RADIO
Justin Carter's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the 2025 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix. Read our daily fantasy F1 advice and sleepers analysis.
Formula 1 heads to the Red Bull Ring on Sunday for the Austrian Grand Prix. George Russell won this race in 2024, taking advantage after Max Verstappen and Lando Norris made contact while battling for the lead in the closing laps.
Verstappen recovered to finish fifth, but the incident ended Norris' day, dropping him to last in the final running order and serving as a major blow to his attempt at making a late-season run at the driver's championship.
Below, you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the Austrian Grand Prix on 6/29/25, with the slate locking at 9:00 a.m. EDT. If you have any questions or want to talk about Formula 1, you can find me on X at @juscarts or on Bluesky.
Want to build a winning fantasy F1 lineup? Check out our How To Play F1 Fantasy (Formula 1): Overview Guide, Tips, Chips, and Rules for all the essential tips and strategies to get you started on the right foot.
Captain: Charles Leclerc ($15.0K)
Starts Second
Last year, George Russell won this race from the third starting spot, but only because the two leaders made contact while battling for the lead. Before that, six consecutive races at this track had been won from the front row, including the 2022 win for Charles Leclerc, who started second.
YES @Charles_Leclerc!! Front row on the grid!! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/u6iCt0DPl8
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) June 28, 2025
That means there's a very good chance that either Leclerc or polesitter Lando Norris wins on Sunday. As far as lineup building goes, Leclerc will cost you significantly less. It's not the only reason I'm recommending him as the captain, as his 2022 win definitely factors in here. It is, though, a helpful thing when it comes to fitting all the right pieces into your DFS lineup.
Leclerc and this Ferrari team haven't had the pace this year that they had in 2024, but Leclerc has two podiums in the past three races and led six laps in Montreal, the second-most he's led this year.
Constructor: Ferrari ($9.7K)
You could dig into the value bin at Constructor this weekend, but if you're willing to pay up, there are really only two options. The first two rows of this starting grid contain just two teams: McLaren and Ferrari.
Like with the captain pick, price matters here. Doing a McLaren stack leaves you in a pretty rough spot when working out the rest of your lineup, but a Ferrari stack is more than workable, and you can even fit one of the McLaren drivers into one of your normal slots.
I also like the idea of stacking this week because it maximizes your points if Leclerc wins. Obviously, a Norris win feels more likely just because McLaren has dominated this season, but Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have both found some additional speed recently.
Lando Norris ($12.0K)
Starts First
Can Lando Norris get his revenge this weekend? I guess it depends on what we mean by "revenge," as Max Verstappen is unlikely to be a factor on Sunday. Don't expect the same fireworks between the two that we saw in 2024.
LANDO NORRIS TAKES POLE AT THE RED BULL RING!!
A stunning lap from the McLaren driver 💪#F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/vWiwGC9Kks
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 28, 2025
But Norris can get his "revenge" in the sense that he can go to the track sponsored by Verstappen's race team, Red Bull, and he can get the win that he should have gotten in 2024 if it hadn't been for Verstappen throwing a block in last year's race.
(You could go with Oscar Piastri here too and ignore that Norris has the grid advantage over his McLaren teammate, as Piastri's won five times this year and has outperformed Norris. However, starting on the front row just tends to be too much of an advantage here.)
Alexander Albon ($6.2K)
Starts 12th
Alexander Albon has his lowest starting position since Bahrain, and he's coming off a rough patch of two consecutive DNFs, but I remain a strong believer in this Williams driver.
If we take the two DNFs out of the equation, Albon has been running at the finish eight times this year. He's finished in the points in seven of those races. Even the time he didn't in Bahrain, he gained three spots over his starting spot.
In fact, in the eight races that Albon has finished, he's never finished worse than he started, and just once did he finish in the same spot. He's been very good at pushing this car forward.
On Sunday, teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. starts way back in 19th, putting Albon in a very good position to earn the "defeated teammate" points.
Liam Lawson ($3.4K)
Starts Sixth
This could backfire completely, but at just $3.4K, I think it's worth taking a shot on Liam Lawson on Sunday.
Yes, Lawson hasn't been good since his demotion to Racing Bulls, earning one single point in Miami. Isack Hadjar has clearly been the better driver for this team. In fact, Lawson has not earned the "defeated teammate" points a single time in 2025.
However, this might be the week! Lawson was faster than Hadjar not just in qualifying — Hadjar starts 13th — but also in two of the three practice sessions as well.
Gabriel Bortoleto ($3.0K)
Starts Eighth
Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto has been fascinating to watch this weekend. Through the first 10 races of his F1 career, Bortoleto has scored zero points. His best start and best finish were both 12th at the Spanish Grand Prix.
But this car has been surprisingly fast in Austria. Bortoleto was the sixth-fastest in FP1, then proved that wasn't a fluke by going eighth in FP2. In FP3, he slipped a bit, but only to 10th, and in qualifying, he made the final round for the first time in his career.
Gabriel Bortoleto reaches Q3 for the first time 👏
He'll start Sunday's race from P8!#F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/G6XEXH9C6U
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 28, 2025
Couple this with the fact that teammate Nico Hulkenberg will start last on Sunday, and you have a recipe for the best race of Bortoleto's career. At just $3.0K, he's a must-play DFS option for me.
Defeated Teammate Picks
Here are the picks for who will come out on top for each constructor.
- McLaren: Lando Norris
- Mercedes: George Russell
- Red Bull: Max Verstappen
- Ferrari: Charles Leclerc
- Racing Bulls: Liam Lawson
- Williams: Alexander Albon
- Haas: Esteban Ocon
- Sauber: Gabriel Bortoleto
- Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso
- Alpine: Pierre Gasly
Last race's record: 7-3
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, and there are points for place differential.
Finish three spots higher than your grid position, and you will get two points. Finish five better, and you get three points. Finish 10 positions 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.
