F1 Fantasy: top picks & predictions for the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix
Big questions hang over F1 Fantasy choices for the 2025 Japanese GP. Here are our predictions; tips on drivers to avoid; which chips to play and further analysis
The big question: Piastri or Norris this weekend?
McLaren
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And so the pendulum swings. The narrative, for at least the early part of the 2025 F1 season, looks to have been set as an almighty McLaren scrap – and provides fascinating opportunities for your Fantasy team at this weekend’s Japanese GP.
We reveal all in our tips and predictions below (complete with FP1 and FP2 practice update), while there’s also some crucial action required in relation to Red Bull’s sudden driver switch – with penalties incoming otherwise.
Oscar Piastri struck back from his disastrous Melbourne race with a consummate Chinese GP win. Combined with a strong sprint race for the Aussie, it paid big dividends for those who picked him, particularly if combined with some other canny choices and/or chips.
However, despite a bit of a stinker in the sprint, Lando Norris still finished right behind his team-mate in the main race, bagging decent Fantasy points too.
Which McLaren driver do you go with in Japan then? The Briton is the more consistent performer, but Piastri looked imperious in Shanghai – and costs less. It’s a painful choice to make.
How did Motor Sport’s 2025 Chinese GP Fantasy picks do?
Piastri celebrates a brilliant Fantasy points haul
McLaren
Just like the first race in Australia, you’d have done pretty well to follow Motor Sport’s advice with our Chinese picks delivering 253 points – maintaining our position in or around the top 10% of most leagues.
With our recommended Extra DRS Boost, Norris hauled in 123 points with eighth in the sprint, second in qualifying and the same result in the race. Unfortunately, the other drivers didn’t grab massive scores. A Racing Bulls pit strategy bungle meant Isack Hadjar scored 11 and Yuki Tsunoda six, when both initially looked on a double top-10 finish.
Nico Hülkenberg couldn’t replicate his Melbourne heroics by only getting two Fantasy points, while Fernando Alonso was the unmitigated disaster: with a double DRS boost compounding his lap one retirement woes in the GP, the Spaniard snared an unfortunate -32.
However, Motor Sport’s bacon was saved by our two constructor picks. As we advised previously, having a team which gets both its drivers into Q3 is worth the points bonus. McLaren racked up a very helpful 101 points, while the Racing Bulls team was decent on 42 despite its shocker of a grand prix in which it threw away a potential double top-10 through poor pit strategy.
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That being said, some unexpected events again threw up slightly random results. A lot of conventional wisdom went out of the window on a topsy-turvy sprint weekend – Haas pulled in big points (both real and in Fantasy) – with a double top-10 in the GP despite being well adrift of the field in Melbourne, helped even more by the disqualification of both Ferraris.
Taking a slightly conservative approach this far into the season, we advised against using any chips aside from the Extra DRS Boost. However, as reflected in the official Motor Sport league, it was the use of another chip and some unusual driver choices which helped others score big.
Like many other top scorers, ‘Go Go Norris’ went for the Limitless chip and hit first place in our table with a haul of 391 points. This gives you an unlimited budget to pick whoever you want for one race weekend only – particularly handy on a sprint event.
Putting your chips on the front-runners capitalising paid dividends
McLaren
The GGN team had Norris (82) as the DRS Boost choice, followed by Piastri (45), Max Verstappen (30), and both Mercedes drivers in George Russell (35) Kimi Antonelli (29), with McLaren (101) and Silver Arrows (69) chosen as the constructors.
While most other high achievers took a similar approach, second-placed ‘HeelsF1Team’ used the No Negative chip to ward off minus points for misdemeanours.
This proved particularly useful for Pierre Gasly who took 12 points but was disqualified from the race. What also helped (along with choosing Norris and McLaren) was the selection of the Haas (48) and both its drivers Esteban Ocon (24) and Ollie Bearman (23), despite the looking hopeless in Australia. Combined with the backing of Lance Stroll (17) it was an unusual approach which paid off this time.
2025 Japanese GP Fantasy choices – Is Piastri the key to success?
Just two races in and F1 Fantasy Players find themselves at a crossroads. Choose the more expensive, but so far more consistent, Norris ($29.6m), or go for Piastri ($23m) who hasn’t been able to quite hit the same heights on a regular basis, but looked every inch his McLaren team-mate’s match in Shanghai?
Yet again they were close in Japanese GP practice.
However, the Australian is cheaper than Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, but looks far more capable of winning races than any of those.
To make your choice slightly easier, we’d look at the form of others on the grid too. If you were to exchange Norris for Piastri, you’d bank an extra $6.6m.
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As we forecasted in previous articles, you could spend this extra cash on Alexander Albon ($12.8m), who has come home fifth and seventh in the first two races, looking in excellent form. He’s a far more attractive asset than similarly priced Carlos Sainz ($11.9m) or Pierre Gasly ($10.6m), who have both struggled for results. Stroll ($10.6m) has actually scored more Fantasy points than Albon so far (33/38 respectively) but it looks unlikely his scoring performances will continue.
As one of the cheaper assets at $7.6m, but still with a car which can snatch top-10 finishes, we’re keeping Alonso in for now too. That’s in spite of his FP2 off. Don’t be influenced by the ‘recency bias’ making players pick Stroll!
On a normal race weekend you’d have two transfers available, but if you’ve followed our advice thus far (and stuck with the same line-up for China), you should have three possible three transfers to make with one carried over, which means…
The crucial information to remember for F1 Fantasy at the 2025 Japanese GP
Lawson and Hadjar with their legions of Fantasy fans (honestly)
Red Bull
If you owned Yuki Tsunoda (possible) or Liam Lawson (unlikely, but still) previously, you will now have to transfer them out due to their Red Bull / Racing Bulls switch.
If you don’t, you will receive an ‘Inactive Driver’ penalty of up to -25 points.
The two aces appear to have swapped valuations. Tsunoda is now $16.8m, while Lawson is now chalked at $8.4m. However, you have to sell them at their previous valuations.
If you owned Lawson, you could use that money now to buy Albon, Sainz or Gasly with a decent wedge of at least $4m left over – fortuitous if you backed the hapless Kiwi so far.
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Unfortunately, if you already owned Tsunoda, it doesn’t appear you can cash out on the price increase, you can only sell him for his previous amount.
In that case, we’d advise going for a straight swap. Lawson knows Suzuka already, and the Racing Bull is apparently much easier to drive than its Milton Keynes counterpart, plus the feisty New Zealander will be desperate to prove a point after a painful two races at Red Bull.
This was supported on Friday practice at Suzuka with the Kiwi going 13th fastest in FP1 before finishing seventh in the next session (with the caveat that several didn’t set a representative time in an FP2 with several red flags).
Those who went with Tsunoda previously are at a big disadvantage compared to those who have had to get rid of Lawson, courtesy of the money accrued by the sale of the latter – and the fact you don’t get to sell the Japanese driver for his new price of $16.8m.
Motor Sport has contacted F1 Fantasy for clarification on this.
What are my budget F1 Fantasy choices?
Putting weight behind the opinion that, prior to the start of 2025, McLaren might not be as dominant as everyone feared, Motor Sport suggested pre-season that it might be wise to try and spread the value of your team equally across all assets. This would be an alternative to using the ultra-expensive McLaren and one of its drivers.
However, the Woking squad has been very successful thus far, with the results of its far cheaper competitors being mixed at best. This has basically made it essential to choose the McLaren team and one of its drivers as a minimum. We’d therefore avoid the ‘budget’ approach for here on.
What F1 Fantasy chips should I use for the 2025 Japanese GP?
Forecasted inclement weather is closing in on this Sunday’s race. Could it be the time to use your No Negative chip? It makes provision for any wet weather disasters.
However, these ups and downs (i.e. drivers crashing out in the wet) usually shake out through the season. If you make better choices in your team generally, missing out on a chip this weekend or that won’t hurt you too much.
You could use your Wildcard chip if you’ve had a shocker with very low points scores so far but, in most scenarios, it’s worth saving chips for sprint weekends. We’ve advised sticking with that policy for now.