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Justin Carter's DraftKings and FanDuel DFS lineup picks for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Read our daily fantasy Formula 1 advice and sleepers analysis.
Who's ready for some Formula 1 DFS? This week, the circuit will run the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which was won by Sergio Perez last year.
Perez is coming off of his first win of the season, as he landed atop the podium after the Monaco Grand Prix two weeks ago. Perez is now just 15 points back of Max Verstappen for the series lead, while Charles Leclerc is nine back of Verstappen in second place.
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for 6/11/22, with the slate locking at 7:00 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: Sergio Perez ($15,300), Red Bull Racing ($11,400)
Starts 2nd
At this point, I'm going to stack a captain and his constructor until someone tells me I'm wrong for it.
I think, for the most part, we've conceptualized as the captain spot as the home of Verstappen and Leclerc. It wasn't a place to get cute, because those two have dominated this season.
We've got a third name that's emerged as part of the captain conversation though and it's Perez, who has finished second or better in four of he last five races and finally broke through with a win last race, leading 44 of the 64 laps at Monaco.
He's also the defending winner of this race, leading eight of the 51 laps last year on his way to the win. Trouble for teammate Verstappen definitely contributed to that, as he led 29 laps before crashing, but with Perez starting ahead of Verstappen in this race, I think he has a good chance to be the best of the Red Bull drivers.
And captaining Red Bull also gives you the Verstappen exposure that you'll want. It's a win-win.
Valtteri Bottas ($7,400)
Starts 15th
Bottas will roll off the grid in 15th, which gives him a decent bit of place differential upside. He's finished in the top 10 in all but one race this year and if he can do that again, he'll gain the three fantasy points for finishing five spots better than where he started.
Bottas is a former winner here, though it came back when he was driving for Mercedes. Still, he's run well here in the past and should easily outperform Alfa Romeo teammate Guanyu Zhou, who has four finishes in a row of 15th or worse.
Kevin Magnussen ($5,800)
Starts 16th
Magnussen's had a weird year. He started out well, scoring top 10 finishes in three of the last four races. But now he's had a DNF in two of the last three races.
He's had speed in qualifying though and starts four spots ahead of teammate Mick Schumacher, giving him an edge in early the points for finishing ahead of a teammate. Magnussen has been a clear step ahead of Schumacher this season, but some bad luck has hurt his overall production. He's a candidate to gain five spots on the grid and get the fantasy points associated with that.
Pierre Gasly ($5,200)
Starts 6th
Gasly starts sixth for Alphatauri. He's only averaging 3.1 fantasy points per race this season, but Gasly was top 10 in every practice session and finished third here last year. Everyone has a track where they overachieve at, and for Gasly, it appears Baku is that track.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda qualified eighth, so there's a little concern here that Gasly won't finish ahead of his teammate. But as long as he runs a clean race and the speed he showed in practice doesn't vanish, I would bet on Gasly to be the top finishing Alphatauri driver and to have his best fantasy showing since Imola.
Sebastian Vettel ($4,200)
Starts 9th
Finally, we have Sebastian Vettel. With his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll starting 19th, we can virtually pencil him in for those points. He's finished in the top 10 just twice this season, but it's worth noting that one of those times was when he qualified ninth at Monaco. He seems to be improving as the year goes along and he's a tough driver to pass.
He's also never finished lower than fourth here. Sure, four of those starts were with Ferrari, but he was second here last year for Aston Martin, his only podium finish last season. Great track for Vettel.
