In the real thing, the right strategy is key to winning a race. You may have the quickest car and fast drivers, but without a good strategy a race victory is far from guaranteed.

Now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves – is this real life, or is this Fantasy (GP) – of course, in Fantasy GP you don’t have to manage pit stops, tyre compounds or when to push and when to coast.

That said, you should think about your strategy for the season ahead. Here’s a quick guide on how to win… or at least make sure you have a good first race.

Firstly, the game locks as soon as qualifying begins, so make sure your team is setup and predictions are in before qualifying – for Bahrain, that’s 3pm GMT Saturday.

Pick Drivers

You need to have 3 drivers in your team. You can put a lot of your budget into your driver choices and bag some top names, but remember that some of the cheaper drivers may bring home some bonus points by beating their team mate and / or progressing up the order if they qualify low and finish higher, 2 points per position gained.

Pick Cars

You need 3 cars in your team – big teams could bring home big points with podiums, but like with drivers, cars can score bonus points for making the finish and also for improving positions from start to finish. Remember, when choosing cars for your team, there are 2 cars for each team in F1, so there are potentially more points available to be won.

Predictions

It’s crucial to make some race weekend predictions. Predicting the podium correctly will get you 10 points per correct predictions and combo-bonus of an extra 15 points – handy. You can put one driver for 1st, 2nd and 3rd – it’s a nice way to try and ensure you get some points at least. But this ‘eggs in one basket’ approach is also risky, if that driver fails to finish on the podium, it’s nil points.

Play the Markets

Take a look at the driver price lists – if you think a car or driver is undervalued and will perform better than they are currently priced, it may be tactical to put them in your team and if they do well, you could then sell to make a profit when their value goes up. The question is, do you really want to sell them if they are doing well? It could enable you to get a more expensive driver or car though. Hmm, decisions.

See the full game guide here and also our brief summary of how points can be scored.

Good luck for the first race and the rest of the season!