Formula 1 DraftKings DFS Roster Construction, Strategy & Scoring Overview
Formula 1 DFS lineups are built similarly to a showdown lineup for those more familiar with something like NFL showdown.
There are 6 spots in your lineup and one Captain spot. The Captain spot requires you to pay 1.5x the driver’s salary, but you receive 1.5x points for that driver’s score.
Roster Construction
The key difference in F1 DFS lineups is that instead of a 6th driver we have a “constructor” position. This is essentially a roster spot for a driving team (or constructor) instead of an individual driver. In F1, there are 20 drivers, but there are only 10 teams with each team having 2 drivers. So, that constructor spot presents a unique situation in DFS. Constructors are scored differently than individual drivers and offer some interesting strategic opportunities for our lineups.
One notable point to roster construction is that you may only play 2 drivers/constructor from one team. So you may not play both drivers AND the constructor from the same team in your lineup. You may only play 1 driver and the constructor or both drivers without the constructor.
Scoring
Before we get into the exact specifics on scoring, one thing to note is that F1 is not a particularly high scoring DFS sport. You can see from the projections in LineupHQ or by looking back at the drivers’ scores from last year that every point is absolutely critical. Max Verstappen won the driver’s championship and averaged just 27.9 fantasy points per race, with his highest score for an individual race being 41 points. On the constructor side, both Red Bull and Mercedes (last year’s top two teams by a wide margin) averaged 36 fantasy points per race with the highest individual race score between the two being Mercedes with 58 fantasy points.
Driver Scoring
There are a few general “buckets” of scoring for drivers –
Finishing Position – all of the top 10 finishers receive points for their finishing position.
Defeated teammate – drivers will receive 5 points for defeating their teammate in the race.
Laps Led – For every lap led by a driver, they receive 0.1 points.
Fastest Lap – the driver who finishes the grand prix with the fastest lap of the race will receive 3 points.
Spots vs Grid Position – drivers can win or lose points for either gaining or losing spots compared to where they start the race.
Cleary in a low scoring sport, nailing the winner is critical with 25 points being given to that spot. Beyond that, the two most glaring potential ways to gain points are by beating your teammate or gaining several spots compared to your grid position.
Constructor Scoring
There are a few general “buckets” of scoring for constructors –
Finishing Position – all of the top 10 finishers receive points for their finishing position and the constructor will receive points for both drivers’ finishing position if in the top 10.
Laps Led – For every lap led by a driver for that team, the constructor will receive 0.1 points.
Both Car Points – Constructors receive bonus points if both of their drivers finish the race, if both drivers finish in the top 10, and/or if both drivers finish on the podium (top 3).
The constructor position is such a fun strategic aspect of F1 DFS. The correlation aspect creates a lot of fun wrinkles with roster construction, and particularly with a lot more wide open environment and uncertainty at the top (and the midfield) in this upcoming Formula 1 season, it will be interesting to see how the constructors play out early on.