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Justin Carter's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the 2025 Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix. Read our daily fantasy F1 advice and sleepers analysis.
Formula 1 heads to Qatar for the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday, the penultimate race of the 2025 season. The championship battle is still a tight contest, though Lando Norris holds a distinct advantage. That advantage dropped a bit after teammate Oscar Piastri won the Sprint on Saturday, earning eight points while Norris, who finished third, earned six points.
Max Verstappen finished fourth in the Sprint, earning five points and falling slightly farther back from the points lead. Norris can clinch the title on Sunday with a win, but if one of the other contenders wins instead, things get interesting. The only reason Verstappen is even still in this conversation is that both McLarens were disqualified in Las Vegas last week.
Below, you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the Qatar Grand Prix on 11/30/25. This F1 slate locks at 11:00 a.m. EST. Do you want to chat about the Qatar Grand Prix? Get at me on X at @juscarts, or over on Bluesky, and we'll talk racing.
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Captain: Oscar Piastri ($17.1K)
Starts First
While I still believe Lando Norris is going to come away from this season with his first Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship, his McLaren teammate has shown a lot of mettle around this weekend, winning the Sprint and then shooting to the top of the chart in Q3 to take the pole.
OSCAR PIASTRI WINS #F1SPRINT IN QATAR! 👏👏#F1 #QatarGP @Gatorade pic.twitter.com/wLyv6WHSVw
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 29, 2025
At this point, there's no "team orders" at play, other than simply not crashing into each other. Piastri has an outside shot at the title, and this weekend is his best chance to turn that into something big.
As far as DFS goes, the speed that the McLarens have shown this weekend makes me feel fairly confident that one of them winds up at the top of the podium, so I like the idea of captaining one. Piastri is on pole and is cheaper, so he makes the most sense from a lineup-building perspective, but if you think Norris gets the win and clinches the title, then you can go ahead and play him here instead. It just means you have to go bargain hunting with the rest of your lineup.
Constructor: Racing Bulls ($3.5K)
Little bit of a punt play here. It's too expensive to stack McLaren with a McLaren captain, while Ferrari and Red Bull both have a car starting near the back. You could captain Mercedes and probably be in pretty good shape, but I'd be just as happy to take a risk with Racing Bulls.
Isack Hadjar starts sixth while Liam Lawson starts 12th, putting him just a hair outside of the points from the jump. Assume Pierre Gasly falls off over the course of the race, and one driver up front has an issue. Lawson can help deliver a double points day for this team.
This is where I should bring up that this isn't the most exciting race track on the circuit. Last year, the top 10 finishers here all started 12th or better. In 2023, the top eight all started in the top 10. Lawson just needs to position himself to take advantage of mistakes and run a clean race.
George Russell ($10.8K)
Starts Fourth
The championship battle has made people forget how good George Russell's season has been, as he's set to finish firmly in fourth place in the overall point standings, and he's been the best of the two Mercedes drivers by far.
Last week in Las Vegas, Russell officially came home in second place after the McLaren drivers were disqualified, extending his streak of points finishes to 14 consecutive races. He's also the only driver outside of the top three to win a race this season.
P2 in the Sprint 🏆 Great job team. Eyes now on Quali. 🇶🇦 pic.twitter.com/Nkp3O200PD
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) November 29, 2025
Russell was second in the Sprint on Saturday, signaling that he should be an outside contender in Sunday's race.
Fernando Alonso ($6.2K)
Starts Eighth
For a while, the gap between Fernando Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll looked to have vanished, but a strong run now has him up to 12th in points while Stroll is 16th.
A strong qualifying run on Saturday puts Alonso fairly far clear of Stroll on the starting grid as well, as he rolls off eighth while Stroll starts all the way back in 18th. If all goes right, Alonso will score you a points finish as well as earn the "defeated teammate" points.
Carlos Sainz Jr. ($6.0K)
Starts Seventh
Another strong qualifying run for Carlos Sainz Jr., who starts seventh on Sunday. This marks the fourth time in the last seven races that the Williams driver has started in the top 10.
In two of the previous three times, Sainz has finished in the top 10 as well, with the lone exception coming in the United States Grand Prix, where the No. 55 car retired due to an early accident.
Sainz is in fairly good shape here to finish in the points again and to outperform teammate Alexander Albon for the second race in a row.
Isack Hadjar ($5.8K)
Starts Sixth
Even with Liam Lawson running decently well lately, rookie Isack Hadjar remains Racing Bulls' top driver. He's finished ahead of Lawson in five of the past eight races, which isn't as impressive as his eight consecutive races run as the top driver on his team earlier in the year, but is still impressive.
Q3 in Qatar?! Go on then 🔥#F1 #VCARB #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/6qHmDzSf2G
— Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team (@visacashapprb) November 29, 2025
Hadjar comes into this race with back-to-back finishes in the points. Notably, both came with Hadjar starting in the top 10 as well. This Racing Bulls team has leapt to the top of the midfield, displaying speed week after week in both qualifying and the race.
Defeated Teammate Picks
Here are the picks for who will come out on top for each constructor.
- McLaren: Oscar Piastri
- 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: 9-1
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.
