RADIO
Formula 1 heads to Monza this weekend for the Italian Grand Prix. Last weekend, Lando Norris made a huge statement that the driver's championship isn't over yet as he dominated the Dutch Grand Prix, beating Max Verstappen by 22.896 seconds. Norris is still a threat to win it all, especially if Red Bull's struggles so far this weekend continue going forward.
Last season, Monza was the site of another Verstappen victory as he dominated the 2023 season. He was joined on the podium by Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz Jr.
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the Italian Grand Prix on 9/1/24, 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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Captain: Alexander Albon ($7.5K)
Starts Ninth
The biggest news this week was that Williams moved on from Logan Sargeant, replacing him with Franco Colapinto. While Colapinto showed speed in practice, he wound up 18th in qualifying while Alexander Albon ended up starting ninth.
Watching Alex Albon drive is just so exciting, on turn in for every corner he is always right up against the grass sometimes almost on it using every last millimetre of the track and more
— Aldas🇱🇹 (@Aldas001) August 31, 2024
Albon is very heavily favored to earn the points for defeating his teammate on Sunday. He earned it in all but one race this season when paired with Sargeant and while Colapinto has more upside than LS had, I don't expect that to translate into him being competitive against Albon.
Albon starts ninth, equally his best start of 2024. The other two times he started ninth, he went on to score points.
Constructor: Ferrari ($9.7K)
McLaren is the top constructor right now, but Ferrari has been quick this weekend. In FP1, both cars were top four. In FP2, they were top five. The speed wasn't quite there as much on Saturday as Carlos Sainz fell to seventh in FP3, but both cars start in the top five for Sunday's race. With Red Bull struggling a bit this weekend, Ferrari will fight with Mercedes to be the No. 2 constructor at Monza.
Lando Norris ($13.6K)
Starts First
After his dominant win last weekend, Lando Norris should be the clear favorite this weekend to run away with this race. He's finished on the podium in two of the past three races this season, leading double-digit laps in each of those Grand Prix, capped off by him leading 51 in the Dutch Grand Prix.
WHAT A LAP!!! 🙌@LandoNorris seals ANOTHER Pole position! 👏#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/W3jmodiRPw
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) August 31, 2024
The bigger question is if Norris can make the championship battle close. He trails Verstappen by 70 points, but that's far from insurmountable considering the Red Bull cars are becoming almost undrivable, at least according to Verstappen.
Charles Leclerc ($9.8K)
Starts Fourth
There was a moment where it looked like Ferrari was taking a step back, with Charles Leclerc falling outside the points three times in a four-race span. Since then, he has finishes of fourth, third, and third and looks like the best non-Norris or Verstappen driver on the grid.
It's easy to envision him getting past George Russell on Sunday to get on the podium, but don't discount Leclerc getting up to second or, if Norris has an issue, fighting for the win. It's also worth pointing out that Leclerc is a former winner here, taking the win in the 2019 race here from the pole and leading 45 of the 53 laps.
Nico Hulkenberg ($4.8K)
Starts 10th
While Nico Hulkenberg has finished outside the points in three consecutive races, he's still defeated teammate Kevin Magnussen in two of those races. Overall, Hulkenberg enters this race having earned the extra DFS points for finishing as the top Haas car in all but two races this season. He's one of the safest sources of those points in this entire field.
Valtteri Bottas ($3.8K)
Starts 19th
It's been a nightmare season for this Sauber team. Valtteri Bottas hasn't scored a single point in real life, but what he's done in fantasy has been to earn points as his team's top finisher in five consecutive starts. There's a gap opening between Bottas and Zhou Guanyu right now and that makes him a solid fantasy play, even if he doesn't offer anything else out on the track.
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, considering the huge gaps in speed between various teams and the small driver pool.
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