F1 Fantasy: top picks & predictions for the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix

Successful F1 Fantasy weekends in Monaco tend to be based around performance in just a single session: qualifying.

On the tight and twisting streets of Monte Carlo, one-lap pace typically trumps any driver’s ability to perform wild overtakes or pull off the perfect pitstop strategy come race day. So constructing a line-up full of the grid’s best qualifiers is your best shot at coming away from the Principality with a significant points haul.

In 2024, Max Verstappen has undeniably been the man to beat on Saturday afternoons, having scored seven consecutive grand prix pole positions so far this season — a feat that has earned him 70 F1 Fantasy points in the process. More often than not, the Dutchman has then translated that same pace into a race day victory and that form book is expected to continue in Monte Carlo. So, if you have him in your line-up, there’s certainly no reason to take him out, but if you’re trying to cram him in, there may be more effective ways to spend his $30.4m price tag.

Charles Leclerc has proved a close match for Verstappen in pure one-lap pace so far this season and in overall F1 Fantasy value. The Monegasque driver has an average qualifying position of 4.14 this season — a statistic that could improve with the backing of his home crowd — and has scored 6.8 points per qualifying session. That’s 3.2 points less than the Dutchman, but for $7.8m less! He also got off to a blistering start at his home GP: contending amongst the soft-tyre runners on the medium compound in FP1, before setting the fastest time overall in FP2.

Leclerc’s $21m Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz could be an even better investment (on paper), despite his struggles throughout the first day of practice, given the fact that his average qualifying position is similar to Leclerc’s. His points total is lower mainly due to missing the Saudi Arabian GP at the start of the year.

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2024 F1 Fantasy — F1’s best value qualifiers 

Points scored from qualifying positions in 2024 

Driver	Average qualifying position	Average points per qualifying session
Max Verstappen	1	10
Charles Leclerc	4.14	6.8
Carlos Sainz	4.16	5.8
Sergio Perez	4.28	6.7
Team	Total points scored from qualifying	Average points per qualifying session
Red Bull	182	26
Ferrari	154	22
McLaren	154	22
Mercedes	105	15

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As in Imola, it looks wise to invest in a constructor whose drivers are both strong in qualifying. McLaren is a perfect example, as while Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have, on average, qualified further down the grid so far this season, they have still combined to extract the same points from qualifying as Ferrari. This is mainly due to the bonuses that teams receive for both their drivers making it through to Q2 (+3) and Q3 (+10).

Simply, the key to F1 Fantasy success in Monaco will be to invest in drivers who often qualify their car high up the grid and have the experience and ability to keep it up there without crashing into one of the many armco barriers littered around the principality. Although those decisions may sound tricky, we’ve compiled a strategy to help you out.

Read on for our tips and predictions for the Monaco Grand Prix, and don’t forget to join the Motor Sport Fantasy league.

There are more on the rules and scoring in our F1 Fantasy full guide; and if you need some creative inspiration, check out our F1 Fantasy team name generator. For more information on the chips available and when to use them, we’ve got an F1 Fantasy chips explainer too.

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How to score the most F1 Fantasy points possible in Monaco

Quali pace, form and history of consistency: those will be the parameters for identifying the drivers who should score you the best F1 Fantasy points totals at the Monaco GP.

The basis of your line-up should of course focus around who will most likely be on pole. As we mentioned before, if you already have Verstappen in your line-up, there is really no reason to take him out, as he enters the Monaco GP with a chance to break Ayrton Senna‘s long-standing record for consecutive pole positions scored (8). But, if he isn’t, there may be an opportunity to leave the principality with an even bigger F1 Fantasy points haul by diversifying your squad with potential pole-sitters from different teams.

For under $50m, you can have Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc headline your line-up. Both drivers have excelled at Monaco in the past — with the former scoring a podium finish in 2021 while the latter secured pole position in ’21 and ’22 — and on current form, they are the trailing grid’s greatest hopes for knocking Verstappen off his perch. Through the first seven races of the season, both drivers have also held the narrowest qualifying margins to the Dutchman, with Leclerc an average of 0.378sec off the pace; Norris just 0.012sec behind him.

Oscar Piastri ($20.3m) could be a worthwhile and cheaper alternative, given that the Aussie was in contention for a podium place in Miami before being caught out by the safety car and qualified on the front row in Imola before being knocked back by a post-session penalty. Piastri showcased his pace in Monaco once again, finishing second on the timesheets in FP1 and he was once again in the mix in FP2.

But even if they fail, the addition of the Red Bull constructor card as part of your line-up will act as an insurance policy: rewarding you for the final qualifying position of both Verstappen and Sergio Perez. The Milton Keynes duo struggled through the first day of practice, but with one final practice session still to come, it’s likely they’ll find a fix — as they demonstrated in Imola.

If they’re still off the pace in FP3 and you’re unconvinced by the genius of those in the Red Bull garage, you could adopt a similar strategy with the Ferrari constructor card. If Leclerc and Sainz lock out the front row — as they did in 2022 — the Maranello outfit will score 29 points from qualifying alone!

With a reduced budget, filling out the rest of your line-up could be tricky. But here are a few high-value, low-cost options, as well as some tips on who to stay away from:

 

Yuki Tsunoda ✅

F1 Fantasy points scored from qualifying in 2024: 11 

As RB has begun to extract more performance from its VCARB01, Yuki Tsunoda has responded with brilliant shows of pace. The Japanese driver has maintained an average qualifying position of 10.57 so far this season — 3.71 places better than the identically priced Daniel Ricciardo, who has also scored 41 points less than his RB team-mate. Tsunoda has a history of relative success in Monte Carlo too, having outqualified Lando Norris at the principality in 2023, and narrowly missed out on a Q3 appearance in 2022.

In the past, the 24-year-old’s reckless reputation may have kept many F1 Fantasy players from adding him to their line-ups but a new level-headed approach to racing has allowed Tsunoda to become one of the grid’s most consistent performers, whose rapid pace could deliver a healthy points haul on the streets of Monaco should he have the right set-up. An eighth-place finish in FP1 — seven-tenths off the front-running Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton — and an eleventh-place finish in FP2 suggests he’s on the right track.

For $9.3m there a few better bang-for-your-buck alternatives. At other venues where race pace is more of a factor, we’d probably recommend picking up Kevin Magnussen or Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. But both drivers’ average qualifying position (16.28 and 14.85 respectively) has paled in comparison to Tsunoda’s so far this season — making the RB driver a great pick for the Monaco GP.

 

Lewis Hamilton ❌

F1 Fantasy points scored from qualifying in 2024: 15

Lewis Hamilton may have 104 pole positions to his name — two of those coming in Monaco — but the seven-time world champion is currently enduring a torrid run of form.

The Briton has scored just 70 F1 Fantasy points this season, giving him an overall value of just 0.52 points per million, and has qualified no higher than seventh for any grand prix.

Up until now, Mercedes has seemingly counted itself out of the fight at the front, with the Brackley outfit unable to keep pace with the recently upgraded Ferraris, McLarens and Red Bulls at Imola. With a rumoured upgrade package of its own not expected until the Canadian GP, it’s perhaps safe to assume that Hamilton’s performance will not justify his $19.4m in Monaco — despite him setting the fastest lap time out of anyone on the grid in a disrupted FP1 session. The Briton finished second in FP2, but we’d still recommend investing that same money into a McLaren or Ferrari asset, which should prove more fruitful.

 

Fernando Alonso ✅

F1 Fantasy points scored from qualifying in 2024: 27

It’s hard to ignore the on-paper qualifying performance of Fernando Alonso so far this season, with 37.5% of all the Spaniard’s F1 Fantasy points coming from qualifying sessions alone. He’s maintained an average qualifying position of 8.85 and scored 5.57 points per session — that’s only a point less than Lando Norris, who costs $9.1m more!

It’s also hard to ignore the sensational effort Alonso produced in last year’s Monaco GP, as he missed out on his first pole position since since 2012 by 0.084sec. Should he even come close to replicating the same performance again, we could arguably expect the same race day result: a finish inside the top 10 and a boat load of F1 Fantasy points to go along with it. A sixth-place finish in FP1 and a third-place finish in FP2 suggests that’s not not too far out of reach.

Granted, his $16.3m price tag takes him out of the budget driver category, but he could pair well with Verstappen should the Dutchman already be in your line-up.

 

Zhou Guanyu ❌

F1 Fantasy points scored from qualifying in 2024: 0

Zhou Guanyu‘s lack of one-lap pace has been his downfall in 2024, but Monaco may hurt his F1 Fantasy point-scoring ability the most.

The Sauber driver has an average qualifying position of 18.42 so far this season — the worst on the grid. This weekend, there are unlikely to be many opportunities to make up for a lowly grid place in the race

We’d suggest picking up the likes of either Nico Hülkenberg for $8m or $6.5m team-mate Valtteri Bottas instead — who has, on average, qualified almost four places above him.

 

What F1 Fantasy chips should I use in Monaco? 

If you’ve been saving your Final Fix chip, the Monaco GP might give you a great opportunity to use it. With the weather during qualifying currently looking bleak at best, activating this chip after the session will allow to take advantage of a surprise polesitter by trading them into your line-up ahead of the grand prix. For example, should you have Verstappen in your squad but Norris bags pole, you could play your Final Fix chip to swap one out for the other — allowing you to take advantage of Norris’s better track position and potentially score more points.

It’s also worth considering if one of your expected top-performers hits trouble in qualifying with a slow lap, poor reliablity or a crash — Monaco catches out the very best. Given the limited hope of cutting through the field in the race, the Final Fix chip will allow you to switch to a better-placed driver.

Bear in mind that you don’t have to commit to using the chip until after qualifying — but it won’t be available if you’ve already activated a different chip.