RADIO
We're two races into the Formula 1 season, which means we're two Max Verstappen wins into the Formula 1 season. Will the defending champion make it three-for-three this weekend in Australia?
One of the biggest storylines this weekend comes from Williams. After Alexander Albon crashed in practice, the team needed to go to a backup car. One issue—they didn't bring a third chassis to Australia. This resulted in the team kicking Logan Sargeant out of his car, keeping Albon in the race to see if he can score points, something Sargeant doesn't seem capable of.
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the Australian Grand Prix on 3/24/24, with the slate locking at 12:00 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: Yuki Tsunoda ($6,900)
Starts Eighth
I recommended using Yuki Tsunoda as a captain last race, and well...that didn't go too well, as he started ninth but finished back in 15th. The good news was that he beat teammate Daniel Ricciardo, earning five DFS points for that.
🗣️Helmut Marko praising Yuki Tsunoda performance in Australia:
"He made it into the top 10 again, that was an incredible achievement, he was always there, without making any mistakes" pic.twitter.com/LPpNwaEdAs
— XI.V.MM™ (@adonustikuy) March 23, 2024
This week, we're riding the Tsunoda train again. He's qualified better than he's run in both races so far, but at some point, you have to think the qualifying speed translates into some race pace.
Tsunoda finished 10th in this race last year, earning his first point of the 2023 season in the process. Can the same be true on Sunday in Melbourne?
Constructor: McLaren ($8,000)
Good qualifying effort from McLaren this weekend, which has drivers starting third and fifth. The first three rows this weekend feature just three teams, suggesting those three—Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren—are ahead of teams like Mercedes and Aston Martin this weekend. Of the three, McLaren is the cheapest, which is the main reason why I'm going with them as my constructor play. It helps save cap space to afford the big hitters.
(I will note that for scoring purposes, the McLaren cars are starting fourth and sixth, because the DraftKings lineup doesn't account for a three-place grid penalty for Red Bull's Sergio Perez.)
Max Verstappen ($16,400)
Starts First
Speaking of the big hitters, Max Verstappen's probably going to win this race. He's won both races so far this season from the pole and he's on the pole again on Sunday.
At Saudi Arabia, Verstappen paced the field for 45 of the 50 laps. The race before that in Bahrain, he led all 57 laps. He's got the best car in this field and is a significantly better driver than teammate Sergio Perez, the only other driver in a car that could theoretically touch Verstappen at this point.
Verstappen is also the defending winner of this race, winning the pole and leading 47 of the 58 laps on his way to the victory over Lewis Hamilton. Barring a mechanical issue or a crash, expect Verstappen atop the podium again this weekend.
Lando Norris ($8,200)
Starts Fourth
At some point, Lando Norris is going to get there and win a Formula 1 race. He had seven podium finishes last year and he's the only non-Verstappen driver to lead a lap this season, though his finishes haven't matched his speed yet. He was sixth in Bahrain and then eighth in Saudi Arabia.
This might be the weekend that Norris lands on the podium, though. He won't get past Verstappen, but second-place starter Carlos Sainz is still recovering from appendicitis, so it's unclear if he'll be able to maintain a fast pace all race long. Norris was also the fastest in FP1 this weekend.
Lance Stroll ($5,000)
Starts Ninth
Expecting Lance Stroll to beat teammate Fernando Alonso is a long shot, but I think getting a driver on the fifth-best team in Formula 1 for just $5,000 is a really good value. Sure, Stroll tends to make mistakes, but if we take away DNFs and go back to last year, he's been in the points in every race he's finished in five consecutive races. That includes a pair of fifth-place finishes late last season.
LAST TIME🇦🇺 In Australia last year these 3 shared the podium.. Lance Stroll came 4th! Any crazy predictions of who will be on the podium this weekend?🏆 #f1 pic.twitter.com/KSYxpik68x
— Wheel Knowledge (@we_know_wheel) March 19, 2024
Oh, and Stroll finished fourth in Melbourne last year. Behind Alonso of course, because even a fourth-place run wasn't enough to earn the five points for defeating a teammate, but he proved he could have a strong race and hold off drivers like Sergio Perez, who finished about three-tenths behind Stroll.
Alexander Albon ($5,400)
Starts 12th
Okay, so as far as I know, Alexander Albon should automatically get five DFS points in this race because he'll finish ahead of teammate Logan Sargeant, who isn't racing this weekend. If I'm wrong about that, then I'll need to really reconsider my lineup, so I'll pop back in and update if DraftKings says anything.
Williams not having a spare chassis is unacceptable & the team has explained why
To back Alexander Albon over Logan Sargeant for the 2024 Australian GP is entirely understandable
They're in the "business" of racing & will back their best driver for points!
Why the debate?#F1 pic.twitter.com/6f6Dh8FaGM
— Kunal Shah (@kunalashah) March 22, 2024
This Williams team isn't having a great year, but Albon always seems like a guy who could manage a ninth or 10th-place finish if a few drivers on the stronger teams have any trouble.
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