RADIO
Who's ready for some Formula 1 DFS? This week, the circuit will run the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Lewis Hamilton won this race last season, but led just three laps. Charles Leclerc finished second for Ferrari. The top finishing Red Bull driver was Sergio Perez, way back in 16th.
Qualifying on Saturday happened under wet conditions, with Carlos Sainz earning the first pole position of his Formula 1 career. Will he be able to hold off second-place starter and championship leader Max Verstappen?
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for 7/3/22, 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?
If you're familiar with using DraftKings for NASCAR, this Formula 1 format is going to feel really, really different from what you're used to. It's a lot closer to the NFL single-game showdown slates than it is to anything on the NASCAR side.
So, here's how the scoring and format work. 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 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. And bare with me, as this whole F1 fantasy thing is new to all of us.
Captain/Constructor Stack: Carlos Sainz ($12,900), Ferrari ($10,800)
Starts 1st
I tried not stacking captain and construction for Canada and the results weren't great, but it could have worked if the value plays in my lineup had hit. This week though, we're back to stacking, because I see a potential value here.
Captaining polesitter Carlos Sainz is $12,900. Captaining Max Verstappen is $17,700. You basically can't afford Sainz if you captain Verstappen, but you can definitely play both Sainz and Verstappen if you go with the Sainz/Ferrari stack. Hmm.
Sainz has struggled at this track, but his lone start here for Ferrari saw him move up from 10th to sixth by the end of the race. Can he hold on from the pole? In the last eight races at this track, the winner has started first or second seven times, including four wins from the pole.
And using Ferrari as your constructor also gets you Charles Leclerc, who came close to winning this race last year, leading 49 laps but finishing second. Leclerc has three podiums and a fourth place in his five starts here.
Max Verstappen ($11,800)
Starts 2nd
Look, if you want to captain Verstappen, have at it. He'll probably win this race. But at some point, it just gets boring to captain Verstappen each week, and if he doesn't win, you'll look smart for having pivoted to someone else.
Still, fitting Verstappen into your lineup as a non-captain is a good call. Maybe he can't get past Carlos Sainz and win the race, but he'll podium, unless there's some mechanical issue.
Verstappen has six wins through the first nine races of the season. He's led 230 of the 513 laps that he's run. He's podiumed every time he's finished on the lead lap. Oh, and he has a 2020 win at Silverstone on his resume. But he also has three DNFs here...
Esteban Ocon ($5,800)
Starts 15th
Watching qualifying this morning, I kept thinking "what's wrong with Ocon." He'd run a decent lap, then he'd fall down the grid as everyone else ran better ones. He just barely escaped the first qualifying session and ends up starting 15th.
Ocon has an average finish of 8.6 this season, so there's some solid room for place differential here. And while it might be some work to finish ahead of Alpine teammate Fernando Alonso because of qualifying position, let's remember that Alonso has a much lower average finish this season of 11.6. Alonso has the qualifying speed. Ocon has the race speed.
Sebastian Vettel ($5,000)
Starts 18th
Vettel starts two positions ahead of teammate Lance Stroll. Honestly, both have some upside here because of the possibility of place differential points and part of me really wanted to save money with Stroll, but Vettel just feels more likely to get those points for being the best-finishing Aston Martin driver.
Vettel currently sits 14th in the driver standings despite running just seven races. His average finish is 11.9, while Stroll is at 12.4. Again, both drivers should move forward through the field and the points for gaining five spots would make either an intriguing play, but I just trust Vettel a bit more.
Nicholas Latifi ($3,000)
Starts 10th
This one is risky, but Latifi just had his best qualifying session ever. He starts 10th and could find himself in a position to earn points in a Formula 1 race for the first time this season.
The thing that most draws me to Latifi this week is that he starts six spots ahead of teammate Alexander Albon. Albon has had the upper hand most of this season, but Latifi at $3,000 is an interesting target if you want those points for finishing ahead of a teammate. His rock-bottom price also helps a ton with lineup building.
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