F1 Fantasy Winners and Losers: 2026 Brazilian Grand Prix

Winners

Red Bull

Qualifying: P16 (Verstappen, started P21) and P7 (Hadjar, started P5)

Race: P2 (Verstappen) and P3 (Hadjar)

Red Bull weathered the storm in Sao Paulo for a double podium. Max Verstappen made up 19 places in the race, overtaking left and right to eventually fight at the front. Isack Hadjar felt that he deserved the second-place position, leading to some intra-team drama that slightly marred their day. But at the end of the day, both drivers survived three pit stops and changing positions to celebrate on the podium. Red Bull finished with 90 F1 Fantasy points and a $0.3M price gain, putting themselves on the map as a must-have constructor.​

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Lando Norris

Qualifying: P1

Race: P1

Lando Norris had a near-perfect weekend in Sao Paulo. The McLaren driver started from pole but lost the lead at the start when he dropped down to P3 behind both Kimi Antonelli and Liam Lawson. However, he was able to regain the lead before the first round of pit stops by overtaking Lawson on track and cruising by Antonelli when he spun off. Norris has taken three-straight poles and two-straight wins in Brazil, making him a bit of a specialist at the track. He was the second-highest scorer in F1 Fantasy this week, behind Max Verstappen, with 36 points and a $0.1M price increase.

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Mercedes

Qualifying: P2 (Russell, started P7) and P3 (Antonelli, started P2)

Race: P4 (Russell) and P5 (Antonelli)

It was a tale of two weekends for Mercedes–they won the Constructors’ Championship, beating out Ferrari for their first team championship since 2021. However, they also failed to make the podium with either driver for the first time this year. Both drivers struggled with grip and balance, especially when Antonelli went off track, losing the lead, and George Russell spun while exiting the pit lane. Even though both Mercedes lost positions in the race, they were still the second-highest scoring F1 Fantasy team for the week. They were helped by Antonelli’s fastest lap and their mechanics delivering a quick pit stop. Mercedes finished with 72 F1 Fantasy points and is at the $34M budget cap.

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Racing Bulls

Qualifying: P5 (Lawson, started P3) and P14 (Lindblad, started P18)

Race: P7 (Lawson) and P11 (Lindblad)

Racing Bulls regained its place at the top of the midfield at Interlagos. Liam Lawson, who still doesn’t have a contract for next year, started in P3 and was running P2 after the first lap of the Grand Prix. He wasn’t able to hang on to a podium place, but he was able to finish in the points and cleanly go wheel-to-wheel with the top teams. Arvid Lindblad was also able to gain seven positions and make 11 overtakes throughout the race. The team scored 44 F1 Fantasy points and gained $0.6M in budget.

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Losers

Rafael Camara

Qualifying: P13 

Race: P20

Rafael Camara was certainly baptized by fire this weekend–his first-ever weekend in Formula 1 was in mixed conditions at his home race. He was able to finish the race, which is an accomplishment in and of itself, but he had a crash in Qualifying in the last minutes of Q2 which clouded the narrative. Additionally, during the race he lost all his positions in the tricky conditions and finished last. He lost $0.6M in F1 Fantasy value and scored -9 points. It’s unclear yet whether Camara will be finishing the season with Haas, or whether they’ll continue playing a bit of driver roulette–stay tuned.

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Cadillac

Qualifying: P20 (Bottas) and P21 (Perez)

Race: P18 (Perez) and DNS (Bottas)

Sometimes, racing in mixed conditions can be a huge benefit for backmarkers–engine power is less important when drivers start spinning all over the place, and if you can just keep it on track you’ll make progress. Unfortunately, Cadillac was unable to benefit from the conditions. Valtteri Bottas didn’t start the race due to a mechanical issue, and Sergio Perez finished two laps down from the leader. The team scored -15 F1 Fantasy points and is unable to lose more budget at the $3M price floor.

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Carlos Sainz

Qualifying: P15 (started P12)

Race: P19

Carlos Sainz finished P19 at the Brazilian Grand Prix–his worst finishing position in his entire time in Formula 1. He struggled with understeer and graining during his first stint, and Williams elected to stay out when other drivers were pitting in hopes of a safety car that never came. Sainz was unable to take advantage of the conditions, and he lost seven positions throughout the race. The Williams driver scored -2 F1 Fantasy points and lost -$0.6M in value.

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