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F1 DFS Picks: Spanish Grand Prix


Awesemo's free F1 DFS picks for DraftKings on 5/22 for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Formula 1 is back in Europe after its successful first race in Miami, Florida two weeks ago. The Spanish Grand Prix is ​​a staple on the F1 circuit and an important race for teams as most bring major upgrades to their cars in Barcelona. This year is no different as multiple teams brought notable additions, including McLaren who had listed 10 new upgrades, while Aston Martin was being investigated because their upgrades were a mirror reflection of the Red Bull car.

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If you are looking through the Free Practice sessions this week, you will find three news names in the FP1 session: Red Bull’s Yuri Vips‘Williams’ Nyck De Vries and former F1 driver Robert Kubica who was testing for Alfa Romeo. F1 has implemented a rule that teams must use a reserve driver at least twice during First Free Practice sessions this year. Vips and De Vries are young up-and-comers who are looking for a seat in the coming years. Kubica is a former F1 driver who most recently held a seat driving for the Williams team in 2019. Since 2020, Kubica has been a reserve driver for Alfa Romeo. One thing to note from FP1 results was that Vips was just tire testing for Red Bull so his scores are not truly indicative of his talent. Meanwhile, Kubica was able to put up a decent 13th best time and De Vries even beat Williams’ driver Nicholas Latifi.

I started warming up to the Mercedes team in Miami and it seems like there may finally be three teams competing for the podium this weekend. while Charles Leclerc‘s Ferrari topped all three FP sessions and will be starting on pole position, the buzz around the paddock is that Mercedes may have unlocked something on their car. This will be the best starting position for the Mercedes team all season as George Russell will be starting in fourth and Lewis Hamilton will be just behind on the grid in sixth. While the starting positions are always nice to see, it is more the fact that the two drivers were less than a second off the pole time with Russell less than .600 off the pace and Hamilton under .800 off the pace. Even in Australia when Mercedes started fifth and sixth on the grid, Hamilton was still over .900 off the pace with Russell over a second off.

One of the bigger surprises from Saturday’s qualifying was that Alpine’s Fernando Alonso did not make it out of Q1 and will be starting in 17th place. his teammate, Esteban Ocon, will be starting 12th. McLaren’s Lando Norris just missed out on a top 10 after his lap time got deleted, which would have put him into Q3.


F1 DFS Picks: Spanish Grand Prix

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The Awesemo team of experts and data analysts has already been in the lab creating a proprietary model and has F1 DFS projections available for this week’s race. Using those F1 Fantasy projections, Awesemo has you covered with all of the best DraftKings F1DFS picks for the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.

F1 DFS Picks: DraftKing’s F1 Fantasy Racing Advice

Best F1 Fantasy & DFS Constructor Picks

Ferrari ($11,400)

While many teams have been talking about for upgrades and improvements, Ferrari continued their dominance on the track with Leclerc being the fastest driver in every free practice session, including taking the pole position for Sunday’s race. Carlos Sainz had a good result in qualifying as well as he will start third on the grid. This is a very difficult track to pass on such a grid position could be crucial to a driver’s success. Ferrari should be the preferred cash game constructor and will most likely be the highest owned in GPPs as well.

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Red Bull ($11,800) & Mercedes ($9,000)

With the number of accidents and engine issues in the early going, it has made me rethink my constructor allocations. With that in mind, Red Bull was still in the optimal lineup two weeks ago in Miami. The only time this season a Captain driver was not stacked with his constructor in the optimal lineup was in Australia when Leclerc led wire to wire but his teammate Sainz was not able to even finish one lap. On that day, Mercedes was the optimal play as Max Verstappen was not able to finish the race. Russell finished third and Hamilton finished in fourth. There is no real point in going away from these three constructors as massive chaos would have to ensue for none of them to be the optimal play. Verstappen is once again the GPP play since he is the most expensive driver but is starting in second and DFS players can only play him or Leclerc this weekend.


F1 DFS Picks: Spanish Grand Prix

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Best F1 Fantasy & DFS Driver Picks

Charles Leclerc ($11,200 Draft Kings; First)

Leclerc rates out as an extremely strong play this weekend and for good reason. The Ferrari car looked superb in Barcelona during all stages of free practice sessions this weekend and then had a pole position to top it all off on Saturday. Leclerc and Verstappen are still in a tier of their own. As mentioned in the preview article, there is a way of fitting Leclerc, Verstappen and either constructor with three other drivers from different teams, but you will be rolling with the likes of Guanyuzhou and Latifi, which is never encouraged. Unless you are expecting mayhem, playing Sainz over Leclerc is only a GPP play. I have been fading both number 2 drivers for Ferrari and Red Bull since the pricing adjustments and it will continue this weekend in Spain.

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Max Verstappen ($11,600 DraftKings; Second)

Verstappen was pegged as the GPP play in last week’s article after starting in third on the grid in Miami. He was able to overcome his lackluster qualifying to deliver a checked flag to quiet the doubters. Verstappen once again had issues on his final qualifying lap as he lost power which forced him to settle for second place. Verstappen is simply able to get so much out of this car on race day it would not come as a surprise to see him take home his third straight win. The Vegas odds also think the same as Verstappen is currently the favorite to win the Spanish Grand Prix even with him starting second on the grid. As previously stated, unless you are mass multi-entering GPP lineups, I do not see myself getting too much of Sergio Perez.

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George Russell ($8,800 DraftKings; Fourth) & Lewis Hamilton ($9,200 DraftKings; Sixth)

This feels like the make-or-break decision this weekend. In cash games, Russell is the safer play and has been the much better driver this year, but everyone who knows Mercedes and their antics know that it is only a matter of time until Hamilton gets the green flag to pass Russell if the two are battling it out on the track. Russell outperformed Hamilton in every free practice session this week and then pulled off a great final lap in qualifying to earn fourth on the grid. Starting your lineups with Verstappen CAP/Red Bull and then playing Russell leaves you an average of $4,000 per driver, while a Leclerc CAP/Ferrari with Russell leaves you with $4,333 per driver. With all that said, Hamilton could very well be helped the ownership of Russell and be a massive pivot if something were to happen.


F1 DFS Picks: Spanish Grand Prix

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Esteban Ocon ($6,600 DraftKings; 12th)

I do not love paying over $6,000 for a driver who is starting outside of the top 10, but Ocon has a couple of positives going for him. For starters, he will start five positions in front of his teammate Alonso and he has simply been the better and more consistent driver this season for Alpine. Ocon is -200 to beat Alonso and is a mid-range play to keep an eye on, but he may be hard to fit in my builds if I do decide to roll with Russell in the flex.

Kevin Magnussen ($5,200 DraftKings; Eighth)

Magnussen rates out as one of the best mid-priced plays on the weekend. He is the 13th-priced driver but is starting in eighth place, two spots ahead of his teammate Mike Schumacher. While the HAAS team did not bring any upgrades to Barcelona, ​​both cars were able to make it to Q3 on Saturday, which is a big accomplishment and shows the true potential of this car. The HAAS drivers are ones to keep an eye on especially if you do follow the suggested lineup build. Magnussen is sitting at a -300 favorite to finish ahead of Schumacher on Sunday.

Alex Albon ($4,000 Draft Kings; 19th)

As mentioned in the preview article, Albon is no longer free, but that does not matter to us! Some people may shy away from him starting in 19th at his price, but realistically all you want from your bottom value is for them to beat their teammate. Albon is a -700 to beat Latifi.

Sebastian Vettel ($3,400 Draft Kings; 16th)

Last, but not least, Vettel grades out as a top value piece, especially considering he is now the third-cheapest driver but will be starting 16th, two spots ahead of his more expensive teammate Lance Stroll. Vettel showed some signs of life this weekend, already putting up the 12th fastest lap in FP 3 and eighth fastest in FP 2. He has also outperformed Stroll all weekend leading to him being a -230 to finish ahead of Stroll.

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