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Well, Sunday will be interesting. Qualifying was rained out on Saturday, so the lineup for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix won't be set until Sunday morning. That means we don't have the full info when talking predictions for the race, which makes writing this article a little tough.
Luckily, we do have the Sprint race to give us some data, so we're not totally flying by the seat of our pants. Lando Norris won the Sao Paulo Sprint on Saturday, with the big news being that team orders gave him the win over teammate Oscar Piastri. McLaren is focused on Norris fighting for the title.
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix on 11/3/24, with the slate locking at 9:30 a.m. EST. 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 ($7.2K)
UPDATE: Albon crashed in qualifying and won't race on Sunday. See why having same-day qualifying really complicates things? Obviously you want to sub him out. Maybe Franco Colapinto is a good call here since he's now guaranteed five points for being the top Williams car? But he starts near the back.
You could try captaining Yuki Tsunoda after he had a shockingly strong qualifying run.
It's been an impressive weekend so far for Alexander Albon, who put his Williams machine P5 in the first practice then went ninth quickest in Sprint qualifying. Albon would go on to finish 10th in the Sprint race, two spots ahead of teammate Franco Colapinto.
Since Williams replaced Logan Sargeant with Colapinto, the gap between the two Williams cars has narrowed. Still, despite Colapinto outperforming Albon in three consecutive races, Albon is the lead driver here and he's been consistently ahead of the Argentinian driver all weekend.
Constructor: McLaren ($12.0K)
Ferrari has a chance to win three races in a row this weekend, which would make it the first constructor to do that in 2024. However, I think the strong run from the Italian team comes to a close and instead its McLaren celebrating after the checkered flag flies.
A McLaren topped the speed chart in FP1. McLarens had a front row lockout in Sprint qualifying. McLaren took the top two spots in the Sprint itself. The orange team is back on top this weekend and looks positioned to grow its lead in the constructor championship.
Lando Norris ($12.6K)
Oscar Piastri was the fastest McLaren driver on Saturday, but that didn't matter. Lando Norris is locked in a championship battle with Max Verstappen and McLaren is putting its focus on that, so Piastri let Norris past in the Sao Paulo Sprint to give his teammate an extra point in the championship hunt.
"Oscar deserved it, but we're doing what we have to do."
Lando Norris thanked Oscar Piastri after overtaking him at the end of the sprint 🤝 pic.twitter.com/o9lCDMOsOd
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) November 2, 2024
Piastri has a pair of win this season, but unless Norris crashes out, I'd bet Piastri doesn't get another. McLaren isn't going to leave points on the table. If Norris and Piastri are the class of the field on Sunday like they were on Saturday, Norris will be the one getting the victory.
George Russell ($9.8K)
George Russell has been pretty fast this weekend. In FP1, he was second while Lewis Hamilton was 16th. In Sprint qualifying, he was sixth again while Hamilton was 11th. And in the Sprint itself, Russell finished sixth while Hamilton finished 11th again.
We've got a pretty strong pattern set so far this weekend of Russell being significantly faster than Hamilton. Will that pattern continue on Sunday? I think so—at least before we see what the starting grid looks like, because that could obviously change some things.
Ollie Bearman ($4.2K)
Update: Poor qualifying effort for Bearman, but he still starts two spots ahead of his teammate, so there's upside.
Next season, Ollie Bearman moves into this car full-time. This week, he gets a bit of a jump start on that with Kevin Magnussen out due to illness.
🚨 | If it isn't possible to qualify at all (today or tomorrow), the results of the free practice session will be the starting grid.
That would mean Verstappen would start last, with Norris on pole and Bearman in third place on Sunday.#F1 #BrazilianGP
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) November 2, 2024
And Bearman has looked good since getting in the cockpit. He turned in the third-fastest time in FP1, behind only Lando Norris and George Russell. He then was 10th in Sprint qualifying, two spots ahead of teammate Nico Hulkenberg.
He only managed 14th place in the Sprint race itself, but I'm still feeling pretty good about Bearman on Sunday. This Haas team has taken some major steps forward lately and Bearman ran well in his other start for the team this season, finishing 10th in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Pierre Gasly ($4.0K)
UPDATE: Esteban Ocon outqualified Gasly by a lot, with Ocon starting fourth and Gasly 15th. This really swings things and makes me much more interested in playing Ocon here instead.
Last time out, Pierre Gasly finished 10th in the Mexico City Grand Prix, which marked the third time in four races that he's been the top Alpine driver.
This weekend, Gasly has shown a lot of speed. He was 10th in FP1, significantly ahead of Ocon, who was 18th. Then in Sprint qualifying, Gasly kept it up, going seventh fastest while Ocon didn't even make it out of Q1. Gasly went on to finish seventh in the Sprint while Ocon was 13th.
Pierre Gasly scores Alpine's first sprint points of the season! 👏 pic.twitter.com/rGK0EoTVCu
— The Race (@wearetherace) November 2, 2024
This feels like a very cheap and very safe source of five points for defeating your teammate.
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.
