RADIO
Euan Leith's preview of the 2025 Australian Grand Prix for F1 Fantasy includes weather updates, differentials for your squads, and predictions for qualifying and the Grand Prix.
Happy Australian Grand Prix and 2025 F1 Fantasy season, RotoBallers! It's been a long winter, but F1 Fantasy is finally back for the 2025 season. The game has introduced some changes and stricter pricing, which will be explained in today's article.
I'll also preview the Australian Grand Prix and my predictions for Saturday's qualifying and Sunday's race. Finally, we will cover my favorite picks ahead of the race in Melbourne and who you should put in your F1 Fantasy lineup.
The deadline for the Australian Grand Prix in F1 Fantasy is Saturday, March 15, at 1:00 a.m. EDT, when Qualifying starts. Also, check out the rest of our excellent DFS racing coverage to get you through every NASCAR and Formula 1 race.
Editor's Note: Win more with our NASCAR DFS Premium Pass! Jordan McAbee anchors the team with his exclusive DFS and betting picks, DFS projections and algorithm-predicted finishing order. Get VIP access to our Lineup Optimizer, Research Station and Cheat Sheets for NASCAR Cup, Xfinity and Trucks contests. Join in on the fun with our other NASCAR DFS winners! Go Premium, Win More!Points, speed... and the guitar? 🎸
The grid want to convince YOU that they deserve a place in your F1 Fantasy line-up 🫵
Click to pick your team now ⬇️#F1Fantasy
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 11, 2025
Join our 2025 F1 Fantasy League
That's right! We are putting our reputations on the line and creating an F1 Fantasy League for the 2025 season. If you go to the Leagues tab on the F1 Fantasy home page, you'll find our league in the Featured Leagues tab. Just click Join League, and you will be in for 2025. We've also got this shiny banner to stand out!
Previous Australian Grand Prix Winners
- 2024: Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
- 2023: Max Verstappen, Red Bull
- 2022: Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
- 2019: Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
- 2018: Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
*The 2020 and 2021 Australian Grand Prix were not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Australian Grand Prix Schedule
Thursday, March 13th
- Practice 1: 9:30 p.m. EDT
Friday, March 14th
- Practice 2: 1:00 a.m. EDT
- Practice 3: 9:30 p.m. EDT
Saturday, March 15th
- Qualifying: 1:00 a.m. EDT (***F1 Fantasy lineup lock***)
Sunday, December 1st
- Race: Midnight EDT
The post you've all been waiting for...
MELBOURNE IS OFFICIALLY THE NEXT #F1 RACE! 🇦🇺#AusGP pic.twitter.com/vTnNPBCIpk
— F1 Australian Grand Prix (@ausgrandprix) December 10, 2024
Australian Grand Prix Weather
Melbourne is throwing us a mixed bag of weather this weekend. Friday should be normal running, but Saturday is expected to be very hot at the track. That'll be followed on Sunday by cooler temperatures and (potentially) some rain for the race.
| Day (Local) | Temperature (°C/°F) | Forecast |
| Friday | 24/75 | Sunny |
| Saturday | 30/86 | Cloudy |
| Sunday | 18/65 | Light Rain |
Australian Grand Prix Predictions
Qualifying
- Lando Norris, McLaren
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Grand Prix
- Lando Norris, McLaren
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
2025 F1 Fantasy Changes
The game launched on Tuesday, March 11, with many changes. Let's look over what's new for the upcoming season.
Pricing Algorithm
In 2024, the drivers and constructors were split between three pricing buckets.
| 2024 Pricing Tiers | |
| Tier | Price |
| A | >$25.0M |
| B | $15.0-$24.9M |
| C | <$15.0M |
However, the game has decided to shake it up for the 2025 campaign. While the pricing buckets are still unknown, our best guess in the F1 Fantasy community is the following.
| 2025 Pricing Tiers | |
| Tier | Price |
| A | >$20.0M |
| B | <$20.0M |
These tiers will affect how much your drivers and constructors' prices rise or fall after every race. In 2024, these price changes were based on the previous race only. The developers have made another change to the 2025 season: Prices will now be determined on a three-race rolling average.
The extent of these new changes is unknown, but an article will confirm the algorithm when more evidence is available.
Pit Stop Points
Constructors will have a bigger say in our F1 Fantasy happiness because the game has changed how Pit Stop points are allocated. This is what we worked with in 2024.
| 2024 Pit Stop Points | |
| Pit Stop Rank | Points |
| Fastest | 10 |
| 2nd Fastest | 5 |
| 3rd Fastest | 3 |
This limited the number of constructors you could use in the game and limited the asset pool. Fortunately, the game has found a way to flip that on its head with a new points system.
Instead of teams only being awarded points if they finish in the top-three fastest pit stops, they will get points based on their own fastest pit stop of the day. There are also bonuses for Fastest Pit Stop of the race and if the world record (1.8 seconds) is shattered.
| 2025 Pit Stop Points | |
| Pit Stop Time | Points |
| Under 2.0s | 20 |
| 2.00-2.19s | 10 |
| 2.20-2.49s | 5 |
| 2.50-2.99s | 2 |
| Over 3.0s | 0 |
| Fastest Pit Stop of the Race | 5 |
| New World Record | 15 |
Disqualification Penalties
Drivers will no longer receive -25 points when disqualified from a race. Disqualifications usually stem from an illegal car setup or part being on the car. As this is primarily the team's responsibility, the game has removed this negative scoring category from drivers and will only apply it to constructors in 2025.
2025 F1 Fantasy Pricing
F1 Fantasy 2025 is now LIVE! 🤩
Manage your favourite drivers, challenge your friends and compete for amazing F1 prizes 🎁
Pick your team ➡️ https://t.co/VkhwFZLHxy#F1Fantasy pic.twitter.com/h3fUmXJdLQ
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 11, 2025
Driver Prices
| Driver Prices | |||
| Driver | Price ($M) | Driver | Price ($M) |
| Norris | 29.0 | Gasly | 11.8 |
| Verstappen | 28.4 | Tsunoda | 9.6 |
| Leclerc | 25.9 | Alonso | 8.8 |
| Hamilton | 24.2 | Stroll | 8.1 |
| Piastri | 23.0 | Ocon | 7.3 |
| Russell | 21.0 | Doohan | 7.2 |
| Antonelli | 18.4 | Bearman | 6.7 |
| Lawson | 18.4 | Hulkenberg | 6.4 |
| Sainz | 13.1 | Hadjar | 6.2 |
| Albon | 12.0 | Bortoleto | 6.0 |
As you can see, it won't be easy to fit in one, let alone two premium drivers this year. The game is not messing around with the pricing.
Constructor Prices
| Constructor Prices | |
| Constructor | Price ($M) |
| McLaren | 30 |
| Ferrari | 27.1 |
| Red Bull | 25.2 |
| Mercedes | 22.7 |
| Williams | 13.1 |
| Alpine | 9.5 |
| Aston Martin | 8.5 |
| Racing Bulls | 8 |
| Haas | 7 |
| Kick Sauber | 6.2 |
Couple the driver prices with these constructor prices, and we will have difficulty building anything that closely resembles a 2024 lineup. The fantastic pricing will create alternate strategies across the F1 Fantasy landscape.
2025 F1 Fantasy Lineup Picks
You've made it through this article to get to the good part: the picks. It's hard to argue with a lot of the pricing, and there are more picks than slots in my F1 Fantasy team. Below are three drafts for lineups with an explanation behind each one.
Draft 1: Stars and Scrubs
When you go with two of the top three constructors in the game (McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull), you are essentially locking yourself into rostering three of the four cheapest drivers in the game. Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman can provide fantastic value in the Haas.
I don't love starting the season with two Saubers (I'd rather have zero), but with the points so heavily favoring the constructors, it feels like a safe way to start the 2025 season. Like we say in fantasy football, you can't win your league in the first round, but you can lose it.
Draft 2: Believe the Hype
This is the same draft as the first one, but you swap George Russell for his rookie teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli and upgrade Ferrari to McLaren. Red Bull and McLaren were the two strongest constructors when you adjust the 2024 points to include the 2025 scoring for pit stops.
It remains to be seen if that carries over into the new season, but the papaya looked mighty in the preseason test, and it's never a wise move to count out Max Verstappen.
Draft 3: The All-rounder
This might be my favorite draft of the lot. You get a championship-contending driver in Oscar Piastri, plus two veterans in Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon. It limits the exposure to Kick Sauber (the slowest car) and rookies (Gabriel Bortoleto and Bearman).
The only downside is that you don't have any Ferrari exposure. Since preseason testing, the vibes out of the Ferrari camp have been mixed, but it would still be silly to ignore them completely. You'll also need Oscar Piastri to kick the Aussie at his home race curse!
