F1 Fantasy: top picks & predictions for the Sao Paulo GP

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The samba beat will ring out across the Sao Paulo GP this weekend, but is your F1 Fantasy team marching in time with it?

At the last round, Lando Norris showed all his car control on the slippy Mexico City circuit to dominate, while third-placed Max Verstappen saved face and former F1 Fantasy star Oscar Piastri continued his fall from grace.

Do you ring the changes or stick with what you’ve got this weekend at Interlagos?

Verstappen is a renowned master of the circuit, but a location known for adverse weather conditions – and with rain forecast this weekend – could make your others choices tricky.

The fact it’s a sprint weekend also means chips will come into play too.

You’re in good hands though, with Motor Sport’s F1 Fantasy guide is here to help.

Motor Sport’s 2025 Sao Paulo GP F1 Fantasy choices: All change at the front

Oscar Piastri’s ($26m) 2025 challenge has gone somewhat awry, with Lando Norris ($30.4m) and Max Verstappen ($29.2m) becoming the two standard-setters over the last five races (save for George Russell’s Singapore sling.)

Norris has shown his low-grip aptitude in recent races, which could come into play at on the dusty Interlagos track too, but Verstappen is a Brazil specialist, having won three of the last five there – we’d recommend sticking with the Dutchman as your lead pilot.

Ollie Bearman ($8.3m) put in the performance of his career to come home fourth in Mexico, and could still plausibly outscore ‘Big Four’ drivers Kimi Antonelli and Yuki Tsunoda in F1 Fantasy points terms. More heroics could be the result in Brazil, so get the Haas man in.

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Gabriel Bortoleto ($7.6m) has come alive in the second half of this season, and showed that again in Mexico by going from 16th to 10th in the race. We’d include him in your team, with his home race likely to extract another fine performance from the Sauber driver.

In taking opening lap avoidance from Esteban Ocon’s slightly overzealous defence, Carlos Sainz ($6.3m) inadvertently pranged into Liam Lawson, but still scored Fantasy points due to his strong pace allowing him to make overtakes. Keep the Smooth Operator in your line-up.

Isack Hadjar hasn’t been getting the huge F1 Fantasy scores recently, but things looked promising in Mexico qualifying before his race went downhill. He’s the man for the big occasion though, and many believe the Frenchman will deliver on the daunting Interlagos circuit. Get him in!

It’s been a wrench of the season in deciding whether to include the dominant McLaren ($35.6m) team and a lesser force, or to pair Ferrari ($31.5m) and Red Bull ($30.2m).

Verstappen’s brilliant recent form has suggested the latter, but both Norris and and Piastri were strong at Brazil last year.

We’d advise hedging bets (with Verstappen as lead driver) and going for McLaren with Mercedes ($27.5m).

Which F1 Fantasy chips should I use at the 2025 Sao Paulo GP line-up?

With rain coming down across the Brazilian sprint weekend, we’d advise going with the Autopilot chip to nominate your highest scoring driver for the DRS boost – anything could happen!

However, if you have other chips like Extra DRS, No Negative for Final Fix, we’d deploy them now on this unpredictable weekend.

Motor Sport 2025 F1 Fantasy 2025 Sao Paulo GP line-up

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