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Justin Carter's DraftKings and FanDuel DFS lineup picks for the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix. Read our daily fantasy Formula 1 advice and sleepers analysis.
Who's ready for some Formula 1 DFS? That's right — DraftKings has added Formula 1, which means RotoBaller is responding by adding some Formula 1 pieces.
Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen have won the first two races of the season, with Leclerc currently leading Carlos Sainz in the points standings. Verstappen is third, while Lewis Hamilton sits back in fifth.
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for April 10th, with the slate locking at 1:00 a.m. ET. If you have any questions or want to talk about Formula 1, you can find me on Twitter at @juscarts.
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How Does Formula 1 Fantasy Work?
If you're familiar with using DraftKings for NASCAR, this Formula 1 format is going to feel really, really different from what you're used to. It's a lot closer to the NFL single-game showdown slates than it is to anything on the NASCAR side.
So, here's how the scoring and format work. 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 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.
Now that we've gone over that, let's talk drivers. And bare with me, as this whole F1 fantasy thing is new to all of us.
Captain/Constructor Stack Pick: Carlos Sainz ($14,700), Ferrari ($11,400)
Starts 9th
I can't find specific data from the last race, but here was something fun from the first F1 race of the season about stacking constructor and captains:
So, let's do it again!
Sainz had a bad qualifying run and starts ninth, but he was showing his usual speed in practice. This is a top four car that actually has some place differential upside, which is definitely rare in F1.
And by pairing him with his constructor, you also benefit if teammate Charles Leclerc, who starts on the pole, has a huge race, while also giving yourself some room to be different and not have Leclerc at captain, which I imagine a ton of people will have.
Sainz has podiums in both races so far, with an average finish of 2.5. He's probably not going to win this race, but he can move five or so spots forward from start to finish, giving you some nice place differential points.
Valterri Bottas ($8,000)
Starts 12th
Bottas sits ninth in points. The Alfa Romeo driver was sixth to open the season at Bahrain, then retired due to overheating at Saudi Arabia.
After three years in a row of finishing top three in points, Bottas moving to Alfa Romeo was always going to result in lowered performance. But Alfa Romeo's drivers finished 16th and 18th in points last year. Bottas wasn't going to bottom out that much.
And so far, 2022 is going...okay for him! It's not the Bottas we're used to, but I can easily see him finishing around eighth each week, assuming the car holds up. With him starting 12th this week, there's a little place differential upside.
Lando Norris ($6,400)
Starts 4th
Something I'm learning early in this foray into F1 DFS: focus on drivers who qualify well. I'm a veteran of NASCAR DFS, where place differential matters a ton, but in F1, that isn't necessarily proving to be the case.
Norris starts fourth. He's struggled so far this season for McLaren, finishing 15th at Bahrain and seventh at Saudi Arabia. But Norris had four podiums and an average finish of seventh last year, which was just 0.1 spots lower than his average start. I think he likely runs around sixth, which would be a solid showing in fantasy, as losing two spots wouldn't be enough for him to lose place differential points.
Daniel Ricciardo ($5,200)
Starts 7th
The first two races this season haven't gone Ricciardo's way, but his solid qualifying run gives me hope on Sunday. Like McLaren teammate Norris, the speed he's shown this weekend is an encouraging sign. He's been top 10 in all three practice sessions.
His results at Melbourne are all over the place, but if we isolate the races where his car actually finished and he wasn't disqualified, his results were ninth in 2012 in Scuderia car, then sixth in 2015, fourth in 2016 and fourth in 2018. Three DNFs and a DQ aren't great things to have on your resume here, but Ricciardo's other results plus his speed this weekend make him a solid option.
Sebastian Vettel ($3,600)
Starts 17th
If you're looking for a value driver with place differential upside, Vettel is a fine pick.
After running the full season every year since 2008 and winning four championships, Vettel missed the first two races of this season with COVID-19. But he's back and...looking pretty rusty, based on his qualifying run.
He was 13th in the first practice session though, which is a decent sign that at the very least, Vettel has place differential upside here. Nico Hulkenberg started 17th in this car at Saudi Arabia and finished 12th. At Bahrain, Lance Stroll took the other Aston Martin car from 19th to 12th. This is a team that's shown improvement over the course of races, even if the starting spot isn't what you want. And don't forget the bonus points for beating your teammate! And also don't forget that Vettel is incredibly talented.
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