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Justin Carter's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the 2025 Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix. Read our daily fantasy F1 advice and sleepers analysis.
Formula 1 heads to Las Vegas for the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday night. Is it a weird start time for a race run in the United States, considering it will be 11 p.m. on the East Coast when it begins? Yeah. But we should have some exciting racing action under the lights in Sin City.
The championship battle is starting to look like a potential runaway. Lando Norris finally took the lead from teammate Oscar Piastri and has already built a 24-point lead. Norris is clearly the best McLaren at the moment, so everyone rooting for a Piastri title might have at least another year to wait.
Below, you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the Las Vegas Grand Prix on 11/22/25, with the slate locking at 11:00 p.m. EST. Looking to chat about F1? Get at me on X at @juscarts, or over on Bluesky, and we'll talk racing.
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Captain: Lando Norris ($20.4K)
Starts First
It was a fun battle between McLaren teammates this season for the championship, but Norris appears to have taken pretty firm command of the race heading into the final stretch of the year. He's been the highest-finishing McLaren driver in six consecutive races now, peaking at the right moment in this chase for his first career championship.
Saturday night should find Norris as the clear top McLaren once again. We'll likely see a spirited battle early on with Max Verstappen, but Norris comes in off of back-to-back wins and was the only driver in Q3 to run a lap in under 1:48, so I think he eventually beats Verstappen.
As for how he compares to Piastri this weekend, Norris has been consistently in front. The only time he didn't run faster than Norris was in FP3, but that was partly because of track conditions and the fact that neither McLaren got a shot at a run in the best conditions at the end of the session, with the pair going 19th and 20th on the speed chart.
Constructor: Racing Bulls ($3.4K)
Playing Racing Bulls last race was a very cheap source of 17 fantasy points. Could fantasy managers be in for a similar result this weekend in Las Vegas?
Maybe! Once again, we had a strong qualifying effort from both cars, with Liam Lawson qualifying sixth and Isack Hadjar eighth.
Lawson has started in the top 10 seven times this season and has finished in the top 10 in five of those races, including his seventh-place finish last out in Brazil.
Hadjar was also in the top 10 at Interlagos, which puts him at 7-for-11 when it comes to finishing in the points after starting in the top 10.
Based on that, there seems to be a good shot at a double points finish for Racing Bulls for the second race in a row. Racing Bulls has pretty clearly established itself as the sixth-best team in F1 this season and still has an outside shot at finishing fifth in the constructors' battle.
Max Verstappen ($13.4K)
Starts Second
Verstappen's quest for a fifth championship hit a snag over the last couple of races, as back-to-back Norris wins have stunted Verstappen's momentum. He does, however, have a good shot at passing Piastri and taking over second place before the season ends.
Really tricky conditions, but happy to be on the front row here in Las Vegas! Excited for the race 💪 pic.twitter.com/h7CfPZ1z9p
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) November 22, 2025
On Saturday, Verstappen will fire off second. While I think I'd rather be Norris in Vegas than Verstappen, the Dutch driver has won here before. In the two Las Vegas Grand Prix, he's finished ahead of Norris twice.
Carlos Sainz Jr. ($5.2K)
Starts Third
It's been a disappointing season for Carlos Sainz Jr., as he sits 13th in points in his debut season with Williams after finishing fifth last year for Ferrari.
Carlos Sainz is the only driver who qualified Top 3 in all three Las Vegas Grand Prix.
2023: P2
2024: P2
2025: P3 pic.twitter.com/MUOFK8erUq— WIO🦄 (@sainznificant) November 22, 2025
But Sainz starts third on Saturday, and there's some reason to think he can maintain that spot. He's only started in the top five one other time this season, qualifying second at Baku and going on to finish third. Expand that to starting in the top six, though, and he's 4-for-4 for finishing in the points.
Pierre Gasly ($4.0K)
Starts 10th
Pierre Gasly sits just 18th in points, with this Alpine team featuring massive fall-off compared to 2024, when Gasly ended the year 10th in points.
When do we start calling Pierre Gasly Mr. Summer Break?
The man loves a late-season surge. https://t.co/2miZbDnkLN
— Euan Leith (@F1FantasyEuan) November 22, 2025
But Gasly is coming off a 10th-place finish last time out at Interlagos and will be starting 10th this weekend. He's made it to Q3 on eight occasions this year and has finished in the points in four of those races. At just $4.0K and with teammate Franco Colapinto starting back in 15th, Gasly is an intriguing value play who has a great shot at "defeated teammate" points and a chance to hang on to a top-10 finishing position.
Lance Stroll ($3.2K)
Starts 12th
Just basically a pure punt play here to allow us the cap flexibility we need to use both Norris and Verstappen. Stroll starts 12th, putting him in a better position to sneak into the points than other cheap drivers like Franco Colapinto, Gabriel Bortoleto, and Yuki Tsunoda.
He's five spots on the grid behind teammate Fernando Alonso so we definitely shouldn't expect "defeated teammate" points from Stroll this weekend, but I wouldn't totally count those out. Stroll has been the top Aston Martin seven times this season, which feels like a notable improvement from Stroll. Or maybe it's simply that Alonso has had bad luck. Either way, the gap between the two used to feel like an impassable chasm, but now there's a rickety bridge over the chasm that you can sometimes cross safely.
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: Carlos Sainz Jr.
- Haas: Ollie Bearman
- Sauber: Nico Hulkenberg
- Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso
- Alpine: Pierre Gasly
Last race's record: 6-4
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.
