Just when we thought the dust had settled on Logan Sargeant’s mid-season exit from Williams, it seems the American’s unceremonious dumping is still impacting one unexpected pocket of the F1 fanbase. For the 1.7 million people playing the F1 Fantasy game, a bizarre loophole emerged in the wake of the announcement that Sargeant would be replaced by Argentina’s Franco Colapinto for the remainder of the 2024 season.
For those uninitiated, fantasy players draft five drivers and two constructors to their teams on a $100m budget each race weekend, with prices set based on driver performance. For example, during the Dutch Grand Prix — Sargeant’s final race with Williams — he crashed during practice and wasn’t able to take part in qualifying, resulting in a fantasy score of -5 points for that session.
Naturally, many players were proactive in removing the 23-year-old from their lineups before the team lock deadline, and he proceeded to hit a season-low price of $4.8 million after finishing P16 in the race. Although Sargeant was arguably one of the worst assets given his consistently disappointing results, owning him allowed players to afford more expensive drivers like Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, who come with a significantly higher price tag.
So, when Williams confirmed that Sargeant had been dropped ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, his profile became ‘inactive’ and players weren’t able to draft him. Then the gaping loophole emerged when those who already had Sargeant in their lineups could keep him in their team at a very affordable price while drafting Colapinto for a similarly low cost.
Sargeant obviously won’t be scoring any points over future race weekends, but he also has no risk of losing value as the result of a DNF, so retaining him is a no-brainer for those with the ability to do so. These players also have extra budget to draft three top-tier drivers, resulting in a significant advantage over those without the axed American on their team.
Max Verstappen and Lando Norris are two of the best assets in the F1 Fantasy game.
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Unlike Grid Rival — an F1 Fantasy competitor with a much smaller player base — that swiftly removed Sargeant from the game altogether, Formula 1 did not immediately confirm whether the loophole would be rectified.
Motorsport reached out to F1 and we understand the game will be updated to address the issue…
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