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Justin Carter's DraftKings and FanDuel DFS lineup picks for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Read our daily fantasy F1 advice and sleepers analysis.
Formula 1 takes to the streets of Baku on Sunday for this year's Azerbaijan Grand Prix. This is the first race under F1's new sprint race rules—it used to be that the sprint race sets the starting grid for the main F1 race, but now the starting grid is determined by Friday's qualifying session, with the sprint race solely serving as an extra way for drivers to earn points toward the WDC.
Through the first three races of this season, only Red Bull has won, with two victories for Max Verstappen and one for Sergio Perez. But Ferrari has shown speed this weekend—could this be the week that another team gets a win? Last season, Ferrari managed to win four races, but they were all in the first half of the season as Red Bull pulled away after that.
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on 4/30/23, with the slate locking at 7:00 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?
Here's how the scoring and format work for F1 DFS on DraftKings. 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: Charles Leclerc ($13,200)
Starts 1st
I felt a lot better about this when I initially started building lineups on Friday. Leclerc finished second in the sprint race on Saturday, with Sergio Perez getting around him in a DRS zone and then driving away. Leclerc has been very fast all weekend, but he might not have the race pace we want to see.
Still, Leclerc had better short-run speed on Saturday, so I expect him to get an early jump, even if a Red Bull car eventually swallows him up. And even if that happens, I expect a podium for Leclerc. I just think with Leclerc being the fifth-most expensive captain, there's some value in taking the risk here.
Constructor: Ferrari ($8,500)
Same argument here as I had with Leclerc above. Ferrari has had speed this weekend and is a relative value at $8,500 when Red Bull will cost you $13,200. This is simply about taking advantage of that pricing at one of the tracks where Ferrari might be able to put a good race together.
Both Ferrari cars were top four in FP1. They both start the race top four. They finished top five in the sprint, with Leclerc second and Sainz fifth. George Russell, who beat Sainz in the sprint, starts outside the top 10 on Sunday, giving Sainz an edge to stay in the top four in this race.
Sergio Perez ($11,400)
Starts 3rd
You could go with Max Verstappen here and then go full-out on value options, playing guys like Yuki Tsunoda and Valtteri Bottas to fill your lineup out. But if I'm already fading Max as my captain...I kind of want to go full fade on him. He starts ahead of Perez, but Perez had the better car on Saturday, and Perez is also really good on street circuits.
(I'm also interested to see how Verstappen runs on Sunday—he took some damage to the car in a fight with George Russell during the sprint and while the team can fix that damage, IDK—could it still be an issue? Probably not, since he still had good pace with a hole in the side of his car in the sprint race, but we'll see.)
Pierre Gasly ($6,200)
Starts 19th
Gasly starts 19th after crashing in qualifying, but I expect him to move forward pretty quickly, as he's finished 13th or better in each race this season. What also helps is that teammate Esteban Ocon was hit with a penalty and will have to start from pit lane, giving Gasly an early jump in the race to defeat his teammate. He also should be able to get you some points for place differential based on how he's run all season.
He also ran well in the sprint, finishing 13th after starting 17th. That was good to see, and should be a good sign for Sunday.
Lando Norris ($5,800)
Starts 7th
Norris starts three spots ahead of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri. While he had some bad luck in the first two races of the season en route to consecutive 17th-place finishes, Norris finally put things together last race, finishing sixth in Australia, two spots ahead of Piastri. Both McLaren cars look to have some good speed here, and I'm not going to hold the sprint race finish of 17th against Norris because he started the race on the soft tires, as did Valtteri Bottas, and both plummeted in the running order. I expect that to be a learning experience and for the team to get the strategy right on Sunday.
Alexander Albon ($4,800)
Starts 13th
Albon has had trouble in the last two races, retiring to a 19th-place finish in both of them. But when he's not having issues, he's the clear best driver at Williams. He was 10th in the one race he finished, finishing on the lead lap while teammate Logan Sargeant finished a lap down.
Sargeant then went on to finish 16th in both of the last two races. Albon, meanwhile, ran well before mechanical issues and crashes, including qualifying eighth in Australia. Albon's going to have better luck going forward, and I don't see a way Sargeant beats him if Albon's able to run the full race.
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