Welcome to Fantasy Formula 1! The newest sport on Fantrax is here, so grab your friends, start a league, and get to select your drivers. It’s Round 2 and the second race is the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this coming weekend. We are here to help get your driver selection correct for Round 2! For a thorough explanation on how the sport and fantasy sport of Formula 1 works check out our explanatory piece from last week.
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix: Tiers Driver Picks
In this article, we will focus on the Tiers version of Fantasy Formula 1. In the default version of Tiers, each manager must select 5 drivers from 4 tiers (1 from A, 2 from B, 1 from C, 1 from D). Drivers are generally categorized in tiers based on their perceived values going into the season. Now for our top selections per tier for this week in Saudi Arabia!
Tier A: Max Verstappen – Red Bull
Round 1 in Bahrain was a whirlwind opening to this season. We saw the rise of Ferrari back to heights they have not reached in years. We saw previously dominant teams like Mercedes struggle far more than usual. Newcomers and returners to the sport had phenomenal (and awful days). Speaking of rough days, Red Bull had both drivers not finish the race. Both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were among the podium places when their cars gave out on them (since rumored to be a fuel pump issue for both) and they were forced to retire, earning 0 points for their team. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton managed a fortunate podium, sneaking into 3rd place. Regardless, we’re opting to pick Verstappen again this week, as he proved multiple times over last weekend that the Red Bull car has significantly better pace than Mercedes at this juncture. After the soon-to-be-mentioned Ferrari driver, Verstappen has the best odds to win by far in Jeddah.
Tier B: Charles Leclerc & Carlos Sainz – Ferrari
Some more of the same picks from the first race, this time via the Scuderia, but I don’t think anyone will blame us much. Leclerc and Sainz finished 1st and 2nd in Bahrain, and as previously mentioned, Ferrari looked much improved. Leclerc is the favorite to win outright this week, as well as to qualify first, and to get fastest lap. 1st place is rewarded 25 points in the default version of the game, so you almost always want to pick the expected winner (or a driver close to it at least) to maximize your expected any given week. Leclerc might be that guy for many weeks now. His teammate, Carlos Sainz, may not be that far behind however. Despite his praiseworthy drive, he called Bahrain his “most difficult weekend” at Ferrari, due to his gap to teammate. Sainz has proven himself in the past to be close to level with Leclerc and as such, he’s almost as good of a pick this week
Tier C: Valterri Bottas – Alfa Romeo
A wonderful qualifying session, a catastrophic first lap, and a remarkable comeback to place 6th; Bottas saw it all this past weekend. At the end of the weekend however, it was an impressive weekend from him and his Alfa team. After being tossed aside by Mercedes for the younger George Russell, Bottas will be continuously out to prove his former employers wrong. This week, he’s not expected to qualify quite as well as in Bahrain, but he’s expected to outplace his qualifying position and ultimately place in the top 10. For a tier C driver, those 2 stats, on top of likely beating his rookie teammate are enough to make Bottas the pick of the week
Tier D: Kevin Magnussen – Haas
One of the best stories of Round 1 was Haas’s, and particularly Magnussen’s, excellence. After multiple years of struggling at the back of nearly every race, Haas admitted defeat early in 2021 and instead decided to focus almost entirely on the 2022 car. That work has appeared to pay off with their cars qualifying 7th and 12th and ultimately placing 5th and 11th. The better of those 2 was the Dane, Kevin Magnussen, who made his return to the sport, and to Haas specifically, after a year off. Under team principal Guenther Steiner, Magnussen and his former teammate, Romain Grosjean had many unfortunate battles on and off the track, yet little success, and were both eventually let go in 2020. However, after terminating their connection with their 2021 driver, the Russian Nikita Mazepin, Haas brought Magnussen back into the fold, and he rewarded them handsomely in round 1. We expect that fortune and/or excellence to continue this week, as do the oddsmakers who suggest that after the top 2 drivers from Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari, Magnussen is actually expected to finish the furthest up on race day!
Now get picking and enjoy the second Formula 1 race weekend!