RADIO
Formula 1 heads to Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Sunday for the Spanish Grand Prix. Last year, Max Verstappen dominated this race, leading all 66 laps and defeating Lewis Hamilton by 24 seconds. That race marked the seventh race in a row that the winner at this track had come from the front row.
F1 was last in action on June 9 for the Canadian Grand Prix, which saw Verstappen claim his sixth win of the year. Despite that, Verstappen and Red Bull don't look as unbeatable as they did in 2023, with three other drivers earning wins already this season. Last season, it took until the 15th race of the season for a race winner to come from a constructor other than Red Bull.
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the Spanish Grand Prix on 6/23/24, with the slate locking at 9:00 a.m. EDT. 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: Lewis Hamilton ($11.4K)
Starts Third
The seven-time Formula 1 champion starts third on Sunday, his best starting spot of the 2024 season. In fact, this is the first time Hamilton has started better than seventh all season as this Mercedes car just hasn't had speed in qualifying.
P3 and second row for the team ~ until tomorrow 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/EEqKcx6Ehg
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) June 22, 2024
Hamilton's also coming off a season-best finish of fourth in the Canadian Grand Prix. He has a great shot to contend for his first 2024 podium on Sunday at a track where he's been really good historically. Even with Hamilton not winning a race in 2022 or 2023, he finished fifth and second respectively here, and from 2017 to 2021 he won five straight Spanish Grand Prix.
Constructor: Mercedes ($8.5K)
We've got a $1.5K jump in pricing for Mercedes this weekend after the team scored 39 DraftKings points in Canada, its most of 2024. While Red Bull and McLaren seem likely to be the top two constructors this weekend, Mercedes has both its drivers in Row 2 and should be contenders for at least one podium finish. Don't underestimate this team.
Lando Norris ($11.2K)
Starts First
LANDO NORRIS TAKES POLE POSITION FOR THE SPANISH GP 🚨🟠 pic.twitter.com/dDnqv104yD
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) June 22, 2024
It's really tough to play both Lando Norris and Max Verstappen this week and still have enough going on in the rest of your lineup, so you probably need to pick one. Norris and this McLaren team have been faster than Verstappen all weekend and he costs significantly less at $11.2K to Verstappen's $15.0K, so that's why I'm going with Norris here. He's already won once this season and has a great shot to do it again in Spain.
Charles Leclerc ($10.6K)
Starts Fifth
The beauty of going Norris over Verstappen in your lineup is that you have the money left over to go with Charles Leclerc. Ferrari was surprisingly slower than Mercedes in qualifying, but Leclerc still starts on the third row and should be in contention for a podium. He suffered an engine failure in the last race, but before that, he had three consecutive podiums, including a win in Monaco.
Alexander Albon ($4.6K)
Starts 19th
The two Williams cars start on the last row this weekend, so don't expect Alexander Albon to score DFS points via a top-10 finish. Still, there are some easy points available here. He's finished ahead of teammate Logan Sargeant in every race except one this season, so those five points for defeating a teammate are usually on lock. He also has place differential upside if we get some attrition in the field, which is something we don't usually get a ton of in F1.
Esteban Ocon ($3.6K)
Starts Eighth
We saw some surprising speed out of the Alpines this weekend, with Pierre Gasly qualifying seventh and Esteban Ocon eighth. Both are in play, but Ocon costs you $400 less when both have essentially the same upside. That has him slightly ahead in my rankings this weekend. Before Gasly beat him in Canada, Ocon had been the top-finishing Alpine in four consecutive races. Ocon was eighth in this race last season, part of a double points day for Alpine.
Esteban Ocon: We arrive in Spain coming off the back of a positive result in Montréal, with a double points finish for the team, so hopefully it is something we can try to repeat again this weekend. But we know the circuit in Spain is a different challenge altogether. pic.twitter.com/o0Do5Y0jtN
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) June 18, 2024
Alpine is also an intriguing budget play at Constructor this weekend. Try building a fun lineup or two with them there, because it gives you a lot of flexibility.
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