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Kimi Antonelli became the newest and youngest Formula 1 Championship leader when he won the Japanese Grand Prix in March this year. The 19-year-old Italian driver then continued that very impressive start to only his second season, clinching his third straight pole positions and Grand Prix wins after just the fourth Grand Prix of the season.
While Kimi is crushing it on the race track, it’s to nobody’s surprise that he’s also been crushing it in F1 Fantasy both in terms of points scored and budget gained. In this article I’ll break down just how valuable he’s been and what we can expect to see from him in the future…
How well has Kimi really been doing this season?
Antonelli has been by far the best performing driver of the season, scoring 192 F1 Fantasy points over the first four races. His closest competition has been Mercedes teammate George Russell, who has scored 153 F1 Fantasy points, and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, who has scored 138 points.
Additionally, Antonelli is priced at $24.4M, making him $4.2M cheaper than George Russell, both McLaren drivers, and Max Verstappen. This also means that Antonelli has earned by far the best PPM (points per million) ratio of the A-tier drivers, at 7.8 (Russell’s is 5.3 and Leclerc’s is 5.75).
He’s owned on 30% of all F1 Fantasy teams, making him and Charles Leclerc the most popular A-tier drivers.
Last but not least, Antonelli sits alongside Leclerc and Russell as the three A-tier drivers who have gained the most budget thus far this year, all having increased $1.2M.
Where has Kimi performed best?
Looking at Antonelli’s season, he has scored 32, 68, 50, and 42 F1 Fantasy points in each of the Grands Prix thus far. He earned his season high 68 points in China for his first pole and race win, where he also earned 10 F1 Fantasy points for Driver of the Day and the fastest lap.
Importantly, Antonelli has not earned a Driver of the Day since he took the lead in the World Drivers’ Championship, and there is a trend of drivers in his position being overlooked for this coveted fan-voted award. However, if he continues his streaks of pole positions and wins, he’ll still be poised to be one of the highest scoring drivers from each weekend just on pure performance-related F1 Fantasy points alone.
What can we expect from Kimi in the next few races?
The next outing is Canada, where the Italian driver achieved his first podium of his F1 career last year with a decisive overtake on then-championship leader Oscar Piastri in the opening lap of the race. While both McLarens battled behind him and eventually collided, Antonelli was able to put pressure on Verstappen for second in the later stages of the race before eventually securing third place. Mercedes as a team have been on the podium in Canada every year since 2021, so we should expect this year to be more of the same for Antonelli, if not better. F1 Fantasy teams that have Kimi will very likely want to hold him through this weekend.
Beyond that, the F1 calendar takes teams to Monaco, Barcelona, and Austria. Unfortunately, Antonelli didn’t score championship points at any of these three races last year. Russell also wasn’t able to score points in Monaco, where Mercedes had a nightmare with the two-stop strategy requirement. It may be good luck for both Mercedes drivers that the rule has been abolished for this season.
Looking to Barcelona and Austria, Russell finished 4th and 5th, respectively. So given Antonelli has been outperforming his older teammate early on this season and Mercedes has been significantly more dominant, I’d expect that Antonelli finds his footing to bag podiums and points throughout the next set of races.
What about the other teams?
The development race is rapidly heating up, with Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, and McLaren expected to bring upgrades over the next couple of races. Should one of those teams bring an upgrade that allows them to usurp the other teams, there is a chance that Mercedes falls down the pecking order. However, Mercedes seems to have a PU advantage over Ferrari, a chassis advantage over Red Bull, and McLaren has been plagued by mechanical issues to start the season with 3 DNS’s so far. I therefore wouldn’t expect Mercedes to be consistently off the podium anytime soon. And they certainly won’t be standing still, with rumors from Brackley indicating that the Silver Arrows will be bringing a substantial upgrade package to the Montreal.
Kimi for all
Whether you’re running him on your team or not, F1 Fantasy is getting everyone involved with the Mercedes driver thanks to their “Kimi Antonel-League,” a free mini-league that players can join until the Canadian GP weekend begins. This mini-league incorporates scores from Miami and Montreal, and the top three players receive prizes including a signed pair of Antonelli’s gloves for first place. Simply head to the Leagues section of the F1 Fantasy game to sign up. Happy playing!
Cover photo courtesy of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team.
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