RACE DEBRIEF

    So, another race and another tale of Mercedes sweeping all before them. But in F1 Fantasy land, which drivers and constructors stacked up the best in Barcelona? And who should you have avoided like a bout of Spanish ‘flu. Here are the best and worst combinations from the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix.

    There were 15,878,582 potential team combos for Spain, giving punters a teeny tiny 0.00000629779% chance of picking the optimum one. Despite that, a whole 17 of you managed to select the ‘Best team’ below… which we hope is 17 more than picked the ‘Worst team’ below that.

    Here’s who did the business for you in Barcelona.

    Best team

    Best Team

    Total points: 225
    Budget: $99.1 million

    Lewis Hamilton: 63 points
    Carlos Sainz: 36 points (Turbo Driver)
    Valtteri Bottas: 47 points
    Max Verstappen: 48 points
    Daniil Kvyat: 13 points

    Constructor: Haas – 18 points

    They may have dominated proceedings so far in 2019, but Spain marked the first time where having both Mercedes drivers in your squad proved to be the best bet – with Hamilton actually making his first ‘Best team’ appearance this season. At a cool $51.6 million, it’s a costly outlay – but when they bring home the points like they did in Spain, it’s easy to see why it's an investment worth considering.

    Actually, this ‘Best team’ edition features the entire Spanish Grand Prix podium, with Max Verstappen slotting in for the second consecutive race. That entailed a heavy spend for three of your squad's drivers – but fortunately, the performance of cheaper options Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz – who both suffered price reductions after the post-China readjustment – meant they were worthy picks in Spain, especially when Sainz was turbo’d.

    Haas, meanwhile, took their first double-points finish of the season in Barcelona (despite Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen nearly wiping each other out) – and having been the constructor pick for the 'Worst team' in Baku, they were the best option for Spain alongside the drivers above.

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    Worst team

    Worst team

    Total points: -26
    Budget: $45.7 million

    Romain Grosjean: 5 points
    Lando Norris: -11 points
    Lance Stroll: -28 points (Turbo Driver)
    Alexander Albon: 3 points
    Robert Kubica: 1 point
    Constructor: Racing Point – 4 points

    It seems unfair that, on the weekend when Romain Grosjean scored his first points of the season, he should once again find himself in the ‘Worst team’. But there it is, with the Frenchman joined by Lando Norris and Turbo Driver Lance Stroll – with the punitive points loss for a DNF, which both of them suffered when they drove into each other on Lap 46, compounding mildly sub-par weekends for both drivers.

    Elsewhere, Alexander Albon fared worse in the intra-team Toro Rosso battle, failing to make Q3 (as Kvyat did) and finishing outside of the top 10 (as Kvyat didn't), while Robert Kubica was similarly outperformed by George Russell at Williams to take up the last spot in the team.

    A point-less weekend on track for the team in pink, meanwhile, meant that Racing Point were the constructor to avoid this weekend.

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