F1 Fantasy: top picks & predictions for the 2025 Canadian GP

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There comes a point in many F1 seasons where there’s a shift in performance — a moment where the dependable points scorers start to underdeliver, as new faces appear at the front.

The F1 Fantasy managers quickest to sport that trend can often make their season in a single race.

However, the Canadian Grand Prix doesn’t appear to be that moment. Despite the hours of discussion over flexi-wings ahead of the last race in Spain, there was no great change in the frontrunners’ pace.

The three Montreal practice sessions suggest that the gap between them might be the closest we’ve seen this season. But it would take a bold manager to drop the scoring machine that has been Oscar Piastri and McLaren, on a hunch that change is coming.

Another mammoth points haul of 45 and 88 points respectively at the Spanish Grand Prix means that if you’ve already got a strong F1 Fantasy team, then now is probably the moment to sit tight.

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Motor Sport’s 2025 Canadian GP F1 Fantasy choices: sit tight and count your points

Look at the Motor Sport league leaderboard and it won’t take you long to spot a pattern: every leading team has Oscar Piastri as a driver and McLaren as a constructor, typically paired with Ferrari, Red Bull or Mercedes.

It’s been a successful formula from the start of the year and, though we’d leap at the chance to present a wildly different strategy, maintaining that formula looks to be your best bet for success.

Our favoured second team remains Mercedes. Returning an average 1.77 points per $1m of its price each race, it’s the second best value team behind McLaren.

While it has scored fewer points than Ferrari (388 to 439), it’s $4.4m cheaper, which can make all the difference when budgeting for the rest of your drivers.

It’s looking even better this weekend, with George Russell fast in all three practice sessions.

So the question is whether you should make any changes in the rest of your line-up — it could be a wise decision.

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko comes in for plenty of criticism over his famously ruthless approach to young drivers. If you’re not instantly making an impression, then you’re on your way out — whether it’s the middle of the season (or just two races in).

Playing F1 Fantasy, you can start to see where he’s coming from, especially if you’ve already had your fingers burnt by picking Liam Lawson.

And now, we advise that it’s time to sideline another fresh face after just three races. Franco Colapinto burst into F1 as a virtual unknown last year with Williams and within a handful of races was being linked with Red Bull.

Sadly, his second season — replacing the unfortunate Jack Doohan at Alpine — has proved underwhelming.

His haul of 11 Fantasy points in the past three races is not going to win anybody the league, and team boss Flavio Briatore, whose patience could be compared to that of Marko, already shows the signs of losing faith.

Gabriel Bortoleto scored even fewer points than Colapinto in that three race period, but he’s regularly been qualifying in Q2 and has underneath him a Sauber that’s been hailed by team-mate Nico Hülkenberg as a “big step” forward.

If you need to back one of the $4.5m drivers to balance your budget, then Bortoleto is our bet — ina ddition to Fernando Alonso, who has the lowest Fantasy score of any driver with -32 points, but whose Spanish GP drive, netting him 14 points, suggests that his season might be turning around.

Elsewhere, we’re continuing to lean on Ollie Bearman and Isack Hadjar who are delivering good points at a lower-midfield price.

Which F1 Fantasy chips should I use?

While Canada can produce unpredictable races, a dry weather forecast and close competition at the front — as well as the lack of a sprint race that generates extra points — means the race is unlikely to be the best use of any of your chips.

Motor Sport 2025 F1 Fantasy Canadian GP line-up