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Justin Carter's DraftKings and FanDuel DFS lineup picks for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix. Read our daily fantasy F1 advice and sleepers analysis.
After a long layoff, Formula 1 is back. This week starts a run of four races in a row in the Americas. Up first is the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
Last season in this race, Max Verstappen led 26 of 56 laps on his way to the win, defeating McLaren's Lando Norris by 10.73 seconds. Carlos Sainz Jr. was on the podium as well.
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the United States Grand Prix on 10/20/24, with the slate locking at 3:00 p.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: Yuki Tsunoda ($6.6K)
Starts 11th
There's been a change at VCARB, as the second car is now driven by Liam Lawson instead of Daniel Ricciardo. It's the driver who has been around, Yuki Tsunoda, who looks best positioned to be the top driver for the team at COTA, as an engine change has Lawson starting last.
Amazing defense by Yuki Tsunoda against Oscar Piastri!#F1 #Formula1 #USGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/0zfunWICG7
— Extreme Cars (@extremecars__) October 19, 2024
The massive advantage on the grid plus the fact that Lawson is making his first F1 start since last year puts Tsunoda in a really good spot to earn five points for finishing as his team's top driver. Starting 11th puts him in a good spot to gain a spot or two if drivers in front of him have any issues.
Constructor: Red Bull ($10.2K)
It's been a while since I've recommended Red Bull as my constructor play, but it's also been a while since I thought Red Bull had a realistic chance to dominate a race.
Obviously, Red Bull is at a bit of a disadvantage since Sergio Perez starts 10th and likely won't gain a ton of spots, but Verstappen has been fast all weekend. More on him below. Having the race winner's constructor is always a good thing, and the slight price drop for Red Bull lately doesn't hurt either.
Max Verstappen ($11.6K)
Starts Second
Max Verstappen won the Sprint on Saturday, beating Carlos Sainz Jr. by 3.882 seconds, and he was fastest in Q1 and Q2 before just missing out on the pole in Q3. You could easily argue that if George Russell hadn't crashed near the end of Q3 and Verstappen had gotten a late flying lap in, Verstappen would have grabbed the pole.
Feels good to be back on the top step in the Sprint 💪 Onwards to Qualifying, let’s keep pushing @redbullracing 👊 pic.twitter.com/4XPrDVav9m
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) October 19, 2024
Verstappen needs a great race to really cement his hold on the points lead as Lando Norris has come on strong lately. COTA is a good spot for that as Verstappen has won the last three United States Grand Prixs. If he can get an early jump on Norris this weekend, he can go on to dominate this race.
Charles Leclerc ($10.6K)
Starts Fourth
While Charles Leclerc starts one spot behind teammate Carlos Sainz, he's been the top Ferrari lately and I don't see that suddenly changing. Leclerc has finished ahead of his teammate in six consecutive races.
Replay of Charles Leclerc almost crashing into Lando Norris during the final lap 👇🫣#F1 #USGP
pic.twitter.com/CxxTgxFIV0— Formula Scoop (@formulascoop) October 19, 2024
Leclerc has finished in the top five in six consecutive races, a span that includes a win and two other podiums. He won the pole here last year and was on the podium in 2022.
Fernando Alonso ($6.2K)
Starts Eighth
Fernando Alonso has finished ahead of teammate Lance Stroll in five consecutive races and starts six spots ahead of Stroll on Sunday, putting him in a good spot to earn some fantasy points.
Alonso has really struggled at COTA lately, with four DNFs in the last five United States Grand Prixs that he's run. Does that mean anything about Sunday's race? I don't know, but I'm hoping it drives down the demand for him in DFS.
Franco Colapinto ($4.0K)
Starts 16th
It was a pretty rough qualifying session for Williams. Franco Colapinto missed Q2 and will start 16th, while Alexander Albon made Q2 but was the slowest driver in it.
It's not a great place to start, but Colapinto has shown he can run well despite a poor starting spot. In Azerbaijan, he started 18th and finished 12th. The Argentinian driver has finished eighth and 11th in his other two starts.
Franco Colapinto the only Williams driver to reach SQ3 this season. In his debut season for the team 🤯
Franco is a natural talent and really deserves a seat next year. pic.twitter.com/REmTG82F1G
— Marc🏎 (@433_marc) October 18, 2024
I don't usually spend a lot of energy chasing place differential in F1 because it isn't as predictable or impactful as it is in NASCAR DFS, but Colapinto is definitely a contender for the three fantasy points for getting +5 on the grid.
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.
