RADIO
Formula 1 heads to Belgium this weekend for the Belgian Grand Prix. This is the final race before the summer break, with F1 next in action August 25 for the Dutch Grand Prix. Every driver will be looking to end the first half on a strong note.
The big story this weekend is a 10-grid place penalty that has points leader Max Verstappen starting 11th. Verstappen hasn't won any of the last three races, and there's a good chance that streaks extends to four races in a row this weekend, though Verstappen has proven in the past he can win here while fighting through traffic on race day.
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the Belgian Grand Prix on 7/28/24, 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: Sergio Perez ($10.5K)
Starts Second
This is a huge risk, considering how poorly Sergio Perez has run lately. He hasn't finished better than seventh since Miami back on May 5 and hasn't been on the podium since April 21 in China. Red Bull has slipped a bit and while Verstappen has been good enough to more than make up for that with his performance, Perez has suffered.
A great qualifying session puts us in front row for tomorrow. We’ll fight with everything we’ve got to take the victory.
Una muy buena calificación que nos pone en la primera fila para mañana. Pelearemos con todo para la lograr la victoria.#SP11 pic.twitter.com/gHrUx1lc1r
— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) July 27, 2024
If there's a week he can have a strong run, it's this one. Verstappen starts 11th because of a grid penalty, putting Perez in decent shape in the battle to finish as the top Red Bull. Of course, Verstappen won here from 14th in 2022, but Red Bull had a larger advantage over the rest of the field back then.
Of course, the risk here is that Perez keeps finding himself in trouble, which could bite you, and if Verstappen can get one spot back from Perez at any point, Red Bull will likely prioritize getting Verstappen ahead. Still, there's value here based on how strong the Red Bull cars have looked this weekend.
Constructor: Ferrari ($9.7K)
Ferrari likely isn't the strongest constructor this weekend, but getting the polesitter's team for $9.7K when the other car starts seventh feels like a value you have to take, right? I'll expand more on Leclerc a little later in the article, but Carlos Sainz Jr. has four consecutive top-six finishes.
Lando Norris ($13.0K)
Starts Fourth
Qualifying was weird. Between the Verstappen penalty and the rain, I'm just not sure the best drivers are on the front row. Lando Norris was the fastest driver in FP2 on Friday and then was fourth in FP3. McLaren has been the fastest constructor on raw speed lately, with Norris finishing on the podium in four of the last five races. The one time he didn't in that span was when he and Verstappen crashed while racing for the lead.
Charles Leclerc ($8.8K)
Starts First
Ferrari isn't the fastest car on pace, but that doesn't mean Charles Leclerc can't get a good jump on the field and lead some laps until the McLarens catch up to him, right? Leclerc has had uneven results lately, but he ran a solid fourth in Hungary last weekend. Seven of the last nine Belgian Grand Prix have been won from the front row and the only driver to win from deeper in that span is Verstappen during his superhuman 2022 and 2023 campaigns.
Daniel Ricciardo ($4.0K)
Starts 13th
Now we get to some potential value options. With his teammate Yuki Tsunoda starting from the rear, Daniel Ricciardo has a good shot to finish as the top RB driver for the first time since Austria on June 30. At the time, he was riding a three-race streak defeating Tsunoda. Ricciardo, a former winner here, has struggled for a lot of this season, but the fact he beat Tsunoda in all three practice sessions this weekend is a good sign for his DFS viability on Sunday.
Esteban Ocon ($3.8K)
Starts Ninth
Esteban Ocon's future was revealed this week as it was announced he would move to Haas next year, with the team looking to revamp things by pairing him with 2025 rookie Ollie Bearman.
Alpine have brought 2 performance upgrades, in the mirror and front wing with other circuit specific bits #BelgianGP #AlpineF1 #F1 pic.twitter.com/9lC2HiT8Cn
— Lucho Yoma (@LucianoYoma) July 26, 2024
As for now, Ocon enters this race on a rough patch, finishing outside the points in three consecutive races. However, Ocon displayed decent speed all weekend, finishing in the top 10 in FP2 and FP3. Alpine brought upgrades to Belgium this weekend and so far, those upgrades appear to be helping the French team find a bit of time around this track.
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