F1 Fantasy: top picks & predictions for the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix

The 2024 Austrian Grand Prix could see all eight drivers from the four front-running constructors in contention for victory on the Red Bull Ring — with a sprint race weekend bringing a potential points bonanza! Who should you choose to lead your F1 Fantasy line-up?

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris have been the two main challengers for race victories so far this season — with the exception of Charles Leclerc in Monaco and Carlos Sainz in Australia — and have the two highest F1 Fantasy points tallies as a result. But while McLaren looks to have had the fastest car on the grid since the Miami GP — allowing Norris to secure a first career victory followed by three podium finishes —Verstappen’s talent has continued to shine through, with three wins in the last five races.

Having either or even both drivers in your line-up for the foreseeable future is a no-brainer, and to take advantage of the marginal performance between the front-runners we would still recommend squeezing in a Mercedes or Ferrari asset — ideally as one of your constructors due to the closely-matched form of each team’s driver pairings.

With so many high-profile drivers and teams in the same line-up, it will definitely stretch the budget. But there are few hidden gems that can be found further down the gird.

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F1 Fantasy: Top budget performers for under $10m

Driver	Cost	Points	Points per million (value)
Zhou Guanyu	$7.8m	46	0.59
Yuki Tsunoda	$9.5m	51	0.54
Pierre Gasly	$9.6m	48	0.5
Nico Hülkenberg	$8.7m	40	0.46

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Much like at the front of the pack, the midfield running order alters race-by-race but there have been some consistent performers throughout. Despite Sauber‘s struggles, Zhou Guanyu has become one of the best bang-for-your-buck options on the grid, having scored an average of 0.59 points per million of his $7.8m value. Every driver with a better value than Zhou costs at least $20m or much more.

Yuki Tsunoda and Nico Hülkenberg have also been valuable assets and, when their cars have been competitive, both have proven their ability to qualify and race at the front of the midfield for point scoring positions.

Pierre Gasly is a relatively new addition to top budget performers category, with his Alpine only just beginning to show signs of life with a seventh-place finish in Spain. The Frenchman has proven capable of far more in the past, and for just $9.6m, he could quickly become one of the best budget drivers on the grid should the Enstone outfit’s performance continue.

Read on for our tips and predictions for the Austrian Grand Prix, and don’t forget to join the Motor Sport Fantasy league.

There are more on the rules and scoring in our F1 Fantasy full guide; and if you need some creative inspiration, check out our F1 Fantasy team name generator. For more information on the chips available and when to use them, we’ve got an F1 Fantasy chips explainer too.

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How to score the most F1 Fantasy points possible in Austria

Sprint race weekends bring a different set of rules and opportunities to F1 Fantasy and taking advantage of all of them could send you surging to the top of the leaderboards.

Firstly, on sprint race weekends, the deadline for finalising your F1 Fantasy line-up does not expire until after sprint qualifying on Saturday 25 June at 11am — which gives you a great opportunity to establish who’s quick and who’s not and then make team changes accordingly. There are no points awarded for the first qualifying session of the weekend, so you won’t lose out by delaying your choices until after the session!

If you haven’t done so already, it may also be worth playing your Limitless Chip (which will allow you to make unlimited changes to your current line-up without a budget cap) or Triple DRS Chip (which will triple the score of a selected driver) to take advantage of the tight-knit front-running pack and the increased points on offer due to the sprint race weekend format.

With the Austrian GP located in the middle of a triple-header, there’s not a lot of time for teams to introduce additional upgrades after the Spanish GP, which could add another element of certainty when selecting your drivers and constructors. Here’s a few we think you should consider:

 

Max Verstappen ✅

Even without the fastest car underneath him, Max Verstappen’s ability to make fewer mistakes than anyone else is ultimately why he now possesses commanding leads in both the drivers’ championship and the F1 Fantasy leaderboards.

The Dutchman has a current tally of 336 F1 Fantasy points (65 more than Norris and 73 more than Leclerc); he’s averaged 33.9 points per race so far this season (6.5 more than Norris and 7.3 more than Leclerc) and he’s scored eight podium finishes.

In such superlative form and with a raucous crowd of support awaiting him in Austria, it’s no surprise that Verstappen is the favourite for every kind of pole position and race victory at the Red Bull Ring — an event he’s won more than any other driver in F1 history, with visits to the top step in 2018, 2019, twice in 2021 and in 2023.

Even for almost a third of your budget, Verstappen’s $30m price is worth every penny!

 

Racing Bulls ❌

RB has become a hard team to judge throughout the early stages of the 2024 season, for when it gets it right — as it did in Miami — Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo are given the chance to shine. But when it gets it wrong, the Faenza outfit can become a major weakness in your F1 Fantasy line-up.

At the Spanish GP, both Tsunoda and Ricciardo had little-to-no pace during qualifying or the race, resulting in a 19th and 15th place finish respectively. In F1 Fantasy terms, their value was no better as the team walked away from Barcelona having scored only 10 points while similarly-priced rivals Haas scored 11 and Alpine scored 24.

With little time to fix any issues before racing gets back underway in Austria, it’s likely RB will continue to struggle on the Red Bull Ring so we’d recommend picking up a different budget constructor in the meantime.

 

Alpine ✅

Alpine has shown signs of a return to form in recent weeks and its double-points finish in Spain is undoubtedly the Enstone outfit’s performance of the season so far.

For only an original price of only $8.4m, Alpine and both of its drivers were a staple in many F1 Fantasy line-ups ahead of the first race in Bahrain, as many presumed that the team would carry over the performance from its sixth-place finish in the constructors’ standings last year. But after a shocking start to the year, Alpine is now the least selected constructor  — featuring in only 8% of line-ups.

Having matched or bettered the scores of both RB and Haas in the last two grand prix, now may be the perfect time to add the Enstone outfit into your line-up and gain a rare advantage just as its performance is starting to gain momentum.

 

Kevin Magnussen ❌

Kevin Magnussen has been one of our favourite F1 Fantasy selections for some time — and for good reason. For only $9.8m, the Dane has qualified and often finished high up the grid and collected solid points totals as a result. But with his seat at Haas under threat for next season, perhaps the pressure is getting to him.

A huge lap one crash in Monaco — which resulted in a massive 33 point penalty — was followed by a climb up through the field in Canada. But another poor performance in Spain — where he qualified 16th and finished 17th — has forced us elsewhere for a driver with some significant bang for very little buck.

$8.7m team-mate Nico Hülkenberg is one of the best alternatives, having averaged just 0.7 points less per race while costing just over $1m less. The German also a history of success at the Red Bull Ring and was even an early contender for a sprint race podium last year after qualifying a brilliant fourth. It’s also worth mentioning that Hülkenberg has been Haas’s most consistent performer this season. When he’s seen the chequered flag, he’s finished no lower than eleventh since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.