F1 Fantasy: top picks & predictions for the 2025 Italian GP
It was carnage at Zandvoort – unless you followed Motor Sport's F1 Fantasy advice. Here are our predictions; tips on drivers to avoid; which chips to play and further analysis to strike back at the 2025 Italian GP
Catch him if you can...
McLaren
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“When your heart’s on fire, smoke gets in your eyes…”
So goes the famous lyric that Lando Norris must have been able to relate with as he pulled off in Zandvoort – and so too the legions of heartbroken F1 Fantasy fans following a chaotic Dutch GP.
Many hopes foundered on the North Sea coast, but now there’s a chance for F1 Fantasy redemption at the ‘Temple of Speed’.
The 2025 Italian GP has the scope to at the very least throw up unusual results, not least due to the fact that a one-stop strategy there is often de rigueur, i.e. if someone gets caught out of position in a DRS train on those long straights, that’s their lot.
Oscar celebrates another huge Fantasy points haul
McLaren
The big question is, then, whether to stick to the classics or take a gamble, choose the big hitters or the dark horses.
Ferrari will look to harness the power of the tifosi like last year, while Kimi Antonelli will be desperate to show Toto Wolff he wasn’t daft to put a teenager with little real top-level racing experience in a 220mph missile.
One Fantasy darling could come up trumps again, but there’s also a bogey team to look out for.
No need to look so worried though! We’ve got you covered with all our Fantasy tips and advice below.
How did Motor Sport’s 2025 Dutch GP F1 Fantasy picks do?
Our team’s 200 F1 Fantasy points score at the Dutch GP Dutch GP now gives us 3303, putting us at 608 out of 31k+ players in the official Motor Sport League.
If there’s one thing that’s almost a given, it’s that F1 Fantasy hero Oscar Piastri will likely give you a sizeable return every weekend.
And so he did again on the North Sea coast, his pole and win plus DRS Boost handing the Motor Sport team a handy 90 big ones. Not a bad start.
The brilliant Isack Hadjar started fourth and then took his first podium, that finish and place gained netting him a handsome 33-point score.
Motor Sport forecasted that Aston Martin would have a good race after promising showings in FP1/2 plus the similar track characteristics of the previous GP at the Hungaroring, where it also did well.
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The green team contrived to have a rubbish qualifying, but Alonso (13) moaning on the radio actually worked out. Just to shut him up, his team put him to the back on new tyres, the Spaniard overtook a few rivals, then the late race prangs for others and safety car meant he came up trumps.
Bortoleto went not very far to score a massive zero, while Lawson (also zero) would have brought home a few points but for unwisely smashing into Carlos Sainz.
McLaren scored a lower-than-usual 52 due to Norris’s car conking out, but both Alonso and the enigmatic Lance Stroll rising up through the grid (the latter started 19th) meant a healthy 41-point haul.
Motor Sport had advised players to switch to Aston from Ferrari. Well, after both Ferraris were ahead but then contrived to crash/be crashed out, so we were kind of right…
The highest scorer this week in the Motor Sport league, Neeoow (247 points) went all in on Aston, teaming the Silverstone squad with McLaren, as well as Alonso with Stroll (21), previous Fantasy no-hoper Franco Colapinto (11) and George ‘You want me to swap positions?’ Russell (19).
Motor Sport’s 2025 Hungarian GP F1 Fantasy choices: Stick with Aston?
Return of the(second-placed) kings
Ferrari
This season the high downforce Aston has proved brilliant on the tight, technical tracks like Zandvoort but diabolical on the high-speed blasts due to being too draggy.
It’s time to bin off Lawrence Stroll’s Brat GP then, and swap it for home favourites Ferrari.
Despite an awful Dutch GP, the Scuderia has still scored the second-most Fantasy points out of all constructors this season, and due to it being difficult to overtake at Monza, we’re unlikely to see the same heroics by which Aston and Haas rose through the field at Zandvoort.
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This therefore informs your driver choices henceforth – i.e. Ferrari is pricey, and doesn’t leave you with loads of options.
And so, along with no-brainers Piastri ($26.7m) and Hadjar ($5.7m), we’ll keep our fingers crossed that for once Lawson ($5.1m) doesn’t shunt anyone and that sure and steady Bortoleto ($5.1m) brings in some more points.
Picking Ferrari means you can’t afford Alonso, so who to go for?
We’d suggest Carlos Sainz, who’s been so useless this season that his price has plummeted to $5.7m. The Spaniard’s had so many bad races that he must be due a good one – plus the slippery Williams is usually good at Monza. Watch this space!
Which F1 chips should I use at the 2025 Hungarian GP?
Look, it’s not a sprint weekend, and it’s not going to rain. So just don’t, OK?
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Motor Sport 2025 F1 Fantasy Italian GP line-up
