2025 Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka - F1 Fantasy Race Preview, Strategy and Analysis

Euan Leith's preview of the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix for F1 Fantasy includes weather updates, differentials for your squads, and predictions for qualifying and the Grand Prix.

Happy Japanese Grand Prix, RotoBallers! We've had our first break of the season, and now it's time for the first triple-header of the 2025 F1 Fantasy season. Over the next three weeks, there will be races in Japan, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.

The Chinese Grand Prix was a pretty tame affair until Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly, and Lewis Hamilton were disqualified for different infractions after the race. I feel bad for F1 Fantasy managers who used their Limitless chips and had Leclerc, Hamilton, and Ferrari as a constructor in their lineup.

The deadline for the Japanese Grand Prix in F1 Fantasy is Saturday, April 5, at 2:00 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. Also, if you need a refresher on the rules of F1 Fantasy, check out our How to Play guide from the preseason.

Want to build a winning fantasy F1 lineup? Check out our How To Play F1 Fantasy (Formula 1): Overview Guide, Tips, Chips, and Rules for all the essential tips and strategies to get you started on the right foot.

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! Use code P1JOTPHDW09 to join the 2025 league!

Here is the #F1Fantasy @RotoBaller Top 10 after the #ChineseGP, along with the Top 10 scorers for the weekend.

Shoutout to the winning lineup with a Limitless score of 395! pic.twitter.com/EbrIHFvcEt

— Euan Leith (@F1FantasyEuan) March 24, 2025

Previous Japanese Grand Prix Winners

• 2024: Max Verstappen, Red Bull
• 2023: Max Verstappen, Red Bull
• 2022: Max Verstappen, Red Bull
• 2019: Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
• 2018: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

*The 2020 and 2021 Japanese Grand Prix were not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japanese Grand Prix Schedule

Thursday, April 3rd

• Practice 1: 10:30 p.m. EDT

Friday, April 4th

• Practice 2: 2:00 a.m. EDT
• Practice 3: 10:30 p.m. EDT

Saturday, April 5th

• Qualifying: 2:00 a.m. EDT (***F1 Fantasy lineup lock***)

Sunday, April 6th

• Race: 1:00 a.m. EDT

Japanese Grand Prix Weather

Australia gave us a downpour, China threatened some showers, and now it's looking like another weather-y weekend in F1 Fantasy. As of this writing, F1 Fantasy managers should prepare for some wet-weather chaos.

Japanese Grand Prix Predictions

Qualifying

1. George Russell, Mercedes
2. Lando Norris, McLaren
3. Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Grand Prix

1. Lando Norris, McLaren
2. Oscar Piastri, McLaren
3. George Russell, Mercedes

F1 Fantasy Driver Swap: Yuki Tsunoda-Liam Lawson

During the break, Red Bull decided to swap Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson. The Japanese driver will now be on the senior team (Red Bull), and Lawson will move to the junior team (Racing Bulls). It's a shocking move two races into the season, but F1 Fantasy managers must adjust.

The game has deactivated the Racing Bulls version of Tsunoda and the Red Bull version of Lawson. If you keep those assets in your squad, you will receive negative 25 points across the weekend for inactive driver penalties. Unfortunately, this will cost a transfer and change the strategies for some F1 Fantasy teams.

I am in a wait-and-see mode with both drivers regarding the Japanese Grand Prix. Unless one looks outstanding in the practice sessions, I will stay away from Tsunoda and Lawson until Bahrain.

Max 🤝 Yuki

Tsunoda becomes Verstappen's sixth Red Bull team mate#F1 pic.twitter.com/83esKIm4cb

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 27, 2025

F1 Fantasy Pricing Algorithm Changes

I got caught out at the Chinese Grand Prix after it was revealed that the pricing algorithm had changed for the season's second race. Fortunately, the excellent folks at F1 Fantasy Tools quickly figured out what happened and cracked the code for us.

As you can see from the table, the thresholds for each price rise category have changed from race to race. The prevailing theory in the F1 Fantasy community is that the Japanese Grand Prix pricing algorithm will remain the same for the rest of the season.

However, that is always subject to change, but this weekend, I will work off the theory that the above thresholds are correct.

F1 Fantasy Chip Strategy

For the Japanese Grand Prix, there's no urgent need to activate a chip. However, playing the No Negative chip isn't a bad idea if the weather looks worse throughout the weekend. This will prevent you from scoring negative points in any scoring session at Suzuka.

Also, if your team is in a state, using the Wildcard to sort it all out is another option. Here is a Wildcard draft for the upcoming weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix, which costs $98.7m in cost cap.

F1 Fantasy Drivers to Target and Avoid

Drivers to Target (A Tier, >$19.0m)

• Lando Norris, McLaren
• Oscar Piastri, McLaren
• George Russell, Mercedes
• Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Drivers to Avoid (A Tier, >$19.0m)

• Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
• Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Drivers to Target (B Tier, <$19.0m)

• Alexander Albon, Williams
• Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
• Esteban Ocon, Haas
• Nico Hulkenberg, Kick Sauber
• Ollie Bearman, Haas

Drivers to Avoid (B Tier, <$19.0m)

• Carlos Sainz, Williams
• Pierre Gasly, Alpine
• Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
• Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls
• Gabriel Bortoleto, Kick Sauber

📊B-Tier Driver Rankings in #F1Fantasy

Here's where my head is at ahead of the #JapaneseGP when it comes to B-tier drivers

🇬🇧1. Bearman
- Easy budget riser and very cheap. He gives enough space to bring Bortoleto and Hadjar in for Bahrain next week.
🇨🇦2. Stroll
- It could be…

— Euan Leith (@F1FantasyEuan) April 2, 2025

More Fantasy Racing Analysis