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Justin Carter's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the 2025 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix. Read our daily fantasy F1 advice and sleepers analysis.
F1 heads to Monza this weekend for the Italian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen is on the pole for this race, but the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will be hot on his tail.
Last race in the Netherlands, Piastri won from the pole, marking the fifth race in a row that was won by a McLaren driver. That also means that a car with a Mercedes engine has now won eight races in a row — seven for McLaren drivers plus one win in that span from the Mercedes team.
Below, you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the Dutch Grand Prix on 9/7/25, 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.
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Captain: Fernando Alonso ($9.3K)
Starts Ninth
The gap between Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll has closed this season, to the point where Stroll is actually one spot ahead of Alonso in the current point standings.
But Alonso should be well-positioned to pass his teammate in points on Sunday. The Aston Martin driver starts ninth while Stroll is way back in 17th. It won't be easy for Stroll to get through this field.
The starting grid for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix 👀#F1 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/OLuKiAUhH0
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 6, 2025
Another thing working in Alonso's favor? His recent run of speed. Alonso has finished in the points in six of the past seven races after not finishing here over the first eight races of the 2025 season. He's finally hitting his stride and should be able to either maintain this ninth-place position or even move up a bit.
Constructor: Mercedes ($8.9K)
It's boring (and prohibitively expensive) to keep using McLaren as our constructor pick, so let's just see if we can save a little money here with a team that has the speed to finish with double points. It just needs better luck.
George Russell has been very good this year, and as long as he keeps the car clean, he should finish right around where he starts, which is fifth place.
As for Andrea Kimi Antonelli, well...that's where the risk comes in. The rookie has shown speed often this year, but he's also found himself in trouble too much, with four DNFs plus other issues striking him a times. He's finished outside of the points in seven of the past nine races.
But Antonelli starts sixth this week. He's started sixth or better six times this year and has finished in the points in four of those races. In one of the other two, an engine failure ended his day. We should get double points from Mercedes.
Lando Norris ($13.4K)
Starts Second
At this point, I'm just kind of defaulting to playing whichever McLaren driver qualifies better.
It's not the greatest approach, but when so little separates the two McLaren drivers, you have to try to snatch up any advantage you can.
Beyond that, Norris has more at stake this week after he failed to finish last week's Dutch Grand Prix. If he wants to challenge Piastri for the title, he'll need to aggressively work toward finishing ahead of Piastri. Don't expect Norris to just pull aside and let his younger teammate pass him on Sunday.
Max Verstappen ($10.8K)
Starts First
Congrats to Max Verstappen, who on Saturday went out and turned the fastest lap in Formula 1 history. Is this the week he finally wins another race? It's been a bit, as his last win was the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix back in May.
⭐️ FASTEST LAP IN F1 HISTORY ⭐️#F1 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/UyULK6N1xh
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 6, 2025
Verstappen wasn't the fastest driver in any of the practice sessions this weekend, so it's not like he should just run away with this race. The McLarens have a good shot to get past him.
But this weekend really feels like Verstappen's best chance to win in a long time. We didn't have a single practice session where the McLarens went one-two on the speed charts, leaving the battle more open than it is most weekends.
Gabriel Bortoleto ($4.0K)
Starts Eighth
Last week was a bit of a letdown for Gabriel Bortoleto, as he finished 15th to end his first-ever streak of consecutive points finishes at two.
But another trip to Q3 this weekend should mean another good shot for Bortoleto to finish in the top 10. Prior to this race, he's started in the top 10 three times and has finished in the top 10 in all three of those races.
And Bortoleto doesn't just narrowly hang on to a top 10. In his three top 10 starts, he's either held steady or gained one spot each time.
Ollie Bearman ($3.4K)
Starts 11th
I wrote about Ollie Bearman last week as a "well, you need to fill one last spot, so why not take a shot" guy. I did not expect him to do as well as he did, as he brought his Haas car home in sixth.
🐻Ollie: "Of course there's always that little extra time to be found when you look back at it, but I was giving it everything out there. Pretty happy with the lap I was able to put down"
"It's even more annoying to miss q3 by this much than to miss it by a bigger margin, so… pic.twitter.com/xTnzhJjoFU
— Updates Ollie Bearman (@bestofbearman) September 6, 2025
This week, Bearman starts 11th, which is a much better starting spot than last week's 20th-place spot on the grid. Can he move one spot forward to finish in the points for the second race in a row? We'll see, but it's definitely possible. He's only finished in the points four times this year, but he's come close multiple other times with four more 11th-place results.
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: Isack Hadjar
- Williams: Alexander Albon
- Haas: Ollie Bearman
- Sauber: Gabriel Bortoleto
- Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso
- Alpine: Pierre Gasly
Last race's record: 5-5 (Should have been 6-4, as I wrote about Ollie Bearman in my article last week as a value play, but then still picked Esteban Ocon to be the top Haas car because...I don't know, because I was hedging when I didn't need to hedge.)
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.
