RADIO
Formula 1 is in Las Vegas this weekend for a race that's been fairly controversial already. From Carlos Sainz having to go to a backup car and take a grid penalty after a track malfunction to the idea of racing in cold temperatures, it's already been eventful.
What will happen in the first Las Vegas Grand Prix? Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. I really don't know what exactly we'll be seeing on Saturday night, or if we'll be seeing anything. The race starts at a ridiculously late hour, making it tough to stay up and watch it even though it's happening in the United States.
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the Las Vegas Grand Prix on 11/19/23, 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: Charles Leclerc ($12,900)
Starts First
Ferrari was super quick in qualifying, earning the top two spots on the grid. Carlos Sainz had a 10-place grid penalty though, so it's unlikely we see the two Ferraris fighting for the victory on Saturday night.
What we might see though is Charles Leclerc giving Max Verstappen a real run for his money when it comes to the race victory. Leclerc was third in Mexico City, leading 12 laps in the process and ignoring the race where he was disqualified, he has five top-five runs in a row. Leclerc has the speed to win a race this year. Will it happen at Vegas?
Constructor: Williams ($3,100)
Williams??? As our constructor pick??? Yep! Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant start together on the third row for this race. There's no guarantee they stay that high, but at just $3,100, we've got to put them in some lineups and hope for what would be the most surprising double points finish of the season. This could easily blow up in our faces, so it'd be smart to also have some lineups with someone like Ferrari at constructor and then work to find some savings elsewhere.
Max Verstappen ($16,600)
Starts Second
Formula 1 has run 20 races so far this season. Max Verstappen has won 17 of them. At this point, there's no reason to think he can't win an 18th on Saturday night. I do think Charles Leclerc has the best shot at dethroning Verstappen that anyone has had since Singapore in September, but Verstappen is still my pick to win as long as he can cleanly get through the first turn and then get past Leclerc, either early on or during pit cycles.
George Russell ($8,400)
Starts Third
Lewis Hamilton didn't make it out of Q2 this weekend though the Sainz penalty puts him 10th on the grid, while his Mercedes teammate George Russell put his car third on the grid. While I don't really see Russell posing a threat to the top two in this one, he should be able to challenge for a podium and he has a pretty clear advantage over Hamilton for the "defeated teammate" points.
Daniel Ricciardo ($5,400)
Starts 14th
Kind of a risky play here with Daniel Ricciardo, as he starts outside the points. He's shown decent speed lately though, including a seventh-place finish in Mexico City a couple of races ago. Ricciardo also has a good advantage on the grid over teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who starts back in 20th. That gives Ricciardo a leg up at earning the five points for beating his teammate.
Logan Sargeant ($3,200)
Starts Sixth
Logan Sargeant is averaging 2.3 DraftKings points per race. He has finished ahead of teammate Alexander Albon just three times all season. He has yet to score a single point in his rookie campaign. That's a long list of reasons to avoid Sargeant, but this might be his week, finally. He qualified sixth, his best starting spot of the year and just the second time he's even advanced to Q3. Albon starts one spot ahead in fifth, so for once Sargeant isn't at a huge starting disadvantage. I don't know...maybe Sargeant earns his first points in a race in his home country.
I also think Sargeant could be a fun captain play, just because that gives you a ton of money to work with across the rest of your lineup. I'll likely build a few lineups like that.
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