The 2025 F1 season is fast approaching, which means it’s almost time to hop into the team principal hot-seat, pick your 2025 F1 Fantasy line-ups and join the Motor Sport league.

There are no confirmed rule changes for the new year as of yet, but the basics are set to stay the same as last year: with a $100 million cost cap per team, players can pick up to three teams, each consisting of five drivers and two constructors who will score points across the season. These are based on how well they perform in qualifying, sprint races and grands prix, where points are available for places gained as well as finishing positions.

Each driver and constructor begins the season with an initial valued based on their performance in 2024 which will then rise or fall depending on how well they perform throughout 2025. Reigning world champions Max Verstappen and McLaren are expected to be the most costly picks in both categories, although Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton could all be equally expensive to start the season.

Further rule tweaks could affect some of your tactical choices too. Although unconfirmed, there could be changes to Chips as well as heightened penalties for exceeding your transfer allowance, new driver prices and the return of Head-to-Head leagues. 

Here’s a run down of all the new rules and scoring systems as well as a few tips and tricks that can help you in your bid. For more advice on choosing your team for the first race of the season, see our F1 Fantasy Bahrain Grand Prix tips and predictions.

• What’s new in F1 Fantasy for 2025?
• Recommended drivers
• Recommended teams
• Top F1 Fantasy tips
• Prizes
• Rules and scoring systems
• Chips
• How to join the Motor Sport F1 Fantasy League

What’s new to F1 Fantasy in 2025?

The 2025 Fantasy season is expected to feel and act in a very similar way to 2024, with no confirmed changes for the new campaign as of yet.

Main contenders – drivers

Driver	Reason
Max Verstappen	Even against heightened competition and with, at times, the third-fastest car underneath him, Max Verstappen still managed to claim a fourth consecutive drivers’ title in 2024 — with two rounds to spare. So it’s little wonder why the Dutchman is expected to remain the most costly driver on the F1 Fantasy grid in 2025, with an estimated value of $30m+. But while dishing out almost a third of your budget to get Verstappen in your line-up has paid off in the past, looking to cheaper alternatives could be the way to go in 2025. That said, if Red Bull return to the front of the grid, Verstappen could continue to be a major point scorer throughout the season…again.
Charles Leclerc	Following three seasons of ups and downs for Charles Leclerc and Ferrari in 2022, ’23, and ’24, the Monegasque driver looks set to challenge at the very front once again in ’25. And for an estimated initial value of $25m, Leclerc may be the best driver F1 Fantasy has to offer. In 2024, he was the best value driver on the grid — scoring an average of 1.09 points per million of his value — and also only averaged 2.92 points per race less than Verstappen…who cost upwards of $6m more! With Ferrari expected to be in and amongst the front-runners in 2025, Leclerc could be in regular contention for pole positions, podium places and race victories — all of which could contribute toward a major F1 Fantasy points haul.
Lando Norris	Lando Norris was one of the brightest stars of 2024 and, much like Verstappen and Leclerc, has his eyes firmly set on a drivers’ title in 2025. The Briton finished second to Verstappen in last year’s drivers’ standings, but led the field in top ten finishes, fastest laps and driver of the day awards — all of which contributed to a total of 695 F1 Fantasy points scored. Only Verstappen scored more. With McLaren poised to lead from the front in 2025, Norris could be your best bet to score major and consistent F1 Fantasy points from the very first round in Melbourne.

Drivers to watch

Driver	Reason
Lewis Hamilton	2025 will see F1’s most successful constructor, Ferrari, team up with its most successful driver in Lewis Hamilton. But will it result in plentiful F1 Fantasy returns? The seven-time world champion has been the focus of scrutiny in the recent years, as he struggled for performance at Mercedes. His value has dropped as a result, with an end-of-season value of $25.8m in 2024. But a fresh start could see Hamilton make a resurgent leap back to the very front of the grid, where he could be in regular contention for pole positions and race wins — all for a relatively affordable price tag.
Oliver Bearman	Oliver Bearman will be one of six rookie drivers joining the F1 grid in 2025, but the Briton could be the best new face to add to your F1 Fantasy line-up. Across three stand-in reserve appearances in 2024, Bearman scored a total of 47 points — more than both Alex Albon and Valtteri Bottas managed over the course of the entire season! With Haas, Bearman is expected to be at the centre of the midfield action in 2025, where points for overtaking and gaining places can be plentiful.
Liam Lawson	Liam Lawson impressed thoroughly during his stand-in stints for RB in 2023 and 2024, and has been rewarded with a seat at Red Bull in 2025. It remains to be seen whether the Kiwi will sink or swim in his new role, but he could be a worthy and relatively cheap addition to your F1 Fantasy line-up — should Red Bull have a competitive package. Over five races in 2024, he scored a total of 35 F1 Fantasy points and averaged 5.83 points per grand prix weekend — better than the likes of Pierre Gasly, Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda.

There are other notable options worth considering — depending on how much of your budget is going spare.

Carlos Sainz proved himself as one of the best drivers on the grid in 2024, and could become F1’s new king of the midfield in 2025 after moving from Ferrari to Williams. His value could be expected to drop slightly as a result of moving further down the grid to a less competitive team, making him a more affordable and realistic asset.

If you’re looking for a cut-price option to fit in your driver line-up, Nico Hülkenberg or Pierre Gasly could be your men. Both drivers cost under $10m to start the season, yet were each able to tally almost 100 F1 Fantasy points over the course of the season. Gasly also didn’t cost Alpine a penny in damage costs — making him an ultra-reliable asset for the new year.

Drivers to avoid

Kimi Antonelli, Isack Hadjar, Gabriel Bortoleto and Jack Doohan could all be in for rude F1 awakenings, with little experience shared between them. So we’d recommend avoiding them during your F1 Fantasy team selections for the time being.

While all of them may arrive in Melbourne with cheap F1 Fantasy price tags, the penalty for mistakes and DNFs remains high for 2025, meaning that if any of the aforementioned drivers have some teething issues, it could put you straight on the back foot to start the season.

Doohan especially could be worth avoiding, with his long-term place on the grid already being questioned.

Teams

Like last year, F1 Fantasy players are able to pick two constructors to support over the course of the 2025 F1 season. For your initial holding team (which can be changed until the end of free practice three on March 1 at 1.30pm) we recommend pairing either Ferrari or McLaren with a midfield outfit such as Haas or Aston Martin. Not only does this leave players with a healthy budget for their drivers, but it will also allow you take advantage of almost all of the possible point-scoring opportunities — from overtakes and positions gained to pole positions and race wins.

Other obvious options include Red Bull or possibly Mercedes, but the Maranello and Woking based outfits are expected to be the early front-runners.

Given their performance in 2024, leaving Sauber and Racing Bulls out of your line-up is probably a good idea for now.

Top F1 Fantasy tips

Whether you decide to pick from our own selection or blaze your own trail, there are some tips to avoid losing out on big point hauls, and potentially making significant gains.

Avoid cheap drivers

Cheaper drivers, although handy for filling out more expensive driver lineups, are unlikely to score qualifying points. So in order to make up the deficit, pick those who are known for good race pace or drivers who complete a lot of overtakes such as Nico Hülkenberg or Yuki Tsunoda – both of which ranked instead the top ten of overtakes made last season.

Avoid mistake-makers

It’s important to avoid drivers who are likely to cause accidents, DNF or have unpredictable cars where possible, as this could result in a costly point deduction (-25), and instead focus on reliability and consistency. In 2024, Alex Albon failed to finish seven races across the season, resulting in 140 points lost.

Employ overtakers 

Including bold overtakers can pay off in a big way over the course of an F1 Fantasy season, with bonuses for overtaking and making up places (1 point per place in both cases) on offer. Kevin Magnussen scored 115 points from overtakes alone last season and team-mate Nico Hülkenberg added an additional 115 to give Haas the highest team total too.

Although drivers may only complete 5-6 overtakes each race, the points scored from each can add up in the long run and could ultimately be the difference between victory and a podium place. In 2023, just five points separated F1 Fantasy’s global champion and second place.

Pitstop points

Don’t overlook pitstops. Red Bull could give you a good chance of bagging the ten bonus points for performing the fastest stop in each race: it had the quickest wheel-changers in ten of last year’s 23 grand prix. A speedy team can also claim further points for the second and third-fastest stops.

Prizes

The prize list for the 2025 F1 Fantasy Global League has not yet been revealed.

However, it’s likely to be similar to last year, which saw the winner receive two Paddock Club passes to a 2026 grand prix of their choosing.

Second place will receive two Champions Club passes to a 2026 grand prix of their choosing, while third place will receive a £500 F1 Authentics store voucher.

Mini-league competitions, running over a small number of race weekends will offer the chance to win more.

Leagues

As with last year, there is the global league and mini leagues to enter, as well as the option of joining or creating public or private leagues for the chance of glory against family, friends or colleagues.

For the first time, Motor Sport will be hosting its own league with regular leaderboard updates on our social channels.

Rules and regulations

Scoring – Qualifying

Points will be awarded and deducted based on a drivers/constructors’ performance during a grand prix weekend.

Drivers will be awarded for individual qualifying performance, with ten points given to pole position all the way down to 1 point for tenth. If drivers fail to set a time they will be deducted 5 points and if disqualified, they will be deducted 15 points.

Constructors will score the combined total of its two drivers as well as scoring points for one of the following outcomes:

Scoring – Grands Prix

Positions gained points As well as scoring points for finishing position, points will also be awarded for positions gained (1 point per position) and lost (-1 point per position). There is no cap how many points a driver can score through this method.

Overtaking points Much like last year, drivers are awarded points for overtaking. A move is classed as “when one driver legally passes another on track, and the driver passed was not entering or in the pit lane or suffering a car failure or going unreasonably slow” and earns one point per overtake. So just hope that your drivers get caught in a multi-lap dice where positions are swapped multiple times.

Fastest lap / Driver of the day points Ten points will also be awarded for fastest lap honours and driver of the day.

Race result points The full race result point system follows the same points system found in Formula 1 — 25 points to the winner, 18 to second, 15 to third and so on.

Retirement points deductions 20 points will be deducted for DNFs and 25 points will be deducted for disqualifications.

Constructors / pitstop points Constructors will score the combined total of its two drivers in the race, with the exception of the driver of the day bonus, as well as scoring points for the following:

Chips

Players will have access to six ‘chips’, only one of which can be used to give you a boost before each race weekend. Each chip can only be used once during the season and you can only use one per race.

Autopilot This will automatically give your DRS Boost to the highest scoring driver in your team.
When to use it: save it for a sprint weekend for maximum bonus

Extra DRS Boost This will triple the score of a selected driver for a grand prix weekend.
When to use it: Another one for a sprint weekend, when there’s a driver with a clear advantage

No Negative If you’ve elected for a riskier strategy, this chip will stop you from scoring any negative points over the course of the weekend – meaning the only way is up! Unlike last year, this will be applied to individual scoring categories instead of the driver’s overall score for the weekend.
When to use it: Is it looking like a wet weekend in treacherous Singapore? Take out this insurance policy

Wildcard This will allow you to make an unlimited amount of changes to your team whilst staying under the cost cap.
When to use it: Save for after the Australian Grand Prix, where the past races and early upgrades will have painted a better picture of the running order

Limitless Similar to the wildcard, this will allow you to make unlimited changes to your team with no cost cap for just one grand prix – allowing you to pick the best teams and drivers
When to use it: When trying to recover points after a slow start or in the final stages of the season when top teams and drivers have separated themselves from the rest of the field.

Final Fix – This allows you to make a single change between the end of qualifying and the start of the grand prix.
When to use it: To transfer in a driver who has qualified unexpectedly high on a track where overtaking is tricky

Transfers and values

Ahead of each race, you will have two free transfers to customise your driver or constructor line-up. Changing this regularly each week to keep up with driver form can give you a significant advantage over the rest of the league.

There is still no benefit in timing your transfers during the week: dynamic pricing used to allow players to trade their way to astronomical team values. However, driver and team values is now be updated after races to reflect their performances.

DRS Boost

Score double points! Activate a DRS boost on one driver in your line-up per race to receive double their points tally for the upcoming grand prix weekend.

Point Deductions

If you exceed the driver transfer allowance (2), you will be deducted ten points plus additional transfer. Similarly, if you create a team after the team-lock deadline, which closes before qualifying, you will be deducted ten points.

How to join the Motor Sport F1 Fantasy league

Compete alongside other Motor Sport readers and join our official F1 Fantasy league below!

After creating your team, find and join the Motor Sport link either by clicking this link here, or by entering the following code into the ‘Find a League section’: P26UURWJ208