Monaco GP Fantasy Preview

The historic Monaco Grand Prix is here! We’re back covering some favorite plays for the week, as well as highlighting some drivers to avoid as F1’s most prestigious and beloved race weekend kicks off on Friday. While the car plays a huge part in the result, driver talent and ability is as important as ever in a narrow and twisting track like Monaco. Who could we see rise to the occasion?

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Drivers I’m Playing

Oscar Piastri - Even with a value increase of $2M, Piastri still has room to grow this weekend if he has a strong showing in Monaco. McLaren look to be the number two team behind RedBull, but even then the gap between them and RedBull is not the mountainous climb it used to be. Ferrari is not far behind McLaren, putting up a fight last week before eventually falling off the pace of the McLarens. Piastri could have had a P2, or podium finish at worst, had he not suffered a three-place grid penalty at the Imola circuit.‍ Should he continue his run of form, seeing him finish in the top 3 is not out of the question. 

Yuki Tsunoda - Yes he’s on the precipice of being overvalued, but with VCARB showing some nice gains in recent weeks, he could become the premiere talent driver for the rest of the season, assuming his value doesn’t creep up above $18M. He’s qualified worse than 11th just once, with four points finishes in seven races this season. The race pace wasn’t there for VCARB early this season and he fell off towards the back as the race progressed, much like Nico Hulkenberg with Haas last year. However, they seemed to have figured something out with the car, and the Japanese driver is capitalizing on it.

Alex Albon - He has seen a decline in salary in three of the last four races, leading him to a season-low $9.1M in value. It feels like a good time to buy in on the Williams driver, who has not seen his price drop this low since Canada last year. It’s true Williams is not performing as well as they did last year, but there are reasons to hope for improvement as the season progresses. He’s better utilized in a long-term contract than a short one, but either will suffice.

Honorable Mentions - Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen (if he qualifies well, with his elbows out style good luck passing him in these narrow streets)

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Drivers I’m Avoiding

‍‍Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes is in a bit of a no-man’s land in F1 this season, running their own race and picking up points where they can behind the top three teams. Hamilton is appropriately priced given his and his team’s performance so far this year, I’m struggling to find reasons to play him other than point stability because if he does go up in value, I doubt it will be much. Now that I say that Hamilton P2, coming right up.

Sergio Perez - It’s possible he gets his mojo back and makes me look foolish, much like Hamilton. However, he’s started to show some cracks in his armor with a P4 finish in Miami and a P8 in Imola. His qualifying pace has been fine for the majority of the year, but with Perez struggling in Monaco in the past plus several years and his current run of form, I’d look to stay away this weekend.

Pierre Gasly - Gasly has seen his value increase all of *checks notes once this season. Alpine has improved after their awful start to the year, but it hasn’t been enough to improve the French driver's value. Esteban Ocon is the obvious target if you go Alpine this week, but it’s tough to even trust him to put up a good fantasy performance outside of a print weekend.

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