RADIO
Who's ready for some Formula 1 DFS? This week, we head to Hungary for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Can Ferrari rebound from last week's disastrous French Grand Prix?
They have a good shot, since Red Bull struggled in qualifying. Max Verstappen will start 10th, while Sergio Pérez will roll off in 11th. But that doesn't mean Ferrari should feel like they've guaranteed themselves a win, as it's actually Mercedes driver George Russell on pole. Could this be the week that we finally see a winner that isn't from Red Bull or Ferrari? It has to happen at some point, right?
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for 7/31/22, with the slate locking at 9:00 a.m. ET. If you have any questions or want to talk about Formula 1, you can find me on Twitter at @juscarts.
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How Does Formula 1 Fantasy Work?
If you're familiar with using DraftKings for NASCAR, this Formula 1 format is going to feel really, really different from what you're used to. It's a lot closer to the NFL single-game showdown slates than it is to anything on the NASCAR side.
So, here's how the scoring and format work. You'll pick five drivers and a constructor. One of those drivers will be your captain, who earns you 1.5-times the points but also costs 1.5-times as much as they usually cost. For the constructor, you're choosing one of the F1 teams.
So, here's how the scoring works. Your driver only gets points if they finish in the top 10. Here's a chart for how that breaks down.
| Finishing Spot | DraftKings Points |
|---|---|
| 1 | 25 |
| 2 | 18 |
| 3 | 15 |
| 4 | 12 |
| 5 | 10 |
| 6 | 8 |
| 7 | 6 |
| 8 | 4 |
| 9 | 2 |
| 10 | 1 |
In addition, the driver with the fastest lap of the race gets three points. You get 0.1 points per lap led, five points for beating your teammate, one point for being classified at the finish (finished 90% of the race, essentially), and points for place differential. Finish three spots higher than your grid position and you get two points. Finish five better and you get three points. Finish 10 better to get five points. You also lose points for negative place differential, starting at three spots.
The constructor points work the same way, with some added points if both cars do well.
It's confusing, but for Formula 1 DFS to work, it probably had to be confusing.
Now that we've gone over that, let's talk drivers. And bare with me, as this whole F1 fantasy thing is new to all of us.
Captain/Constructor Stack: George Russell ($12,600), Mercedes ($9,600)
Starts 1st
I'm back to my old ways: stacking my captain with my constructor.
Russell turned in a surprising lap to top the board on Saturday, which gives him the first pole of his career.
Now, it's time to see if Russell can get the first victory of his Formula 1 career.
Last year was weird here, with Esteban Ocon starting eighth and winning, but before that, the winner had come from the pole in three of the last four races here. It's historically been tough to win here from outside of the first two rows, as in the 36 F1 races held here, just three winners have started worse than fourth.
That essentially eliminates Verstappen from the formula when it comes to winning. It also eliminates him from my captain consideration.
That really leaves me deciding between the two Ferraris and Russell here for both captain and constructor. And I'm leaning Russell/Mercedes. For one thing, the value you get with them allows you to also play a Ferrari driver in a non-captain spot without killing the rest of your lineup.
And the second thing is that I really don't want to trust Ferrari at this point. Weird things keep happening with those cars. At this stage, it feels more likely that a Ferrari car blows up than it does that both of the drivers finish the race on the podium.
Charles Leclerc ($11,400)
Starts 3rd
If Russell doesn't use his pole position to walk off with this race, Leclerc is the next driver in line to win. With Red Bull's qualifying struggles, I don't expect Max Verstappen to really get up beyond fourth or so, which means he's off my radar.
Leclerc starts behind his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz, but he's established himself as Ferrari's top driver this season, with three wins through the first 12 races of the season. He likely would have had a fourth last week, but he crashed from the lead.
Like I mentioned above, I'm hesitant about Ferrari at this point, but if nothing goes wrong, Leclerc is finishing at least second, if not getting by Russell and winning.
Lando Norris ($7,400)
Starts 4th
The best way to gets fantasy points in Formula 1: finish well. And how do you finish well at a track where passing isn't usually very easy?
You qualify well. And that's what Lando Norris did, as he'll roll off of the grid in fourth. That's five spots ahead of his McLaren teammate Daniel Ricciardo, which is a good cushion if you're looking for those points for finishing ahead of a teammate.
Norris has finished in the points in three consecutive races, with double-digit fantasy points in each of those. It's possible you end up losing some points because of place differential, but his starting spot provides some cushion against him falling out of the top 10, so I'll take that risk.
Sebastian Vettel ($4,800)
Starts 18th
Vettel starts four places behind his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll, so it'll take a good race for him to get those points for finishing ahead of his teammate.
But if he does get ahead of Stroll, that also likely means Vettel will be gaining some place differential points. This is definitely an upside play: you need some things to go really right for Vettel, but if those things do go right, he'll end up with a solid run.
Alexander Albon ($4,000)
Starts 17th
Despite starting 17th, Albon starts a few spots ahead of Williams teammate Nicholas Latifi, who starts 20th.
Albon has been a reliable source of "defeated teammate" points lately, finishing ahead of Latifi in four consecutive races. That gives him a pretty solid floor, and his 17th-place start offers some place differential upside, as Albon has finished either 12th or 13th in four consecutive races. In fact, the last time Albon started 17th was at Azerbaijan, where he finished 12th, beat Latifi, and netted nine fantasy points.
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