Top points scorer with 70. The only consistent team inside the top 10 and will be looking to have both drivers finish on the podium this weekend. 
  2. Haas - An unfortunate DNF hindered their progress but both drivers qualifying in top 10 and Magnussen finishing 6th. Consistency is just need for both drivers and they can return big in Bahrain. 

Who’s Not

Drivers

  1. Daniel Ricciardo (Renault) - Most chosen driver but first retirement and -13 points in Australia while not even making it to Q3. 
  2. Carlos Sainz (McLaren) - No Q3 or race finish and car reliability could affect his racing this season. 
  3. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) - Although finishing consistently and only losing 1 place, he failed to go far in qualifying or make any impact during the race to earn points. 
  4. Charles LeClerc (Ferrari) - a Driver that still has to develop at Ferrari. He put in a disappointing race and qualifying while behind Vettel the entire time. He earned less points than Magnussen who finished in 6th, 1 place behind him. 

Constructors

  1. McLaren - Having a DNF of one driver while the second driver fell out of a top 10 place to finish 12th and lost all the points he earned during qualifying. 

Value picks this week

Drivers

  1. Russell (Williams) - Although a bottom team, if they are reliable, they can earn places based on other teams DNFs. A budget option at $6m to free up space for more top tier drivers. 
  2. Magnussen (Haas) at $10m and Hulkenberg (Renault) at $11,8m as included in Who’s Hot are also good value options for drivers that can finish in top 10. 

Constructors

  1. Williams- The cheapest team at $6m can provide some value on positions gained. Extra budget can be saved for stacking up on top tier drivers instead. Only selected by 0,8% of drivers and can provide a good differential to gain points. 
  2. Haas - A top ten team at around a third of the cost of a Ferrari, Mercedes or Red Bull option. A team earning 26 points compared to 40 at Red Bull for just $9,5m that allows more to be invested in better drivers and also only selected by 5,4% of players. 

Popular picks (% of teams with the drivers and constructors)

Drivers

  1. Ricciardo (Renault) 58,4% 
  2. Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) 55,1% 
  3. Hamilton (Mercedes) 38,2% 
  4. Vettel (Ferrari) 31,5% 

Constructors

  1. Ferrari 29,8% 
  2. Mercedes 23,2% 
  3. Red Bull 17,4% 
  4. Renault 12,7%

Teams need to be confirmed before the start of qualifying on Saturday 30 March 2019 which begins at 3PM GMT.