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 4 and the fourth race is the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Imola this coming weekend. We are here to help you with your driver selection! For a thorough explanation on how the sport and fantasy sport of Formula 1 works check out our explanatory piece from last week.
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix: Driver Power Rankings
Just like last week, we’ll rank all 20 drivers in order of how we think they’ll score this week! These rankings should be applicable for nearly everyone playing Formula 1 on Fantrax, regardless of whether their matchup is for the sprint race or the full race! Note that these rankings are not in order of expected finishing position, but instead in order of expected fantasy points scored. That means they are incorporating all the scoring categories like finishing ahead of your teammate, places gained and lost, etc.
1. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari (DrvB) – Prev. 1
Leclerc won the Australian Grand Prix and stays atop our rankings as the favorite for pole and to place 1st this weekend.
2. Max Verstappen – Red Bull (DrvA) – Prev. 2
Verstappen has his second DNF (did not finish) of the season in Melbourne but comfortably remains the second-best driver on the grid. If anyone’s going to beat the Ferraris, it’s him.
3. Carlos Sainz Jr – Ferrari (DrvB) – Prev. 3
Similar to Verstappen, Sainz keeps his spot, despite a DNF last race weekend. He had a hard go of it down under, losing many places when on the hard compounds, and ultimately spinning off the track as he fought his way back up the grid. Still, he’s driving the best car on the grid (as of now) in Ferrari. Sainz should also be in a good mood and hungry to prove his worth after signing a renewed contract with the Scuderia until 2024, just days ago!
T4. Sergio Perez – Red Bull (DrvB) – Prev. 4
Perez raced to his first podium of the season in Australia and should be near the front consistently if Red Bull can manage their inconsistency issues.
T4. George Russell – Mercedes (DrvB) – Prev. 5
Russell moves up slightly, and is neck and neck with Perez, just as he was during his battle with Perez in Australia. He managed his first ever podium in 3rd place and sits an impressive 2nd in the Championship as things stand. Although his teammate Lewis Hamilton is expected to finish ahead of him according to the oddsmakers’ probabilities, Russel’s inferiority in qualifying (at least as predicted by the odds this weekend) serves as an advantage as he has more potentials places to gain on race day than his teammate.
6. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes (DrvA) – Prev. 7
Hamilton was a bit unlucky last race weekend to finish in T4 after some poorly timed safety cars, but he still had a respectable drive and better pace than many. Expect the 7-time champion to keep moving up the rankings as Mercedes figures everything out.
7. Esteban Ocon – Alpine (DrvC) – Prev. 10
Ocon’s race-craft continues to be better than his qualifying ability, so for the midfield drivers, he’s our highest ranked guy and the one most likely to make up multiple places on race day and finish in the points. He’s our pick of the week for Tier C drivers.
8. Kevin Magnussen – Haas F1 (DrvD) – Prev. 8
KMag had a hard day in Melbourne but afterward called it an “outlier” for his Haas team. We tend to agree and believe he’ll finish top 10 and outperform his qualifying position on race day. Magnussen remains our Tier D pick this week.
9. Pierre Gasly – Alpha Tauri (DrvB) – Prev. 11
Gasly has finished 8th and 9th in the last two races and drives a midfield car, yet remains one of the better drivers on the grid.
10. Lando Norris – McLaren (DrvB) – Prev. 12
The McLarens finally had a better-looking race day in Australia! Norris managed a very impressive P5 after his car struggled mightily in the previous races. McLaren look to potentially be the most volatile in these rankings going forward, but for now, we remain cautiously optimistic.
11. Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo (DrvC) – Prev. 6
Our biggest faller this week, Bottas actually didn’t do anything praticularly wrong last weekend to merit such a decrease, finishing P8. It was more so that he did not live up to our lofty expectations of him after finishing P6, atop the midfield, in the first race this season. In addition, the McLaren’s showing some improved pace bodes poorly for him and the other drivers fighting for “best of the rest”.
12. Daniel Ricciardo – McLaren (DrvB) – Prev. 19
The Australian is the biggest riser in our rankings this week, who like his Spaniard teammate, finished impressively in his homeland (in P6). However, he’s yet to prove that he can keep up with his teammate and as such, is unlikely to get points for finishing ahead of him.
13. Mick Schumacher – Haas F1 (DrvD) – Prev. 18
Schumacher has finished 11th, 14th and 13th now and mostly moves up due to his poor qualifying, yet relatively fast pace on race day due to driving a Haas.
14. Fernando Alonso – Alpine (DrvB) – Prev. 9
Alonso falls predominantly due to his relatively impressive qualifying ability in comparison to his race day pace. Last race was a good example of that where he was on track for a phenomenal qualifying run before his car shut down in P3. He got unlucky again during the race due to some poorly timed safety cars but ultimately finished last of the non-DNF cars on the day. According to the oddsmakers, Alonso is expected to lose the most points due to places lost between qualifying and finishing positions.
15. Sebastian Vettel – Aston Martin (DrvC) – Prev. 16
Vettel crashed out in Melbourne, but his natural ability and 4-championships pedigree serve him well enough to beat out the rest.
16. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin (DrvC) – Prev. 17
Stroll had a decent racing day last time out (despite receiving 2 penalties) but ultimately the Aston Martin does not appear to have the pace required to compete for points generally
17. Yuki Tsunoda – Alpha Tauri (DrvD) – Prev. 13
Tsunoda has a better car than some of those in front of him, but because he has one of the biggest gaps to his teammate (Pierre Gasly) and he’s not expected to finish in the points, there are just not many ways for him to score points.
18. Alex Albon – Williams (DrvD) – Prev. 15
Due to some masterful strategy in Melbourne, Albon snuck into the points in P10. Williams will be very thankful for those points because by the end of the season, it’ll almost certainly be single-digit points for them and Aston Martin, so each point gained means a lot. Albon is better than Latifi which counts for something, and will likely qualify near the back due to his car’s pace, so he does at least have some upside to out-finish his qualification position if a few cars DNF.
19. Guanyu Zhou – Alfa Romeo (DrvC) – Prev. 14
Zhou’s Alfa Romeo is not the worst card on the grid but unfortunately, he fits the trifecta of bad characteristics for F1 fantasy drivers: 1) he’s very unlikely to finish in the top 10 2) he’s very unlikely to beat his teammate, Bottas and 3) he’s unlikely to finish ahead of his qualifying position (cause his car’s qualifying pace is superior to his race craft). That makes him a high downside driver.
20. Nicholas Latifi – Williams (DrvD) – Prev. 20
Latifi is again expected to qualify and finish last. Can only go up from here though at least!
Now get picking and enjoy the fourth Formula 1 race weekend!