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Justin Carter's DraftKings and FanDuel DFS lineup picks for the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix. Read our daily fantasy F1 advice and sleepers analysis.
Formula 1 is back! The best drivers in the world hit the track in Bahrain this weekend, with Max Verstappen looking to repeat as the champion. But one year ago, it was Ferrari that got off to a strong start here at Bahrain, with Charles Leclerc winning the season's opening race.
But pit strategy issues plagued Ferrari all year, and Verstappen was able to run away with the title. Can anyone—maybe Leclerc, maybe one of the Mercedes drivers—find a way to dethrone Verstappen and keep him from winning a third consecutive title?
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the Bahrain Grand Prix on 3/5/23, with the slate locking at 10:00 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 ($19,500)
Starts 1st
Where else should we go for our captain pick than Max Verstappen? Not only does he have the highest upside, but he's also the safest play here. We know that Red Bull is going to be good this season. We don't yet know if it'll be Ferrari or Mercedes as the best team behind them, and the trendy captain pick of Fernando Alonso can still fit into your lineup as a non-captain.
Verstappen's never won at Bahrain, and a fuel pump issue last year ended both Red Bull cars day here, with Verstappen finishing 19th. But I'm not letting mechanical issues last March scare me off playing Verstappen this March—not when the polesitter position is so valuable here. Leclerc led 55 laps to win from the pole in 2022. In 2021, Hamilton and Verstappen started on the front row, and one of the two of them led all 56 laps.
Constructor: Aston Martin ($7,500)
This is where we save our money on Sunday. Both Aston Martin cars start in the top eight as the team showcased a lot of speed in both practice and qualifying. They won't be the highest-scoring constructor this week, but they've got a real chance to be the fourth-best constructor this year judging by the speed that Fernando Alonso has shown so far. Playing Aston Martin in this spot and betting on a double points finish for Alonso and Lance Stroll is risky—mostly because of Stroll—but it also opens up a range of possibilities with lineup building.
George Russell ($8,200)
Starts 6th
It's possible that things click and Lewis Hamilton goes back to being the top Mercedes driver this season. In fact, it's probably the most likely outcome. But when Russell costs you $2,200 less than Hamilton does, then I think you've got to play Russell and hope for a repeat of last season, when Russell finished two spots ahead of Lewis in the points race and had an average finish of 5.4 to Hamilton's 6.2.
Russell was fourth here last season. He was also just so incredibly consistent in 2022, with just three finishes all year worse than fifth. Bet on Russell picking up where he left off—he was the only Mercedes with a win in 2022.
Fernando Alonso ($7,600)
Starts 5th
Alonso's been incredibly fast all weekend, including topping the chart in FP2 and FP3. He wasn't able to get that high in qualifying, but he did have the best qualifying performance of any non-Red Bull or Ferrari driver. While he hasn't won here since 2010, Alonso is a three-time Bahrain winner, and he was ninth here last year for Alpine.
Is the veteran driver going to reinvigorate an Aston Martin team that was seventh in constructor points last year and didn't have a single finish better than sixth last season? I mean...probably, TBH. Alonso knows how to get the most out of his equipment, and practice/qualifying have made it look like Aston Martin's really improved its equipment.
Alexander Albon ($3,800)
Starts 15th
This play is less about Albon and more about the fact that his new teammate, Logan Sargeant, doesn't have a lot of experience in this car, and he doesn't have a great track record of success at the lower level.
Albon ended last season by earning the defeated teammate points in 12 consecutive races. He only finished in the real life points once in that span, but the consistency he had in earning those points over Nicholas Latifi made him a nice floor play in DFS. I can't imagine that changes much this year. Maybe Sargeant has some better runs than Latifi, but Sargeant was just fourth in Formula 2 points last year and while he had two wins, he also had just four podiums in 28 starts. Albon should still be in firm control at Williams.
Niko Hulkenberg ($3,200)
Starts 10th
Haas moved on from Mick Schumacher, replacing him with veteran Niko Hulkenberg. And that move might already be paying dividends, as Hulkenberg qualified 10th on Saturday, seven spots ahead of his teammate Kevin Magnussen.
Things could change on race day, but I love the value of Hulkenberg because of the early edge he has in the race for the defeated teammate points. While Magnussen had a great run here last year, part of that was because he qualified five spots ahead of Mick Schumacher. Magnussen went from seventh to fifth in that one, while Schumacher went from 12th to 11th. Overall, it was a really good race for Haas, and I think Hulkenberg, at least, is in a position to give Haas a second good year in a row at Bahrain.
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