RADIO
Formula 1 heads to Japan this weekend for the Japanese Grand Prix. Last week, Carlos Sainz became the first driver this year to win an F1 race for a team other than Red Bull, but the Red Bull dominance looks to be back on this weekend, with Max Verstappen on the pole at Suzuka.
This race is a little different to watch than most F1 races. Instead of setting your alarm to get up early, you've got to stay up late, with the race set to go green at 1:00 a.m. ET. Brew some coffee and have yourself a late night of Formula 1 watching.
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the Japanese Grand Prix on 9/23/23, with the slate locking at 1:00 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: Oscar Piastri ($11,400)
Starts Second
The 2021 F2 champion has looked really good in Formula 1, especially since the British Grand Prix. Over the past five races, he's scored points four times, with a best finish of fourth in the British Grand Prix.
The only time Piastri didn't score points was in Italy. In that race, Lewis Hamilton caused a collision with Piastri, leading to front wing damage that he had to stop and repair, putting him behind the eight ball.
While he's finished behind teammate Lando Norris in six straight races, Piastri has a front-row start on Sunday, giving him a bit of an advantage on Norris. I think McLaren should have a strong race, so captaining Piastri at $11,400 feels like a good pivot off the $14,100 that captaining Norris would cost. Captaining Piastri allows you the salary room to stack him and McLaren.
Constructor: McLaren ($7,900)
That's right, we're stacking our captain and constructor this week. The McLaren cars start two-three, and the team is the cheapest of the current "big four" constructors. With how expensive Red Bull is, this really comes down to Ferrari and McLaren for me. Ferrari at $8,800 should be a solid constructor play as well. McLaren has the advantage on the starting grid, but we saw Ferrari deliver results last week. I'll build lineups with both constructors.
Max Verstappen ($15,600)
Starts First
After fading Max Verstappen last week, it's time to buckle up for another week of the usual. Verstappen's on pole for this race and you know what that very likely means—Verstappen will be back on top.
Look, Singapore was fun. We got to see what life would be like if Red Bull didn't have an unassailable grasp on the top of the podium. But that was likely a one-week thing. The Singapore track didn't suit this car. Japan does.
Last year, Verstappen won from the pole here, leading 27 of the 28 laps. It was a weird race, as rain led to a red flag on the second lap, and then the race was ended early because of the three-hour time limit. This year, he's likely to win a much more normal Japanese Grand Prix.
Pierre Gasly ($5,600)
Starts 12th
It's been a fairly disappointing season for Alpine, but Pierre Gasly has found a little something lately, scoring points in two of the last three races, including a podium finish in the Dutch Grand Prix last month. The summer break did good for this race team.
He's also defeated teammate Esteban Ocon in three straight races as well, and he'll start two spots ahead of Ocon on Sunday, putting him in line to defeat Ocon once again. He has a good shot of getting past a couple cars and scoring consecutive point finishes for the first time since May.
Alexander Albon ($4,800)
Starts 13th
Alexander Albon has been one of the best drivers this season when you factor in the equipment he's driving. He's finished in the points in two of the past three races and has five point finishes this season.
He's also outrun teammate Logan Sargeant on a weekly basis. So far this season, Sargeant has finished ahead of Albon just two times, and both of those times came in the first three races of the year. Albon has been dominant in comparison to Sargeant since. That's five easy fantasy points for defeating his teammate.
Liam Lawson ($4,000)
Starts 11th
Liam Lawson's first foray into F1 has gone about as well as possible. Last week in Singapore, he scored his first Formula 1 points, becoming the first driver to ever score his first career points in Singapore.
Unfortunately for Lawson, it looks like once Daniel Ricciardo is healthy, he'll be back on the sidelines. Not just for this year, but also for 2024, as he's pegged to be the third driver for AlphaTauri. But while he's still driving, I think he's a great cheap play. He starts two spots back of teammate Yuki Tsunoda, but he's defeated Tsunoda in all three of his starts this season.
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