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

F1 returns to the streets and stadium car park of Miami this weekend, where F1 Fantasy players will have another chance to earn a bumper points total thanks to the sprint race format, where an additional race and qualifying session gives drivers more opportunity to score. But clouds in the Florida skies could bring a twist of unpredictability.

Much like in China, the F1 Fantasy deadline is not set to expire until Saturday May 4 at 5pm (BST) after free practice and sprint qualifying have been completed, meaning that you can get a much clearer picture of the running order than usual before having to finalise your driver/constructor line-up. But with wet weather forecasr for Sunday’s Grand Prix — where the biggest points are scored — it may be worth playing it safe by picking experienced drivers with a well-established knack for wet-weather driving.

Max Verstappen will likely be the first name on many people’s list, having proven to be a race winner in almost any condition. For $30.3m the Dutchman may take up almost a third of your budget, but having won 80% of all grands prix in 2024, and claimed all but one of every available pole position so far this season, it’s hard to argue against him in unsettled weather.

Will he also be able to ride out the unsettled conditions in his pit garage, with news that Adrian Newey — Red Bull‘s chief designer and mastermind behind its recent dominance — is set to leave the team? A turbulent start to the season hasn’t derailed the Milton Keynes outfit yet, but it’s a reminder that a diversified F1 Fantasy line-up offers some insurance if a team fails to deliver at a particular race,

2024 F1 Fantasy — F1’s best undercover sprint performers from China

For every overtake or position gained during the sprint, drivers receive one point. For every position lost during the sprint, drivers are penalised one point.

In China, the sprint race was dominated once again by the pace and power of Red Bull, followed closely by Ferrari, and their drivers were the four top Fantasy points scorers in the race. But further down the field, there were some hidden gems which you may be able to use again this weekend.

Despite finishing a distant 13th in an underperforming Alpine, Esteban Ocon took eight points from Saturday’s sprint — exactly the same total scored by second-placed Lewis Hamilton. Similarly, Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda all scored seven points from moving up through the field, while the $24.7m Lando Norris (who started on pole for the Chinese sprint) finished with -2. In a race weekend where you could significantly boost your points totals, it’s worth remembering that the biggest names don’t always bring the biggest rewards.

With such a short run to the chequered flag, the closely-matched midfield cars could prove invaluable during sprint race weekends due to the amount of points that can be scored from overtaking and positions gained. Identifying which midfield car has the pace advantage will vary from weekend to weekend, but we should be able to get a good idea of each team’s performance from first practice and sprint qualifying before committing to a full Miami GP line-up.

Read on for our tips and predictions for the Chinese 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 Miami 

For the first time in their relatively short history, sprint races will feature in back-to-back F1 race weekends, which means the majority of our tips and tricks from the Chinese GP will still apply.

With the deadline set to expire on Saturday evening at 5pm (BST), we’d recommend not making any chances to your F1 Fantasy line-up until both practice and sprint qualifying have been completed. Not only will give you a much better idea who is most likely to set Miami’s International Autodrome alight, thanks to a session of competitive running, but it could also give you chance to play your Limitless or Extra DRS chips which can be massively effective if you can identify a top performer.

But with rain forecast to fall during during Sunday’s Grand Prix, there could be an increased risk of losing points too.

In an effort to ride out the F1 Fantasy storm, here is who we think you should consider for your Miami GP line-up:

Charles Leclerc ✅

Ever since its addition to the F1 calendar, the Miami GP has been a high-performing favourite for Charles Leclerc. In 2022, he started on pole position and finished just three seconds back from first-placed Verstappen during the race. Leclerc was on course to repeat the feat in 2023, before his unpredictable SF-23 suddenly shot him off the track and into a barrier during qualifying. The accident ruined his weekend as he was forced to start further down the order — yet he still finished an impressive seventh.

Ahead of 2024’s visit to the Floridian coast, Leclerc has earned a reputation among F1 Fantasy players as one of the game’s most consistent performers: averaging 32.4 points per race weekend and earning a 1.47 points per million value — the best of any driver on the grid. He’s also secured the most fastest laps at grand prix this year (2, tied with Verstappen) and has also finished inside the top 10 at every race so far.

With the extra motivation of beating his in-form team-mate, Leclerc has been a consistent top-four finisher this year and is looking more threatening as the season goes on. If anyone is going to challenge Verstappen this year, Leclerc looks like a good bet, and for $8.1m less than Red Bull’s dominant Dutchman.

Lewis Hamilton ❌

It’s safe to say that Lewis Hamilton may not be enjoying his last season at Mercedes. The Briton has not only failed to match the performance of his team-mate George Russell — who has more than double Hamilton’s F1 Fantasy point total so far this season (72 to 34) — but he’s also ranked amongst the very worst bang-for-your-buck drivers on the current grid, scoring just 0.36 points per million of his total value.

This is mainly due to Hamilton getting experimental with his set-up in an attempt to find some much needed pace. He appeared to hit the nail on the head in China, as he secured a front row start in sprint qualifying and finished second in the following race. But, come the Grand Prix, he again went in a different direction: qualifying 18th and finishing 9th.

With an upgrade on the way in Miami and a new approach to tackling sprint race weekends, the seven-time champ does have a chance to bounce back. But for now, we’d recommend spending his $19m price tag elsewhere. Both Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen have significantly outscored Hamilton so far this season, while also costing between $2.5m and $10.3m less respectively!

Esteban Ocon ✅

Alpine may still be struggling to find performance in its A524, but Esteban Ocon is miraculously managing to score solid F1 Fantasy points on a consistent basis — and for a price tag of only $9m. The Frenchman has a grand total of 32 points to his name so far this season, which is only two less than the $19m Hamilton but 10 more than his $7.8m team-mate Pierre Gasly.

Last year’s Miami GP was also one of Alpine’s stronger races, with both cars finishing inside the top 10. A similar performance on a sprint race weekend and in current form could mean that Ocon quickly becomes one of the best budget options on the grid. But if you still don’t quite trust the reliability of the Alpine underneath him, there are other options such as the cheaper Nico Hülkenberg — who has scored just one point less than Ocon so far this season — or even Logan Sargeant, who has scored 27 F1 Fantasy points this season despite costing only $6.3m.

RB ❌

VisaCashApp RB has cost F1 Fantasy players more points than any other constructor so far in 2024, with Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda combining for three DNFs — for which they received a combined 60 point penalty. The Faenza squad itself has only scored 19 points so far this season, despite being the third-highest picked constructor on the entire grid!

Despite having aligned its development with Red Bull, there’s no sign of RB’s continued poor performance coming to an end, with both Ricciardo and Tsunoda struggling for consistency. On Miami’s twisting street circuit, it wouldn’t be surprising for at least one RB driver to feature in another accident as they attempt to wring performance out of the car, which could only hurt your F1 Fantasy standings even more. The likes of Haas (who cost $0.2m less than RB) has already scored over five times the number of points, with scope to continue climbing the ranks.

What F1 Fantasy chips should I use in Miami? 

The Miami GP sprint race weekend could give you another perfect chance to play your Extra DRS Chip — tripling the score of a chosen driver over the course of both the sprint and GP events.

But, even with significantly more points available over the course of the weekend, we’d recommend holding off. The wet weather forecast for Sunday’s Grand Prix brings a much higher risk of one of your leading drivers falling victim to an unexpectedly damp spot on the track; a mistimed pitstop; or another driver sliding out of control. With four sprint races still to come at venues such as the Red Bull Ring and COTA — where overtaking is a much simpler task — you could benefit from saving your chips for later in the year, where you can make convincing gains up the league standings.