System 1 heads to the Americas for 3 consecutive weekends, and every one asks a special query of your F1 Fantasy line-up.
The Circuit of The Americas (COTA) rewards drivers who can handle tyre life via its high-speed sweeps, with the uphill run to Flip 1 and the again straight providing two of the perfect overtaking alternatives of the triple header. Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez sits at greater than 2,200m, the place skinny air strips downforce and strains cooling, putting a premium on grid place and reliability. Interlagos then packs elevation change and a compact 4.3km (2.7-mile) lap into its first weekend and not using a Dash since 2019.
Planning your method throughout all three weekends collectively, slightly than one after the other, may give gamers an edge. With three deadlines inside a fortnight, retaining sufficient cost-cap flexibility to react will place the perfect F1 Fantasy line-ups for this subsequent run of races.
There’s additionally the newest mini-league of the season to think about, the Alpine Mini-League, which launched this week and consists of each america and Mexico Metropolis occasions with prizes on provide. The winner will obtain a BWT Alpine System One Staff 2026 mini helmet signed by Pierre Gasly – extra particulars under.
It’s by no means too late to hitch the free-to-play sport and compete for prizes on provide each race week. New gamers merely want to pick 5 drivers and two constructors inside the beginning price cap of $100m.
Should you want a reminder of all of the motion from final outing in Singapore that can assist you select, watch the highlights under. Keep in mind to lock in your groups earlier than Qualifying begins in Austin at 1600 native time (2100 UTC), once more in Mexico Metropolis at 1500 native time (2100 UTC), and in São Paulo at 1500 native time (1800 UTC).
International League replace
P1 surged to the highest of the worldwide leaderboard with a well-timed 3x Enhance, a play that returned 418 factors for the weekend and opened a 21-point hole to the chasing pack.
P2 slipped again from the lead but additionally backed Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, swayed by the tempo each confirmed on Friday in Singapore. P3 took an opportunity on Isack Hadjar and his grid penalty, searching the overtaking alternatives a restoration drive affords, however a retirement within the Dash reduce that ceiling brief.
Past that, the highest three look remarkably alike. Verstappen, Leclerc, Ollie Bearman, Nico Hulkenberg and Ferrari featured in all three line-ups, and lively driver administration stays the widespread theme on the very prime with most chips now utilized by these extremely ranked groups.
F1 Fantasy Strategist watchlist
Our F1 Fantasy Strategist evaluates seven in-game belongings under and critiques potential chip methods that can assist you problem for the highest step in F1 Fantasy’s world leaderboard.
Max Verstappen ($28.2m)
Verstappen arrives in Austin on back-to-back fantasy scores of fifty or extra, constructed on victories within the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia and the Singapore Grand Prix. He has additionally claimed 4 Driver of the Day awards in a row, and a fifth at COTA would tie the file for consecutive wins within the class since its introduction in 2016, a mark that Verstappen set himself between Brazil 2025 and Australia 2026.
The Dutchman has additionally gained 4 of the final 5 Grands Prix on the Circuit of The Americas, and completed on the rostrum in Mexico and Brazil in 2025, which makes him probably the most compelling 2x Enhance candidate for the following three rounds.
Charles Leclerc ($24.1m)
Leclerc has returned to type on the proper second, scoring 33 fantasy factors within the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia earlier than ending inside the highest three in each fantasy scoring session in Singapore. He sits second amongst all drivers for quickest laps this season with three, the newest coming final outing.
Leclerc gained on the Circuit of The Americas in 2024 and has stood on the rostrum in Mexico Metropolis in every of the final three years. Interlagos is the outlier – he has by no means completed on the rostrum there.
Liam Lawson ($9.9m)
Liam Lawson has not too long ago secured back-to-back P7 finishes, leading to 17.5 fantasy factors per race, and averages 12.1 fantasy factors throughout the season.
The New Zealander wants solely a single fantasy level in Austin for a most $0.6m value rise, a threshold his present scoring price ought to sufficiently clear.
Nico Hulkenberg ($6.6m)
Hulkenberg posted a season-high 19 fantasy factors within the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia and adopted it with 17 and a P8 end in Singapore.
Even a rating of -12 fantasy factors in Austin would safe the veteran racer a seventh consecutive $0.6m value rise, and he averages 1.66 fantasy factors per $1m since Austria – the perfect worth of any driver in that interval.
Ollie Bearman ($6.4m)
Bearman recorded 18 fantasy factors in Singapore, his highest output since China, and added eight overtakes throughout the weekend.
The British driver averages 5.1 overtakes per race this season, and all three circuits slated for this triple header rank inside the highest 10 for common overtakes throughout the final three years.
Different drivers to observe: Lewis Hamilton, Esteban Ocon
Purple Bull ($32.7m)
Purple Bull head to the Americas on back-to-back Grand Prix victories. The staff have additionally recorded the quickest pit cease amongst all groups at every of the final two race weekends, banking the five-point bonus on each events.
By way of to Azerbaijan, the Milton Keynes-based staff had reached double digits for quick pit cease factors solely as soon as all season, and so they have now finished so in every of the final two weekends – a promising turnaround for this fantasy metric.
Ferrari ($28.2m)
Ferrari have posted scores of 80 and 90 fantasy factors in back-to-back weekends, the primary time they’ve reached 80 in consecutive rounds this season, and the second of these returned 3.3 factors per $1m – the perfect worth of any constructor in Singapore.
Fred Vasseur’s staff have additionally put a minimum of one automobile on the entrance row for the Grand Prix in every of the final three weekends, and if they’ll convert these grid positions throughout this run, it would maximise their factors ceiling for the 41% of gamers who personal them.
Different constructors to observe: Mercedes, Racing Bulls
Triple-header chip technique – Wildcard
The Wildcard chip grants limitless transfers for a single deadline with out spending your free transfers, making it the perfect device for a full restructure of your line-up.
Singapore drew a big migration of gamers in the direction of Ferrari. But Purple Bull gained each of the final two Grands Prix and took the quickest pit cease bonus at every, whereas Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli leads the Drivers’ Championship, and rebuilding round that from a Ferrari-weighted squad is a multi-transfer job.
Any switch past your free allocation carries a 10-point penalty, and a big line-up overhaul could appeal to further switch penalties, whereas the Wildcard removes them fully for a single deadline. Three full apply classes at every of those rounds hand you loads of info earlier than the groups lock, and the chip helps you to react to that apply tempo and act on all of it slightly than limiting your self to the one or two adjustments you possibly can afford.
Featured leagues and upcoming mini-leagues
The newest F1 Fantasy mini-league is an Alpine particular, operating throughout each america and Mexico Metropolis rounds.
First place receives a BWT Alpine System One Staff 2026 mini helmet signed by Pierre Gasly, second place takes dwelling a Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix particular version cap additionally signed by the Frenchman, and third place receives an official Alpine staff cap.
Should you’re seeking to achieve a bonus on this mini-league, the Limitless and 3x Enhance chips are those greatest positioned to ship it, and in case you have been holding both again for the fitting second, this might effectively be it. Just one chip will be performed per race week, so utilizing both in Austin or Mexico Metropolis guidelines out the Wildcard that weekend, although every maximises your factors ceiling for the spherical through which it’s performed when constructed on the strongest fantasy performers.
As at all times, make sure you preserve a detailed eye on the sooner classes to assist information your selections for drivers and groups within the lead-up to the staff lock deadline.
