F1 Fantasy 2022: Netherlands GP

As if the Dutch fans needs any more reasons to be excited for F1 with Max Verstappen seemingly unstoppable as Formula One’s pacesetter, well they’ve now got a home grand prix to look forward to!

This week we are in the Netherlands for the middle race weekend of our triple header, so are we in for another Verstappen masterclass at the Dutch GP?

Firstly, let’s start with last week and where do we begin?

There was grid penalties being taken by over a quarter of the field which resulted in the driver who qualified in last starting in P13.

Not to mention the early race drama that caused two DNFs, once of which was Lewis Hamilton, who could have been on for double bonus streak points that weekend.

Once the race had settled down though Verstappen found himself in a good position to just drive his way through the rest of the field to take a comfortable win.

And, in the process, extend his lead at the top of the world Championship to 93 points over his teammate Sergio Perez in second place.

So, the question for all F1 Fantasy managers who do not have Max Verstappen already in their team (which is 63% of managers) – how are you going to rework your team to make sure he is in your team for his home race this weekend?

Verstappen has now scored 561 fantasy points this season which is 162 points more than George Russell who sits in second place.

The next two races are both tracks in which you would expect the Dutchman to dominate, even though Ferrari will be hoping that isn’t true especially at Monza the following weekend.

Although Verstappen has a pricetag of $30.4M currently, it’s almost guaranteed that he will return you big points each weekend and without him you will only fall behind.

This means if you are bringing Max Verstappen into your F1 Fantasy Team, you will need to look for some reasonable value with other drivers due to most of your budget heading on one driver.

The first place to look for me is with your team.

If you have either of the three big constructors, you will definitely be able to find some value in the midfield teams with the increase in changes of engine penalties for cars for the rest of the season.

Alpine are the top points scorers this season currently outside of the top three and have been looking stronger and stronger as the season goes on.

They managed to finish as the highest two drivers outside of the big 3 teams while Fernando Alonso also managed to finish ahead of Charles Leclerc due to a late penalty picked up in a strange Ferrari strategy move.

With them only costing $14.1M and the cheapest of the top 3 costs €25.8M, this for me is a quick way to make some extra money to bring in Verstappen.

As always, we are going to look where we can earn those little extra bonus streak points.

Keeping an eye on the drivers who can earn these and playing your mega or turbo drivers right on these can make a massive difference to your weekly scores.

This week we have two constructors who can earn us extra streak points.

One is my recommended Alpine, who will get extra points in qualifying if they manage to have both drivers qualify in the top 10 which they will be looking to do having qualified 5th and 6th last race.

The second team is Ferrari, who are set to have the chance to earn both qualifying and race streak points this weekend should both their drivers manage to finish in the top 10 for both.

Elsewhere we have five drivers who could also earn you extra bonus streak points this weekend.

Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz will earn their owners extra qualifying bonus streak points if they manage to finish in the top 10 for the Dutch GP.

And both Alpine drivers, Alonso and Esteban Ocon, will be able to earn the 10 extra points each should driver finish in the top half come Sunday.

However, like last week there is a Mercedes driver who will have the chance to score both qualifying and race points, and this week it is George Russell.

Will he be able to score the extra 15 points on offer to his owners? Or will he suffer a similar fate to his teammate last weekend where Hamilton retired after a first lap incident with former teammate Alonso?

So, will it be Max who takes another race win this weekend?

Who will you be bringing in to boost those fantasy points? Will you drop a big constructor to bring in some different drivers? Who will you pick as your turbo driver this weekend?

So many questions! But let us know how you are getting on so far this season and share your tips with us too!