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Justin Carter's DraftKings and FanDuel DFS lineup picks for the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix. Read our daily fantasy F1 advice and sleepers analysis.
Formula 1 heads to Qatar this weekend. We had a Sprint on Saturday that Oscar Piastri won, but the biggest news of the Sprint was that Max Verstappen officially clinched the championship with the seven points he earned. So, uhh...the inevitable has officially happened.
Will Verstappen's clinched title change anything going forward? Maybe Red Bull puts more work into ensuring P2 in the standings for Sergio Perez? Maybe Verstappen doesn't push as hard and other teams get a chance to win? Or maybe things will stay the same and we'll continue to get Max dominance.
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the Qatar Grand Prix on 10/8/23, with the slate locking at 1:00 p.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 ($13,200)
Starts Sixth
Rookie Oscar Piastri was among the fastest drivers in Q1 on Friday, but couldn't necessarily keep that going through Q2 and Q3. On Saturday though, he snagged the pole and went on to win the Sprint race.
I don't necessarily think he'll parlay that into a first career F1 win on Sunday, largely because it's one thing to beat Max Verstappen when you have the advantage of starting ahead of him and another to need to get past him. But Piastri, who starts sixth, has a really fast car, and a second consecutive podium should be possible.
Constructor: Alpine F1 Team ($3,700)
Here's the list of teams with both cars in the top 10 on the starting grid this weekend: Mercedes, McLaren, and...Alpine? That's right. The French team has struggled plenty this season, but both teams finished in the points last race in Japan and Pierre Gasly has finished in the points in three of the last four races while Esteban Ocon is at three of the last five. This team seems to have finally figured something out.
Max Verstappen ($15,800)
Starts First
And now we come to Max Verstappen, because of course we do. Verstappen's having a record-setting season. He won 10 races in a row at one point, and then after finishing a season-low fifth at Singapore, he bounced back with a dominant win in the Japanese Grand Prix, where he led 51 laps.
Every time Verstappen's been on the pole this year, he's won the race. In fact, the fewest laps he's led from the pole? 47. He's dominating these races when he starts out front. I've got no reason to think he won't do the same on Sunday. The only reason he's not my captain is that it's hard to afford the $23,700 that he costs in that role.
Fernando Alonso ($6,800)
Starts Fourth
Fernando Alonso is no longer on the pace he was earlier in the season, when he opened the year with six finishes in a row of fourth or better. But he's still having a great first season with Aston Martin, finishing outside the points just once all year. He's also an easy source of the "defeated teammate" points, as he's earned them in all but one race. With Lance Stroll starting 17th on the grid, Alonso got a pretty easy shot at continuing that streak.
Pierre Gasly ($5,800)
Starts Seventh
Just stacking with my Alpine constructor play here. Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon are both in play, but I prefer Gasly since he's finished ahead of Ocon in three of the past four races. He also out-qualified Ocon and finished better in the Sprint on Saturday. Take advantage of the Alpine cars not being priced quite in line with their improving performance yet.
Yuki Tsunoda ($4,600)
Starts 11th
Ever since Liam Lawson started filling in in the other AlphaTauri car, he's been the best finishing driver for the team. But I have a feeling that changes this weekend. Qatar just hasn't gone Lawson's way so far, as he'll start this race seven spots back of Tsunoda. He also crashed in the opening lap of the Sprint on Saturday. Don't necessarily love this play, but I don't really love any play in the sub-$5,000 range this week. The usually consistent Alexander Albon might be a victim of Williams not having a ton of speed this week, and Valtteri Bottas' ninth-place starting spot feels like a trap.
