RADIO
After an unexpectedly long break, Formula 1 is back. The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was canceled last weekend because of flooding in the area, making this the first time that F1 is back on track since Miami on May 7. It's been a bit, hasn't it?
Now we head to Monaco. The big thing to know heading into this race: it's almost impossible to pass here. The last time a driver won here while starting lower than third was in 1996, and last year just one driver finished in the top 10 without starting in the top 10, as Valtteri Bottas went from 12th to ninth.
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the Monaco Grand Prix on 5/28/23, 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?
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: Max Verstappen ($21,600)
Starts 1st
At a track where passing is this notoriously bad, Max Verstappen is the obvious captain play, even though he's $21,600, which is definitely a lot of salary space to devote to one driver. But Verstappen is the class of the field and the only driver who has looked capable of competing with him is teammate Sergio Perez, who starts 20th. At a place like Monaco, he's got no shot.
Verstappen has started on pole twice this season, winning both times. At Bahrain, he led 54 of the 57 laps. In Australia, he led 47 of the 58 laps. I see no reason to think this isn't a dominant day for Verstappen, and it wouldn't be surprising if the only laps he doesn't lead come if he cycles out of the lead briefly during pit stops.
Constructor: Alpine ($5,300)
Good shot for Alpine to get both drivers in the points this weekend, which makes it an appealing constructor play.
Just based on the goal that we want a constructor that places both cars in the points, I'm out on Red Bull, because of how far back Perez starts. The last time a driver started in the bottom five spots at Monaco and ended up with a top 10? 2018, when Max Verstappen started 20th and finished ninth. That could be the outcome for Perez, but it worries me too much.
Mercedes and Ferrari are solid options, but I just love the value on Alpine, with one driver starting third and the other starting seventh.
Carlos Sainz Jr. ($7,800)
Starts 4th
Charles Leclerc qualified ahead of his Ferrari teammate, but Leclerc was hit with a three-spot grid penalty for impeding Lando Norris, moving Sainz up to fourth and Leclerc back to sixth on the grid.
If we're playing Verstappen as our captain and want another top driver in our lineup, this news is great, because Leclerc at $9,600 is hard to fit with Max. If we go by the "passing's tough" logic, Sainz now has a decent chance to beat Leclerc and earn the "defeated teammate" points. And even if he doesn't, he still has a great chance to finish in the top five and have a good scoring day even without those points.
Esteban Ocon ($5,600)
Starts 3rd
It was pretty wild to see Ocon jump to the top of the qualifying chart near the end of Q3:
It didn't stick, but he still qualified fourth, and with the Leclerc penalty moves up to third. While I think it's fair to think Ocon loses a few spots on Sunday, he has the early edge over teammate Pierre Gasly, and starting third here is a big advantage. The last time a driver starting third or better at Monaco finished worse than fifth, not counting DNFs since we had two of those in 2021, was 2016, when Nico Rosberg started second and finished seventh.
Alexander Albon ($5,000)
Starts 13th
Would be nice if Albon started a little higher to give him a chance of earning points the old-fashioned way, but he showed good speed on Saturday, including running a top 10 lap in the first round of qualifying and showing speed in practice as well.
Albon probably needs a little luck to get a top-10 result, but he doesn't need much luck to outperform teammate Logan Sargeant, who starts 16th. Albon has earned the points for defeating his teammate in three of the five races this year, but the two he didn't were races that he didn't finish. Keep the car clean and he'll finish ahead of Sargeant, who has struggled to begin his F1 career.
Yuki Tsunoda ($4,600)
Starts 9th
Tsunoda is my favorite story of the season. His worst finish is 11th, though his best finish is only 10th. He's finished at least two spots ahead of where he qualified in all but one race, and he now starts top 10 at a track where it's notoriously tough to pass.
As for the points for defeating his teammate, he's a perfect 5-for-5 in earning those this year, and Nyck De Vries hasn't finished better than 14th in any race so far.
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