Podium or Pits (PoP, for short) is our regular look at the state of the game, with analysis of the stats and tips for future races – since we’ve had the opening race now, it’s time to look at who did well and who did badly in Austria.

First up, the Austrian GP was a chaotic one and makes it tricky to decide on any sort of form guide, but to help you make decisions for Austria II (The Styria GP on Sunday) here’s how it played out in Fantasy GP terms:

PODIUM: GIOVINAZZI and LATIFI

Bottas scored the most points – he took victory and gained a health 15pts bonus for grabbing Pole Position, nice. Leclerc got a sackful of points too, he came 2nd, but also made up 5 places, giving him an extra 15pts bonus too.

But look beyond these top 2, and you’ll see that the real superstar drivers were in fact Giovinazzi and Latifi – neither driver featured much in the race, but they kept on going and proceeded to finish far higher than they started, netting 27pts bonus each (they both improved by 9 places from their starting position!).

PODIUM: McLAREN & WILLIAMS

The papaya cars looked good in race pace and of course Lando scooped an fantastic podium for the team with Sainz in 5th too. The team scored 29pts in total, only 9pts shy of top dogs, Mercedes. But here’s the thing – McLaren only costs $12.5million, half the price of the current champions and as a result, McLaren are one of the best value cars on the Fantasy GP grid.

In fact, the only car that’s better value is Williams – they are so cheap at £3million, that them scoring a 9pts makes them the most valuable team of all (working in terms of dollars per point).

PITS: RED BULL & HAAS

Haas aren’t expected to do well, they’re only a smidge more money to buy than Williams, but to get zero points and a double DNF is a horrible way for them to start the year and made them pointless in Fantasy GP.

But really down in the pits is the Red Bull car – sure, they were mighty unlucky with Max and Lewis owes Albon way more than an apology for ending what could have been a solid shot at victory – but as a car in your team they cost you $21.5million and returned nothing, nil point, zilch. Oh dear. After 2018 and 2019, many expected at least 1 Red Bull on the podium, but nothing at all is just shocking.

PITS: SEBASTIAN VETTEL

It was his birthday just before the race weekend, we hope he had a good day, because today was just awful for him. Ferrari weren’t expected to do well, but while team mate Leclerc came home with a 2nd place trophy, Vettel had a spin and finished 10th with just 4 points to his name in Fantasy GP. Put aside the DNF’s and Vettel is the least good value driver on the grid at $17.5million.

PODIUM: ESTEBAN OCON

He kept his nose clean and finished 8th, scoring 2pts. That doesn’t sound great, but in doing this he also scored a hefty 18pts bonus for improving 6 places from the start – that’s a fine effort for his first race back after a year off – nicely done. He was Ocon-it, you might say.

So, what next?

Good question and it’s a tricky one to answer – you could base your selections on what happened today, for the next race on Sunday – it’s at the same track after all. But then, today was an extraordinary race and it could be a totally different story in 7 days time. Maybe not.

But hopefully the analysis above will help you work out who the best drivers and cars are for your team and who to avoid.

The game is open now for changes and predictions for Styria, so get on it and good luck!