RADIO
Justin Carter's DraftKings and FanDuel DFS lineup picks for the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix. Read our daily fantasy F1 advice and sleepers analysis.
Formula 1 heads to Mexico City this week for the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen has already clinched the driver's championship and is now chasing some single-season win records, while his teammate Sergio Perez is fighting with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc for second place overall.
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for 10/30/22, with the slate locking at 4:00 p.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 a 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. Here's what I've put together as a kind of base lineup.
Captain: Sergio Perez ($15,900)
Starts 4th
Look, I know that playing Perez is basically asking F1 to be its most F1, but I'm okay with that.
What I mean is that Perez's teammate, Max Verstappen, should win this race. Verstappen has been the dominant driver in F1 and he starts on the pole. He should be a better play than his teammate Sergio Perez.
But Verstappen has already clinched the title, while Perez is fighting Ferrari's Charles Leclerc for second place. Add to that Perez being at his home track, and you can see why this is a prime spot for good old-fashioned team orders. It serves Red Bull's best interests to get Perez to the second spot in the WDC. I think there's a really good chance that we see Perez win for the second time this season.
Constructor: Mercedes ($10,100)
While I think Red Bull is the team best positioned to win this one, I think there's value in saving $2,500 of salary space by going with Mercedes as your constructor pick.
Mercedes drivers start second and third in this one, with George Russell firing off second and Lewis Hamilton third. At this point, I don't think Mercedes expects to win a race this season, but having both drivers start in podium spots could change that.
If I had to rank the top-three teams this week by how confident I am in them, I'd go with Red Bull, then Mercedes, then Ferrari. The Mercedes cars both out-qualified the Ferrari cars, and Mercedes has made some clear strides forward recently, with Hamilton almost winning at COTA.
George Russell ($8,600)
Starts 2nd
Like with my decision to go Mercedes over Red Bull at construction, going Russell over Hamilton as the Mercedes driver that I pair with my constructor play is about value, as Hamilton costs you $1,400 more.
I like the idea of always having a driver from your constructor pick, because that increases your ceiling if you hit, which is why I was deciding between Hamilton and Russell here.
Russell has recorded the fastest lap of the race in two of the last three races, but the finishes haven't been there, as he's finished off the podium three races in a row, and hasn't earned the points for defeating his teammate in any of those.
But before this stretch, Russell hadn't finished worse than fifth all year. He's been a consistently good driver who has hit a bit of a rough stretch. I'm betting on that rough stretch to end today.
Lando Norris ($7,600)
Starts 8th
Norris starts eighth, three spots ahead of his McLaren teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
Right now, there's no "battle" between Norris and his teammate. Norris has finished ahead of Ricciardo in an astounding 10 consecutive races. Over that span, Norris has one finish out of the points.
Norris was 10th here last year, finishing two spots ahead of his McLaren teammate.
Alexander Albon ($4,200)
Starts 17th
With Albon starting so far back, there's a chance he can earn some place differential points solely from attrition. But the main reason to ever play Albon is that his teammate is Nicholas Latifi, therefore Albon's a safe bet to get the "defeated teammate" points.
In fact, Albon has now earned those points in nine consecutive races. There have been two times he didn't earn them this whole season, which came with a pair of 18th-place finishes back in May.
Albon probably doesn't do anything that nets you big fantasy points, but there's some safety here because his floor is five points.
Yuki Tsunoda ($3,200)
Starts 13th
This is the riskiest play of the race because Tsunoda doesn't have some unassailable source of points via teammate defeat like Norris and Albon.
But Tsunoda has earned those points in the last two races, including when he finished 10th at COTA last week, his first top-10 since Spain in May. He managed to finish there despite starting 19th.
Tsunoda seems to have found a bit more race pace this month. And on Sunday, he starts on the same row as teammate Pierre Gasly, so he won't have to worry about needing to make up ground. Tsunoda could surprise people this week.
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