In the early part of an F1 Fantasy season, midfield value can shape your whole team. Premium assets still matter, but the real difference often comes from finding the cheaper drivers and constructors who can outperform their price and help grow your budget at the same time. Right now, that conversation starts with Haas and Racing Bulls, with Oliver Bearman and Liam Lawson standing out as the two most relevant drivers in that range.

The $18.5M Tier B benchmark: why Bearman leads the field

Bearman looks like the headline pick. Before the season started, Haas were already favoured as one of the best-value teams on the grid after a steady pre-season that had their team near the front of the midfield for all-around pace. Bearman was also the highest-owned asset in the game at the time at 57%, which made sense given both his low price and Haas’s apparent competitiveness.

Points per million (PPM): Haas and the overtaking meta

That early appeal has held up. Bearman is currently valued at $8.6M with 54 points, putting him at the top of the points per million leaderboard ahead of Lawson. He has also been especially useful because his value isn’t tied to one narrow scoring path. Bearman already has a total of 11 positions gained and 25 overtakes in two races this season. While Haas aren’t qualifying near the front of the field, they are certainly making those points up on Sundays.

That’s what makes Haas so appealing as a fantasy asset, not just Bearman individually. When a constructor looks underpriced relative to their actual pace, both drivers immediately become more relevant. Even if Haas isn’t a top-tier team in outright performance, they only need to be strong enough to consistently fight near the front of the midfield for their assets to become excellent fantasy value. That’s why the Haas case feels bigger than one hot start from one driver.

The Ocon hedge: a contrarian budget play?

Ocon fits into that same idea. He isn’t the flashy Haas option, and right now, he is clearly in Bearman’s shadow from a fantasy perspective, but he still benefits from the same team value argument. If Haas remains one of the most underpriced constructors in the game, Ocon stays relevant as a lower-profile midfield asset who could become more attractive if his results begin to match the car’s broader value case. Australia also showed him running close enough to the points that he can’t be ignored completely.

Lawson is a different kind of value pick. He started the season out at $6.5M, while the Racing Bulls were seen as one of the best-value budget teams available, with the team offering routes to points through qualifying teamwork and pit stop bonuses in addition to the usual overtaking and positions-gained categories. That matters because a cheap driver becomes much more interesting when the team around him can score in several ways across a weekend.

Tactical flexibility: the Lawson vs. Bearman cost-benefit analysis

There is also a useful cost comparison between Lawson and Bearman. Lawson is currently priced at $6.9M, with Bearman at $8.6M, so Lawson is meaningfully cheaper and easier to fit into premium-heavy builds. The trade-off is that Bearman has delivered more so far, with 54 points to Lawson’s 40, so Lawson’s lower price buys flexibility more than it buys safety. He is the cheaper gamble, while Bearman currently looks like the stronger all-around value play.

Driver	Current Price	Total Points	PPM (Points per Million)
O. Bearman	$8.6M	54	6.28
L. Lawson	$6.9M	40	5.80
E. Ocon	$8.5M	33	3.88

Racing Bulls strategy: scoring beyond the finish line

Racing Bulls have still done enough to keep Lawson firmly in the conversation. In the Australian opener, F1’s race coverage described Racing Bulls as one of the most impressive midfield teams, with Lawson and rookie teammate Arvid Lindblad both qualifying in the top ten. The team then added midfield F1 fantasy value through overtakes and fast pit stops, reaching 35 fantasy points across the weekend. That kind of balanced scoring is exactly what you want from a budget midfield team, and it gives Lawson a credible route to outperform his price even if he is not as reliable a fantasy pick as Bearman right now.

The early F1 Fantasy midfield value picture is fairly clear

Bearman looks like the best-value driver in the F1 Fantast midfield, and Haas looks like the strongest underpriced team to target. Lawson is the cheaper alternative, which gives him real appeal for fantasy players trying to force in more expensive stars elsewhere, but he comes with a bit more volatility. Ocon is more of a secondary option, though one who could still matter if Haas keeps proving that their prices were too low. Early in the season, that is often exactly where the biggest fantasy edge is found.