Mercedes’ George Russell ($19.1m) was the only other driver to score more than 20 points over the weekend, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton scored only 12 and McLaren’s Lando Norris — who is the second most expensive driver on the grid — managed to tally only 16.
RB was a popular choice: 40% of players selecting it as a constructor and a huge 56% of players opting for Daniel Ricciardo. But the points haul was disappointing as the team failed to live up to the pre-testing hype.
So in order to keep the ball rolling in Jeddah, is now the time to go all-in on Max Verstappen and Red Bull? Can value still be found in those chasing behind them? Or is now the time to draft surprise F1 newcomer Ollie Bearman?
Read on for our tips and predictions for the Saudi Arabian 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.
2024 F1 Fantasy — best value drivers and constructors
Drivers with the most points per $1m of value, and their price changes since the last race
| Driver | Price | Points | Points per million |
| Carlos Sainz | $18.8m ↑0.3m | 36 | 1.91 |
| Zhou Guanyu | $7.1m ↑0.5m | 11 | 1.55 |
| Max Verstappen | $30.2m ↑0.2m | 45 | 1.49 |
| Sergio Perez | $21.1m ↑0.3m | 31 | 1.47 |
| Constructor | |||
| Ferrari | $19.6m ↑0.3m | 73 | 3.72 |
| Red Bull | $28.0m ↑0.1m | 89 | 3.18 |
| Mercedes | $20.2m ↑0.1m | 42 | 2.08 |
| McLaren | $23.3m ↑0.1m | 36 | 1.55 |
Join the official Motor Sport Magazine League
Code: P26UURWJ208
How F1 Fantasy players got off to a flying start in Bahrain
35 players in the official Motor Sport Magazine League scored over 300 points over F1’s opening weekend, and each had a common strategy between them: the Extra DRS Chip.
When placed on a selected driver, this chip triples their score from the weekend and those who picked Max Verstappen certainly reaped the rewards. The Dutchman scored pole position, the race win and the fastest lap last weekend, giving him a boosted F1 Fantasy points tally of 135 points.
The highest scoring players, such as Curro Pérez, also took advantage of the remaining double DRS chip (which must be placed on a driver for each race) onto another driver who was likely to score big points throughout the opening weekend. Carlos Sainz led the way for most with an extra 72 points, followed by Sergio Perez with an extra 62 points.
Of course, if you did not play your Extra DRS Chip in Bahrain, you still have 23 other grand prix weekends in which to use it, including sprint races where more points are available. Curro Pérez and the like will have to build on a great start without it.
How to keep the F1 Fantasy ball rolling in Jeddah
No matter the start your F1 Fantasy line-up got off to in Bahrain, a record-breaking 24-race calendar will give you plenty of chances to either extend your lead or make up for an early deficit.
Jeddah is often an unforgiving circuit, where mistakes can be severely punished and safety car restarts can cause the running order to change drastically.
Here are the drivers and teams you should consider and avoid in Jeddah.
Should I pick Ollie Bearman for my F1 Fantasy team?
Should Ferrari reserve Ollie Bearman make your F1 Fantasy line-up?
Joe Portlock/F1 via Getty Images
In a surprise twist to the Saudi Arabian GP weekend, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz has been sidelined with appendicitis, leaving Ollie Bearman to step up in his absence. The Briton made his F1 practice debut with Haas last season, and was almost immediately on the pace: finishing 15th during FP1 in Mexico. But for $14m, should he make your F1 Fantasy line-up this weekend?
The short answer: no. Although Bearman was highly impressive throughout his first outing for Ferrari during FP3 — setting comparable lap times to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton — it’s unlikely he’ll bring much value to your F1 Fantasy line-up. Even if he should qualify high on the grid due to the performance of the car underneath him, the experience and race pace of those behind him may lead to the Briton dropping points due to being overtaken and losing position.
Given that he’s never competed in a full-length F1 grand prix before, there could also be a high chance of him failing to see the chequered flag at all, resulting in an instant 25-point deduction to your weekend points total.
But on the other hand, if you want to use up your No Negative Chip — which would prevent Bearman from scoring any negative points for your team — he could turn out to be a risk that pays off.
Alpine ❌
Alpine’s performance suffered in Bahrain — both on and off track
Grand Prix Photo
Alpine‘s start to the 2024 F1 campaign can only be categorised as abysmal. The Enstone outfit — which finished a respectable sixth in the constructors’ standings last season — not only qualified both cars on the very back row of the grid, but only climbed as high as 17th during the race. As a result, both Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon scored measly F1 Fantasy totals of six and seven points.
The situation only worsened after the chequered flag had fallen. Just a day after the A524’s racing debut, both technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer resigned. It’s not exactly the vote of confidence F1 Fantasy players were probably looking for, so you should probably steer clear of any Alpine asset until signs of progress
Both Gasly and Ocon have publicly acknowledged that the team has a long way to go in terms of its development.
Sauber ✅
Could Zhou once again be among F1 Fantasy’s best value drivers?
Getty Images
It may not have looked like it, but Sauber / Stake showed an incredible amount of potential throughout the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend — from an F1 Fantasy perspective mostly. Despite neither car qualifying brilliantly, Zhou Guanyu once again showed his value for money, scoring 11 points by way of points for positions gained and individual overtakes. In fact, he only scored one less point than Lewis Hamilton, who is $12.2m more!
It could have been a similar story for Valtteri Bottas but after he ran into the back of Nico Hülkenberg’s Haas on Lap 1, the Finnish driver never quite regained any momentum. As a result of a poor showing, the ten-time F1 race winner is now potentially a better bargain than his team-mate, who rose in value significantly (+$0.5m) due to his high F1 Fantasy points total.
Either way, it may be a good idea to have at least one Sauber driver in your line-up for Saudi Arabia as a good source of high value but low budget points.
Haas ❌
Haas may be quick now, but it may not translate into big F1 Fantasy point hauls
Getty Images
Don’t be fooled by Nico Hülkenberg‘s ultra-impressive qualifying session, Haas could still be a major weak point of your F1 Fantasy line-up in 2024.
Although the VF-24 seems to have some good one-lap pace — which allowed Hülkenberg to start tenth in Bahrain — it still seems to struggle with its race pace and often spends the majority of its time going backwards — costing Fantasy owners one point per place lost.
Kevin Magnussen was able to take advantage of the fighting ahead of him and took home a tightly contested 12th place — earning him seven F1 Fantasy points in the process — but Hülkenberg ultimately lost points after his Turn 1 clash.
Even for $6.7m and $6.2m respectively, there are more reliable budget options available, such as Alex Albon ($6.8m), Valtteri Bottas ($6.2m) or Zhou Guanyu ($7.1m).
Red Bull ✅
Get Red Bull in your team now, before it’s too late
Mark Thompson/Getty Images via Red Bull
It may be slightly premature to put all your F1 Fantasy eggs in the Red Bull basket, but if you want to reach the top of the leaderboards, you’re better off doing it sooner rather than later.
Right now, you can fit both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez into your driver line-up for $51.3m. While this is over half the $100m budget, your money could be well spent if Red Bull continue to dominate in similar fashion to Bahrain, where the duo combined for 76 points — more than any other team-mate pairing.
Going all-in on Red Bull in Saudi Arabia looks even less of a gamble. Two pole positions, two podium finishes and two race wins in the last three visits to Jeddah have translated into big Fantasy point totals in the past.
