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Feature
Senior Editor
Greg Stuart
29 August 2019
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Alex Albon’s promotion to the senior Red Bull team over the summer break was good news for him – and it’s good news for F1 Fantasy players too. Read on to find out why the Thai driver should form part of your team for the Belgian Grand Prix…
Red Bull’s decision to perform a switcheroo with Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon for the second part of the season was met with shock and awe by F1 fans when it was announced at the start of the summer shutdown. However, because in F1 Fantasy, the Belgian Grand Prix race week was already live when the announcement came, we thought it would be a bit cruel to dramatically shift both drivers’ prices after some of you had already forked out for them.
READ MORE: 5 key tips for F1 Fantasy success
That being the case, ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, you can hoover yourself up a fully-fledged Red Bull Racing driver, in the form of Mr Albon, for the bargain price of just $7.6 million. That, friends, is a no-brainer.
But one driver does not a team make, so here’s who else we think should be considered for your F1 Fantasy squad ahead of this year’s race at Spa. And if you haven’t been playing F1 Fantasy up till now (or even if you have), there are still some fantastic prizes to be won in the latter half of the season, not least in the Official F1 Summer League which will run across the Belgian and Italian Grands Prix, and where the winner will receive an exclusive Red Bull bundle, including a signed cap. Click here to register your team.
TEAM VALUE: $93.2MILLION
So, Alex Albon we’ve covered… and with the pace advantage he should have over the other sub-$19m (i.e. the ones you could ‘turbo’), he’s our natural choice for turbo driver.
We’ve then hedged our bets on the two cheaper of the Ferrari and Mercedes drivers by opting for Charles Leclerc and Valtteri Bottas. Bottas may not have been on the podium in Belgium since 2014, but he’s scored points at every Belgian Grand Prix since that podium, while Leclerc took a commanding pole position when he raced here in F2 two years ago, so we’re curious to see what he can do around the track in a Ferrari.
READ MORE: The favourites for pole, points and victory in Belgium
A Ferrari, we should say, that’s expected to perform strongly at Spa-Francorchamps – a thorough explanation for exactly why can be found here – hence why we’ve chosen the team in red as our constructor, allowing us to take advantage of three-time Spa winner (and last year’s victor) Sebastian Vettel’s form here.
Completing the team, we have Sergio Perez and Lando Norris. Given McLaren’s impressive turn of pace this season, we wanted one of their drivers in, and while Carlos Sainz was on a fine run ahead of the summer break, his record at Spa is not sparkling (just one point in four Grands Prix here), while Lando Norris drove in Free Practice 1 here last year, so he knows what it’s like to blast an F1 car around the hallowed 7.004kms. With a decent junior category record in Belgium as well, we’ve given the slot to him.
As for Perez, Force India/Racing Point cars traditionally fly at Spa – who could forget Giancarlo Fisichella’s 2009 pole position and podium here, or the ‘reborn’ team’s incredible qualifying and race performance last year? – while Perez has finished fifth at the Belgian venue three times in the past four seasons. We like that form – and with another chance for the team to hone their impressive looking new aero package, Sergio, you get the nod.
Have you picked your F1 Fantasy team yet? Head here to choose your dream line-up.
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