In Australia the chain of victories of Red Bull was interrupted by Carlos Sainz, also thanks to the withdrawal of the world championship leader Max Verstappen, betrayed by his RB20. A rare event these days considering the level of reliability achieved by these cars, especially Red Bull. An opportunity that Ferrari was able to seize, bringing both drivers to the top steps of the podium, in a historic one-two. And which above all now puts the Fantamanagers in an even greater crisis in choosing the formation to deploy for the next events. Precisely for this reason, Let's see which is the top 5 that would have allowed us to achieve the maximum score at Fanta F1 in Australia.
The Top 5 of the Australian Grand Prix at Fanta F1
Unlike the last two weekends in which a team led by Max Verstappen won, in Australia it was a mixed team that excelled. The absence of both Red Bulls, with Verstappen out after the first laps and Perez remaining in the rearmost positions due to the penalty and floor problems, gave Ferrari and McLaren an opportunity to compete for the podium. The superiority of the Red team, however, did not allow Norris to obtain more than third place. However, given his lower price at Fanta F1, and considering the minimal gap with Leclerc, choosing Norris would have been a good deal. Especially when paired with the Grand Prix winner: Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard only took part in 2 out of 3 Grands Prix but on both occasions he demonstrated that he was truly at ease with the SF-24, beating his teammate on two occasions. The season is long but Sainz will have to quickly find a seat for 2025. Performances like this can only be good for both Ferrari and the Spaniard. The only one in the last year to have beaten Verstappen and Red Bull on two occasions.
But Sainz and Norris are not the only ones to have scored several points in Australia. Especially in the middle of the pack, the fight to get into the top 10 saw several teams involved, with Haas managing to get into the points with both drivers. While Aston Martin took the lead in the group with Lance Stroll taking home a very precious P6. Also due to the outing of both Mercedes.
So the top 5 of the Australian Grand Prix at Fanta F1 sees the following driver line-up: Sainz, Norris, Stroll, Hulkenberg, Tsunoda. A team that would have brought us 98 points, 134 with Sainz as captain.
Predictions for the Australian Grand Prix
Instead, these are the predictions that occurred and that would have benefited us, if we had guessed them all, 32 points.
Safety Car: No
Virtual Safety Car: Yes
Red flag in the race: No
Team double in the race: Yes
Driver who starts on Pole wins the race: No
Drivers use wet / full wet tires in the race: No
Number of teams with both drivers in the top 10: 4
Number of cars forced to retire: 3
Therefore also considering the +25 bonus for having guessed the score of the Yawk team (45 points), the maximum score obtainable this weekend would have been 191 points. No one in the YawClub NOW Community Club has managed to achieve such a result but it must be said that this weekend just guessing the drivers to field was really difficult. Let's hope this isn't an exception.