Catching Up With 2024 Global League Champion LeapsFrog

Have you selected a race for your 2024 Grand Prize? Who will you be taking with you?

Andrew: The race that I have selected for my 2024 Grand Prize is the Las Vegas Grand Prix. I will be taking my dad with me to the Grand Prix.

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‍How has your approach to the game changed in 2025?

Andrew: My approach to the game has changed in 2025 mainly due to the new budget system. It has taken time for me to get adjusted to the new system. Under the old system I would be more inclined to pick drivers below the $15/$25 million border and then immediately abandon them when they reach that price. Now it is much more complicated with the PPM system and 3 race average. I have a tendency this year to avoid Williams assets more than most managers notably, this was actually done on purpose since I felt the new budget system would punish owners of expensive budget assets more than cheaper ones.

Additionally, last year they were the team with the highest number of DNFs and were clearly eventually going to get worse by not bringing upgrades which were both motivating factors. Unfortunately, it worked against me early on this season, but my hypothesis has eventually materialized in later races. The other big change is my transfer strategy, last season I could be more aggressive with my transfers and had more potential options to choose each week. Now, many drivers are instantly unviable at the start of the week purely due to a DNF in the previous week and many weeks involve me already knowing what my team will be before Free Practice, which was a much more rare occurrence last season.

Unexpected DNFs also are more harsh this season as they are not only a -20 but force you to use a transfer the following week, which can become a huge problem especially if you need to make changes elsewhere on the team.

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‍Your formula for success in 2024 was amassing a huge cost cap, but this year more players are modeling that strategy. Has that changed how you set your lineup?
Andrew: Amassing a huge cost gap was definitely important for my success last year but the methods to do so have changed this year. Having it become apparent from the start that cost cap is important among the player base has definitely made it harder to have an advantage over other players. Being the team with the richest budget last season allowed me more flexibility and gave me the ability to match teams but do it in a slightly better way.

This year that isn’t the case as I have often barely reached the budget goals I have needed so far in the season. Having a lower budget means you have to make predictions to either gain budget or points unexpectedly. Being able to execute a counter-meta Limitless in Saudi Arabia successfully and at the time having it potentially be the only viable Limitless were the moves I had to make to be competitive this year. Trusting Alpine so much in the rain looks baffling now, but the entire preseason I told myself to pick Alpine in the rain and ignore Williams and Ferrari who have the most DNFs in the rain or severely underperform in the rain, so getting myself to follow the consensus that week was not happening. 3X DRS is also likely to come earlier as I have no plans to go for triple McLaren with Ferrari like managers with more budget.

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When do you predict those teams that built up a big cost cap will start reaping the benefits and outpacing the rest of the field?
Andrew: I predict the teams with a big cost cap will gain points later in the season than most people expect. It might not happen till the final 6 races. Ferrari is likely going to be the ideal 2nd constructor for most of the remaining races which will likely push multiple premium lineups till very late in the season. Right now, I view MCL FER PIA with 4 budget drivers who can gain price as essential, currently, to be in contention budget-wise.

Also, getting a second premium [driver] might not be as valuable this season as the cheap assets will not be as expensive as they were last season, and may be better for price gains than Russell or Leclerc, who will hang around the same price all season or even decline. The points gain could be gradual from picking better budget drivers that do not DNF that might be slightly more expensive. I think a lot of managers with a big budget are going to rush into multiple premiums too early when the best play will be to wait it out and gain even more budget to capitalize with an even stronger team later.

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‍There have been many debates on the best times to use Limitless. What is your stance on the optimal approach to Limitless?
Andrew: My stance on Limitless is that it should be used on a low overtake track early in the season. Looking back, Japan was the place to use Limitless, but unfortunately I couldn’t use it myself due to how my team was structured in China. Seeing how I missed out on it I knew right away I needed to capitalize quickly in Saudi Arabia and I did so successfully. Looking back, even though Monaco was optimal and Miami was a good place to use it as well I feel like I made the best choice of those 3.

Miami was the track where I had one of my weakest races in 2024, and having a rough start was encouraging to go anti-meta against Miami Limitless. Even if I hypothetically didn’t use Limitless in Saudi Arabia, I would not have touched it at all due to the rainy weather. The Miami Limitless users got insanely lucky it didn’t rain on Sunday because if it did it would have been the biggest Limitless disaster of all time in the F1 Fantasy Community and it was possible to see it coming.

With Monaco Limitless it basically became the only option left for people who were stuck with the chip if they held it after Miami. It was the smart play with what happened, but even then I would definitely say they got lucky choosing a week where Piastri was in 3rd which reduced the points of the non-Limitless teams. Non-Limitless teams that week effectively had 2 chances at pole with Piastri and Leclerc via Final Fix and not getting either of them was a surprise. Another risk at Monaco is if a driver does bad in Qualifying, similar to George Russell did, it would ruin the Limitless chip, meanwhile in Saudi Arabia Norris was able to climb through the field while very few overtakes occurred in the rest of the field.

Basically, the ideal situation is a low overtake track but not so low that if your drivers mess up Qualifying they are screwed. Another option for late users are grid penalties: if multiple drivers take 10-place grid penalties the Limitless chip could still work late in the season despite less budget gain from using the chip.

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Do you have any advice for players that are looking for a differential approach to catch up in their Mini Leagues?

Andrew: My advice for players looking for a differential approach is to be ready for the exact week you are planning on going differential. The price system this year makes it much harder to go differential, however if you are able to plan a particular week ahead of time and have 3 transfers it can be possible to make a move. Even if it is last minute, make sure you have an exit plan so you can have a great team for the following week. I was willing to take a chance on Leclerc in Canada, it didn’t work out perfectly, however I was able to do it because of the stability of budget drivers at that time. The consequences of lost budget from going differential are also less later on so the incentive to make a move should increase as the season goes on.

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Are there any races in the second half that have you considering a bold strategy (driver history at the circuit, Sprint weekend, etc.)?

Andrew: The races in particular that I am looking at a bold strategy are for Spa, Monza, and Las Vegas. These strategies are entirely dependent on how I feel about McLaren’s performance. If McLaren’s performance is strong in Spa 3X [Extra DRS Boost] is an option. With Monza and Las Vegas, I rank them as McLaren’s weakest tracks so depending on the context of the Free Practice data those are the weeks I would be tempted to make a move. Monza also happens to be next to Baku, which could also be a good track for Ferrari as well.

Also, another bold move is if I hold the 3X chip it could create a situation where the optimal move would be to successfully predict a non-McLaren victory in either COTA, Brazil, or Qatar. It will definitely be a challenge and I think whoever is able to come up with the most creative and effective way to use the 3X DRS chip is going to be in a great position this year.

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You can find Andrew on X, the F1 Fantasy Tools Discord, and sometimes in the chat of The Fantasy Formula's Deadline Q&A Stream!

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