RADIO
Happy new F1 Fantasy season, RotoBallers! Last season was a wild one. What started with Red Bull's dominance ended in a battle between McLaren and Ferrari for the Constructors title. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen waltzed (kind of) to the title after a bit of pressure from Lando Norris in the campaign's second half.
F1 Fantasy should be as fascinating as ever. With it being the final year of this set of regulations, the teams will be closer than ever. This guide will teach you everything you need to know before the 2025 season. It promises to be a great one.
This is the first year of F1 Fantasy coverage at RotoBaller, so thanks for being along for the ride. The first deadline of the 2025 F1 Fantasy season is March 15, 2025, at midnight EST for the Australian Grand Prix.
How To Play F1 Fantasy?
Note: The 2025 rules have not been released yet. If there are any changes from 2024, the article will be updated.
Each F1 Fantasy team consists of five drivers and two constructors. To begin the season, a team cannot cost more than the $100 million budget strategists are provided. Strategists score points based on the drivers' and teams' performance during certain race weekend stages.
However, drivers' costs rise and fall throughout the season depending on their performance in the previous race. It's not too tricky to work out, but essentially, if a driver or constructor scores higher than the average score of the drivers or constructors, their price will rise, and if they score lower than the average, their price will fall.
If strategists don't like their team, the game allows two transfers per raceweek. However, you can roll (not use) one transfer and have it available for the following race. There's a maximum of three transfers per raceweek, so strategists can't build up five or six transfers in the middle of the season.
Introducing your top-scoring drivers in #F1Fantasy this season 🔝
How many of these helped your Fantasy team in 2024?#F1 pic.twitter.com/s4pImwT2ug
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 16, 2024
F1 Fantasy 2025 Schedule
The 2025 Formula 1 season has 24 races. It starts on March 14 with the Australian Grand Prix and ends on December 7 in Abu Dhabi.
| Location | Dates | F1 Fantasy Deadline Lock (ET) |
| Australia | March 14-16 | March 15, midnight |
| China* | March 21-23 | March 21, 10:00 p.m. |
| Japan | April 4-6 | April 5, 2:00 a.m. |
| Bahrain | April 11-13 | April 12, noon |
| Saudi Arabia | April 18-20 | April 19, 1:00 p.m. |
| Miami* | May 2-4 | May 3, noon |
| Emilia-Romagna | May 16-18 | May 17, 10:00 a.m. |
| Monaco | May 23-25 | May 24, 10:00 a.m. |
| Spain | May 30 - June 1 | May 31, 10:00 a.m |
| Canada | June 13-15 | June 14, 4:00 p.m. |
| Austria | June 27-29 | June 28, 10:00 a.m. |
| Great Britain | July 4-6 | July 5, 10:00 a.m. |
| Belgium* | July 25-27 | July 26, 6:00 a.m. |
| Hungary | August 1-3 | August 2, 10:00 a.m. |
| Netherlands | August 29-31 | August 30, 9:00 a.m. |
| Italy | September 5-7 | September 6, 10:00 a.m. |
| Azerbaijan | September 19-21 | September 20, 8:00 a.m. |
| Singapore | October 3-5 | October 4, 9:00 a.m. |
| United States* | October 17-19 | October 18, 1:00 p.m. |
| Mexico City | October 24-26 | October 25, 5:00 p.m. |
| Sao Paulo* | November 7-9 | November 8, 1:30 p.m. |
| Las Vegas** | November 20-22** | November 21, 11:00 p.m. |
| Qatar* | November 28-30 | November 29, 09:00 a.m. |
| Abu Dhabi | December 5-7 | December 6, 3:00 p.m. |
*Sprint Race weekend
**Saturday race
🥁 Presenting... the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship calendar!#F1 pic.twitter.com/qrBB52ncRd
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 12, 2024
Scoring
F1 Fantasy has three separate scoring events: the Sprint race, qualifying, and the grand prix. However, a generic scoring system exists for drivers and constructors in Sprint races and grand prix.
Drivers
| Positions Gained | 1 per position |
| Positions Lost | 2 per position |
| Overtakes made* | 1 per overtake |
| Driver of the Day** | 10 points |
*Overtakes must be made on track
**Awarded to the official Driver of the Day, as voted by F1.com
Constructors
| Neither driver reaches Q2 | -1 point |
| One driver reaches Q2 | 1 point |
| Both drivers reach Q2 | 3 points |
| One driver reaches Q3 | 5 points |
| Both drivers reach Q3 | 10 points |
| Fastest pitstop | 10 points |
| Second-fastest pitstop | 5 points |
| Third-fastest pitstop | 3 points |
Sprint Races
| Sprint Race Results | |
| 1st place | 8 points |
| 2nd place | 7 points |
| 3rd place | 6 points |
| 4th place | 5 points |
| 5th place | 4 points |
| 6th place | 3 points |
| 7th place | 2 points |
| 8th place | 1 point |
| 9th - 20th place | 0 points |
| DNF/Not classified* | -20 points |
| Disqualified **** | -25 points |
Qualifying
| Qualifying Result | |
| Pole Position (1st place) | 10 points |
| 2nd place | 9 points |
| 3rd place | 8 points |
| 4th place | 7 points |
| 5th place | 6 points |
| 6th place | 5 points |
| 7th place | 4 points |
| 8th place | 3 points |
| 9th place | 2 points |
| 10th place | 1 point |
| 11th - 20th place | 0 points |
| NC/No time set * | -5 points |
| Disqualified **** | -15 points |
Grand Prix
| 1st place | 25 points |
| 2nd place | 18 points |
| 3rd place | 15 points |
| 4th place | 12 points |
| 5th place | 10 points |
| 6th place | 8 points |
| 7th place | 6 points |
| 8th place | 4 points |
| 9th place | 2 points |
| 10th place | 1 point |
| 11th - 20th place | 0 points |
| DNF/Not classified* | -20 points |
| Disqualified **** | -25 points |
Transfers
While it would be fantastic to pick the best team for the first race in Australia and never have to fix your squad, that's not how fantasy sports work. Therefore, the game provides two free transfers per raceweek to help with any underperforming assets or sleeper picks for the following race weekend.
An important note is that you don't have to use both transfers in every race. If you only use one transfer in a given raceweek, the other will roll over, and you'll have three for the next race.
| Round | Transfers |
| Before Race 1 | Unlimited |
| Each Race Week | 2 |
| Wildcard | Unlimited |
| Limitless | Unlimited |
Chips
F1 Fantasy has six chips: Limitless, Extra DRS, No Negative, Auto Pilot, Final Fix, and Wildcard. Each of these chips brings an added excitement to any given raceweek. However, you can only play them once per season and one at a time.
Limitless
This gives F1 Fantasy strategists an unlimited budget for one raceweek. So shop till you drop and fill that team with Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and Oscar Piastri. Get the best assets in the game, and watch the points flow.
Due to budgets growing throughout the season, the general thinking is to deploy the Limitless chip as early as possible in the first Sprint race. Sprint race weekends offer more points, and using it earlier in the season gives your team a bigger differential lineup over teams late in the season.
Not a bad weekend in #F1Fantasy for the #ChineseGP 😉
Think this showed us that getting to Max is important no matter what for Miami.
Highest rank since pre-COTA last season. Time to kick on!
How did everyone else do? pic.twitter.com/9b4bQBWt6H
— Euan Leith (@F1FantasyEuan) April 21, 2024
Extra DRS
Every week, you choose to pout a DRS Boost on one driver. A DRS Boost means that the driver you select for that weekend will score double the points. However, the Extra DRS Boost brings it to a whole new level.
The driver you select for the Extra DRS will score triple the points in a given raceweek. However, you'll still choose a driver to play the regular, weekly DRS Boost. Thus, one driver will score triple the points, and another will score double.
F1 Fantasy strategists will want to wait until later in the year to deploy this chip. You'll need enough budget to bring in two of the top five or six drivers, and you won't be able to do that at the beginning of the year with a $100 million budget without compromising the rest of your lineup.
No Negative
Crashes, mechanical failures, and straight-up disqualifications happen in F1 Fantasy. It sucks to score negative points. So, the game provides a get-out-of-jail-free card in the No Negative. If any driver or constructor scores negative points in a Sprint race, qualifying session, or grand prix, their negative points will be reset to zero.
This chip is convenient whenever the forecast for a particular weekend is wet. Cars spin off the track constantly, and some don't work well in damp conditions. So, use the No Negative when you want the rain to go away.
Auto Pilot
If you're unsure about using the DRS Boost on Charles Leclerc or Lewis Hamilton, activate the Auto Pilot chip and let the game do the hard work. The chip will automatically pick the best driver in your lineup for that week and double their points.
Final Fix
The Final Fix is the most complicated chip in the game, but it can make a huge difference. F1 Fantasy has a strange mechanism where you sometimes want your driver to qualify poorly. This usually leads to more significant points on Sunday, especially among the top four teams.
For example, if you roster Lando Norris and he takes pole on Saturday, he will score you 10 points. However, say in that same qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton has a puncture and qualifies 17th. This means Hamilton will likely score more points than Norris on Sunday.
This is due to overtake and positions gained points, plus the race result bonus. To summarize, you'll want to deploy this chip when one of the best drivers on the grid has a terrible qualifying because it could result in a massive Sunday score.
Not what I was hoping for after the Final Fix was activated, but we move to Singapore!
Time to bounce back and push on for a strong finish.
How did everyone do in #F1Fantasy this weekend? pic.twitter.com/RiJtppS8sX
— Euan Leith (@F1FantasyEuan) September 16, 2024
Wildcard
You've messed it up, and the lineup is not scoring points. Well, hit the Wildcard button and reset the entire squad. For the entirety of the raceweek, you'll have unlimited transfers to swap drivers and constructors in and out. This will let you hit the ground running ahead of the rest of the field for the next race.
Chip Strategy
To give you a head start on Chip Strategy for 2025, here are my early thoughts for when I'll play each chip.
Limitless: Race 2 -- China (The first Sprint race weekend)
Extra DRS: Race 19, 21, or 23 -- Austin, Brazil, or Qatar (A late-season Sprint race weekend)
Wildcard: Race 9 -- Spain (There is a new rule coming into place that will shake up the grid)
No Negative: Whenever the weather calls for rain
Final Fix: When a top driver has a bad qualifying session
Auto Pilot: Race 1 -- Australia (Maybe. It depends on what the data tells us and if it's too close to call between McLaren, Ferrari, and Red Bull)
It's our first season covering F1 Fantasy, so reach out to @RotoBaller or @F1FantasyEuan on X to let us know what you want to be covered for the 2025 season.
