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Justin Carter's DraftKings and FanDuel DFS lineup picks for the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix. Read our daily fantasy F1 advice and sleepers analysis.
Formula 1 heads to Hungary this weekend for the Hungarian Grand Prix. McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will share the front row for this event with points leader Max Verstappen starting this race in third place.
Last time out, Lewis Hamilton ended his long losing streak by taking the checkered flag by 1.465 seconds over Verstappen to win his home British Grand Prix. It was a wildly popular win for the seven-time world champion.
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for the Hungarian Grand Prix on 7/21/24, 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 Twitter at @juscarts.
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 (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 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. Now that we've gone over that, let's talk drivers. Here's what I've put together as a kind of base lineup.
Captain: Lando Norris ($18.6K)
Starts First
McLaren might be faster than Red Bull right now, but the team has only managed one win this year, with Norris topping the podium in Miami. But with a McLaren front-row lockout in Hungary, Verstappen has to contend with both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. If Piastri can hold him off long enough, Norris can get away out of DRS range and lead a lot of laps early. Pit strategy will be where things potentially become dicey, but Norris has the car to fend off the Red Bull if the team doesn't lose the lead on the pit lane.
Full power front-row. 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/6pabDC98xW
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) July 20, 2024
Norris was the fastest driver in both FP2 and FP3, and he was faster than Verstappen in two of the three rounds of qualifying.
Constructor: Aston Martin ($4.0K)
Here's where we go cheap this week, choosing Aston Martin at Constructor instead of the four top teams. Both AM cars start Sunday's race in the top 10, giving them a shot at double points this weekend. The team scored a respectable 17 DK points last time out in Silverstone, the second time in the last four races it scored double-digit fantasy points.
Lewis Hamilton ($9.8K)
Starts Fifth
A second consecutive win likely isn't in the cards for Lewis Hamilton, but after teammate George Russell fell victim to bad timing with the wet weather in qualifying and was relegated to a 17th-place starting spot, Hamilton is in the cat bird's seat when it comes to earning the defeated teammate points for Mercedes.
Sir Lewis Hamilton has been voted ESPN's greatest British athlete of the 21st century 🐐🇬🇧🏆 pic.twitter.com/II6ZjlQk8T
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) July 19, 2024
Hamilton also comes into this race on a hot streak, finishing in the top four in four consecutive races. Mercedes has found a lot of speed recently and Hamilton will have a chance to showcase that on Sunday in Hungary.
Carlos Sainz Jr. ($8.8K)
Starts Fourth
We still don't know where Carlos Sainz Jr. will race in 2025, but he's doing his best to make his case for a strong ride. Sainz has just one finish lower than sixth all season and has finished as the top Ferrari in three of the past four races.
🇭🇺Good Qualifying, pushing our car to the limit. We've improved a bit this weekend, but I think today's P4 was the best result we could achieve. There could be opportunities tomorrow, we need to be super focused to take them. Let's race!
-#CarlosSainz pic.twitter.com/cc3lwiGnK3
— Carlos Sainz (@Carlossainz55) July 20, 2024
Another thing in his favor is that he's had speed this weekend. Sainz topped the charts in FP1 then followed that up by going third quickest in FP2. He dropped a bit on Saturday to fifth in FP3, but overall Sainz has been quick since his Ferrari hit the track.
Lance Stroll ($5.0K)
Starts Eighth
I want to have an AM car in my lineup this weekend and while Fernando Alonso is the better driver of the two, I think you can take a shot on Lance Stroll at $1.0K cheaper. Stroll has finished ahead of Alonso in consecutive races and is coming off a strong seventh-place run at Silverstone.
Stroll was ninth in FP1, but struggled to find speed in FP2 and FP3. That inconsistent speed this weekend does make him a risky play, but with how the non-top drivers are all priced this weekend, you sometimes have to take a risk.
Valtteri Bottas ($3.4K)
Starts 12th
This Sauber team has struggled this season., with veteran driver Valtteri Bottas finishing 13th or worse in every race so far. But when it comes to DraftKings, sometimes you're just looking for those points for beating your teammate.
And that's where the appeal comes in for Botts, as he has finished ahead of Zhou Guanyu in four of the past five races. He has an early advantage on his teammate for Sunday as he starts 12th while Zhou is back in 18th.
