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Feature
Senior Editor
Greg Stuart
16 December 2019
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With the end of the 2019 F1 season comes the end of the 2019 F1 Fantasy season too. We’ll be back for more in 2020, of course – but before that, let’s take a look back at the best and worst performing drivers and teams from F1 Fantasy 2019.
DON’T MISS THE ACTION NEXT SEASON: Click here to add a calendar reminder to choose your 2020 F1 Fantasy squad
Well you could have worked this one out yourself, couldn’t you? Yes, Lewis Hamilton was the runaway points success in F1 Fantasy this season, scoring a full 200 more than the next-highest scorer, his team mate Valtteri Bottas, thanks to winning 11 out of 21 races. Interestingly, though, Bottas proved better value for money for players, with the Finn netting 1.47 points per dollar based on his average price across the season, compared to Hamilton’s 1.28 per dollar.
Also predictably, Mercedes sewing up their sixth double championship meant they were the biggest points haulers in F1 Fantasy – and so they should have been given their hefty $32.5 million season-end price tag. Still, there’s no arguing with the 1,357 points that Messrs. Hamilton and Bottas brought in (Ferrari were next best with 972 points), even if picking them meant you had to skimp a bit on your drivers.
He may have turned 40 during 2019, but that didn’t stop Kimi Raikkonen being F1 Fantasy players’ top draft this year. The Finn was pulled into people’s teams a full 8,421,299 times across the season, with Daniel Ricciardo the next most popular at 7,481,247 picks. Lewis Hamilton was third on 5,964,778 – while at the other end of the scale, Lance Stroll was the least popular selection, the Canadian chosen just 1,418,038 times.
READ MORE: Comb through all the driver and team data from F1 Fantasy 2019
Yes, Mercedes scored the most F1 Fantasy points of any team in 2019. But players opted for the Prancing Horse more times than the Silver Arrows, with Ferrari’s more attractive price point (they ended the year costing $28.9 million, compared to Mercedes’ $32.5 million) meaning they were picked 4,607,914 times across the season, compared to Mercedes’ 4,427,256 picks – with Red Bull the third-highest, on 2,731,316.
Carlos Sainz enjoyed a breakthrough season in his first year at McLaren – and he proved to be the best value driver in F1 Fantasy too, scoring 1.51 points per dollar (based on his average season price). Bottas, as previously mentioned, took 1.47 per dollar to prove the second-best value, with Alex Albon close behind in third, at 1.46 points per dollar.
Toro Rosso were the team that gave players the most bang for their buck in 2019, scoring 2.55 points per dollar. They were ahead of McLaren on 2.44 points per dollar, with Mercedes third on 2.02 points per dollar. Haas gave the least value, meanwhile, bringing in 0.88 points per dollar.
2019 saw us produce the F1 Fantasy Best Team/Worst Team feature after every Grand Prix, where we highlighted the strongest and weakest theoretical squad combinations across the previous race weekend. In that feature, it was Valtteri Bottas who proved to be the most handy driver, appearing 11 times out of 21 in the ‘Best Team’, two ahead of Carlos Sainz in second place, with Hamilton in P3, having featured eight times. As Valtteri would say, how about that?
Mercedes ran away with the ‘Best Team’ appearances for a constructor, proving to be the team to have across 13 of the 21 races – with Ferrari next best on just three ‘Best Team’ showings. Red Bull had two, while McLaren, Alfa Romeo and Toro Rosso made one appearance each across the season.
READ MORE: Lando Norris voted F1 fans’ Rookie Of The Year
In what was a bit of a stinker of a year for Haas, Romain Grosjean appeared in the ‘Worst Team’ a full 15 times out of 21, the Frenchman hurt particularly by F1 Fantasy’s scoring system, which sees drivers lose points for every place they drop from their starting position. And with the Haas VF-19’s general knack of producing decent qualifying laps before struggling in the races, that meant Grosjean was a driver to avoid in F1 Fantasy this year, the Frenchman netting just 0.07 points per dollar for players – making him the worst value driver of the 2019 grid.
With Grosjean’s team mate Kevin Magnussen making the joint-second most ‘Worst Team’ appearances in 2019 (tied on nine with Williams’ Robert Kubica), Haas proved to be the constructor to steer clear of at six Grands Prix this season, with Alfa Romeo close behind on five appearances after their own up-and-down season.
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