With F1’s rapidly-growing traction, it is no wonder that fans want to involve themselves in all the action that comes with it. However, since most of us can only dream of getting the opportunity to drive an F1 car at over 300 kmph around a track, we have to settle for a simulation of the administrative side of the sport. The widely-popular F1 Fantasy League lets fans do just that. Let’s take a look at the intricacies of the F1 Fantasy League:
How does F1 Fantasy work?
The Official F1 Fantasy League gives fans of the sport to engage in an online tournament where they can create a ‘team’ of their liking consisting of real drivers and teams. The player acts as a sort of ‘manager’, optimizing the allotted $100 million budget on five drivers and one constructor. All 2022 F1 drivers are present within the league, with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen being at the top of the table due to their epic 2021 battle. All of the player’s selected drivers and constructors score points based on how those specific drivers perform in the real world, giving fans an opportunity to showcase their F1 knowledge.
Players can create their own teams to enter into global, national, or regional leagues. They can also create their own leagues to compete against friends and family members.
F1 Fantasy Rules
There are a number of rules which govern the functioning of the F1 Fantasy Leagues. Let’s take a look at some of them below:
Budget
Players are given $100 million to spend on five drivers and one constructor, giving them the option of choosing drivers of their liking. As the price of drivers and constructors changes over the course of the season, players can remove certain drivers from their team, locking their price and thereby increasing their overall budget. Hence, players can end up with a budget higher than $100 million as the season progresses if they make the right calls.
Subs Bank
The Subs Bank allows the player to make up to six substitutions in their teams without incurring a penalty. The player gets their first three substitutions each race week for free, with a penalty of -10 points for every additional substitution. Each time the player saves a substitution to their team, their Sub Bank is reduced by one. Players can only make as many substitutions to their team as their Sub Banks allow before the ‘lock time’. Capitalizing on Subs Banks can help a player increase their overall budget and get better drivers in their team.
Dynamic Pricing
There is Dynamic Pricing too, which means how many other players are buying or selling a driver will affect their respective pricing. Players can use their Subs Bank to continuously change the drivers in their team, increasing their overall budget if done properly. As prices change, it is the price of a driver at the time of saving your team that is counted.
What is a Wildcard in F1 Fantasy?
The Wildcard feature allows the player to make up to 12 substitutions for free in the race week, letting them make a full ‘team reset’ in effect. Each Wildcard is valid for one race week and is automatically removed from the player’s team the following race week. The player gets two wildcards per season – one in each half. However, not using the wildcard in the first half doesn’t let the player carry it forward to the next half, effectively wasting it.
F1 Fantasy Tips
1) Wait for Free Practice sessions before making major changes to your team – Since the 2022 cars behave considerably different from previous generation cars, there is no real way of knowing how a certain car or driver will perform at a certain track. A possible way around this is to wait for the race weekend to begin, observing a driver’s Free Practice performances before making any big moves.
2) Keep shifting your drivers around – Given the Dynamic Pricing system, it is worth shuffling drivers around to optimize your profit over the race weekend. Turning your allotted $100 million into a higher amount will do you much better in the long run, giving you the option of buying better-performing drivers as the season progresses.
3) Focus on the Midfield- Midfield drivers such as Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen can yield terrific profits for the player given the closer battles in the midfield this year. While focusing on Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen is good to make the big bucks, adding drivers such as Bottas or Magnussen can help the player turn small profits as the season progresses. Avoiding overpriced stars all the time can help the player end up with a larger overall budget.
F1 Fantasy League Prizes
1st Prize – Winner of the overall global league gets 2x Paddock Club Passes for a race in 2023.*
2nd Prize – Runner-up of the overall global league gets 2x Grandstand tickets to a 2023 Grand Prix.*
3rd Prize – 3rd place winner gets 12 months of access to F1TVPro depending on their region.
*excluding Grands Prix held in Singapore, Australia, Zandvoort, Monaco, and Abu Dhabi.
F1 Fantasy Scoring System
The scoring for the F1 Fantasy League is as follows:
Qualifying:
·Q1: 1 point
·Q2: 2 Points
·Q3: 3 points
·Out-qualified teammate: 2 points
·Pole: 10 points, 2nd: 9, 3rd: 8, 4th: 7……10th: 1
Race
·Finished: 1 point
·Per position gained: 2 points (to a maximum of 10)
·Per position lost: -2 (to a maximum of 10)
·Finished ahead of teammate: 3
·Fastest Lap: 5
·Not Classified: -10
·Disqualification: -20
·Finishing Position: A point for every World Championship Point earned by that driver. For example, 25 points for winning the race, 18 for coming second, etc.
Streak
Drivers get awarded points for forming streaks of good finishes. Here are the rules that govern them:
- Driver qualifies in top 10 for five races in a row: 5 points
- Driver finishes race in top 10 for five races in a row: 10
- Constructor has both drivers qualify in top 10 for three races in a row: 5
- Constructor has both drivers finish race in top 10 for three races in a row: 10
Event
Events like the newly-introduced Sprint races also award points. Here is points scoring system for the same:
- Finished: 1 point
- Per position gained: 1 (to a maximum of 5 points)
- Per position lost: -1 (to a maximum of 5 points)
- Finished ahead of teammate: 2
- Fastest lap: 3
- Not classified: -5
- Disqualification: -10
- Finishing position: 1st – 10 points, 2nd – 9, 3rd – 8, 4th – 7, 5th – 6, 6th – 5, 7th – 4, 8th – 3, 9th – 2, 10th – 1
