RADIO
Who's ready for some Formula 1 DFS? This week, we're heading to fake marinas of the Hard Rock Stadium parking lot.
Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen have won the first four races of the season. Leclerc is the current points leader with Verstappen in second, while seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton already looks done, as he sits just seventh in the standings.
Below you will find our Formula 1 DraftKings DFS lineup picks for 5/8/22, with the slate locking at 3:30 p.m. ET. 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?
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 ($15,000), Ferrari ($11,600)
Starts 2nd
At this point, I'm going to stack a captain and his constructor until someone tells me I'm wrong for it. And maybe I am wrong. It seems some of the DFS pricing has been adjusted to make it harder to do these stacks, which is part of why even though I still did it, I stacked Ferrari with its second-best driver.
Charles Leclerc has been the best driver in the series so far, while teammate Carlos Sainz has been the most unlucky driver in the series.
Sainz has had first lap accidents in consecutive races, leading to two 20th-place finishes in a row. He opened the year with a pair of podiums, so when Sainz can keep this car on the track past the first couple of laps, he can contend for a victory. It's just that...well, his early aggressiveness has gotten the best of him.
Just two-tenths off his teammate in qualifying, Sainz is the best bet in this field to break up the Leclerc/Verstappen domination. And hey, even if he doesn't, he's likely to run a good race, plus you get the Ferrari points from Leclerc.
Lando Norris ($8,600)
Starts 8th
Norris has one podium this season and three finishes that are better than his starting spot for this race. It's also interesting that his finishes have gotten better each race.
Not a super exciting play, but Norris should be able to at least get that +3 place differential score, and he's got a six spot advantage on the starting grid over teammate Daniel Ricciardo, which should help him get the points for finishing ahead of his teammate.
George Russell ($7,800)
Starts 12th
While teammate Lewis Hamilton is struggling, Russell has been very consistent, with an average finish of 4.0 through the first four races.
Russell was second in Practice 1 and first in Practice 2, so his poor showing in qualifying was a surprise. I would guess, just based on his track record this season, that on race day, Russell winds up looking more like he did in practice than in qualifying.
An interesting storyline will be who gets the points for finishing ahead of his teammate in the Mercedes stall. Russell is six spots behind Hamilton on the grid, but he's been better by far in 2022. That'll be an intriguing race within the race.
Alexander Albon ($3,400)
Starts 18th
Let's look at a couple of deep value plays, starting with Albon, who drives for Williams.
The "beats teammate" factor is firmly in Albon's favor here. His average finish is 12.0. Teammate Nicholas Latifi's average finish is 16.5.
Albon starts 18th, but was seventh in Practice 1 and ninth in Practice 3. He should be able to get some of those place differential points, especially considering his worst finish is 14th. At Imola, he started 18th and finished 11th.
Lance Stroll ($3,200)
Starts 10th
Aston Martin is looking decent. Stroll qualified 10th while teammate Sebastian Vettel qualified 13th. Both would be solid plays, but because I don't see either gaining a ton of spots on the grid, I lean Stroll, since he has the advantage of starting ahead of his teammate. If this team has the speed it showed at Imola, Stroll should finish in the lower half of the top 10 and earn some fantasy points through that.
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