How Inactive Drivers Work in F1 Fantasy

After the Chinese Grand Prix, Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson swapped seats, prompting F1 Fantasy to create new assets to account for the change. They added Red Bull Yuki Tsunoda and Racing Bulls Liam Lawson assets to the game. The previous assets for Tsunoda and Lawson became Inactive and were no longer available to select.

To alert players of the change, F1 Fantasy placed the following warning message on the Home tab:

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Meanwhile, on the lineup page the driver's photo features an orange Inactive logo in the upper left corner:

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Also, opening the full driver card reveals an Inactive banner:

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Players that miss these warnings and run an Inactive asset will incur the DNF/NC penalty for every event of the weekend: 5 points for Qualifying, 20 points for a Sprint (on the six Sprint weekends), and 20 points for a Grand Prix. A banner displaying Inactive driver penalties appears at the top of the final score:

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Since the Inactive driver penalty is applied to the overall score and not the individual driver, the Inactive asset does not lose value. This is important for those teams with an Inactive driver in their lineup that use the Limitless chip, since price changes after using Limitless apply to the lineup from the previous race. If a driver loses their seat and becomes Inactive, players can still use Limitless without concern of their Inactive driver losing value.

After the Logan Sargeant loophole of 2024 sparked debate across the community, F1 Fantasy clamped down on running Inactive drivers by issuing the stiffest penalties in the game. Pay close attention to when drivers lose their race seat or miss a race due to injury or penalty points to avoid the Inactive driver punishment.