TEAM BREAKDOWNS

Williams $3000

Nicholas Latifi $3000 continues his run as Formula 1’s “how the hell does he have a drive?!” award. Thankfully the championship has already been settled so he can’t crash and ruin someone’s shot at that award. But it’s Nicholas Latifi and I don’t put anything past him. As long as Nic finishes, he is useful, so if has your last guy in, don’t stress over it. In fact, the Williams drivers can’t hurt you since they start so low anyway all they can do is not score points, and that’s not too bad.

Alex Albon $4000 starting P19 is just like his teammate, he can’t really hurt your lineups. It takes losing 3 grid spots to generate negative DraftKings points, starting P19 he can’t do that. Even if he DNF Alex will score 0 DKFP. Having returned a value of 162% at his price point, Albon is the most valuable driver below $4000.

Haas $3200

What a difference a week makes. Last week all the highs of the world, sprint wins, pole positions, and good vibes. This weekend: pain. Mick Schumacher $3600 informed us via IG he won’t be with the team next year which I am personally torn over. Mick has so much talent, but the amount of times he has crashed and caused expensive repairs is impossible to overlook. I hope we see him on the grid in the future.

For his final appearance for Gene Haas’ F1 team, Mick finds himself starting P12. The Haas has always shown ability over one quick lap, it’s the race pace that tends to let them down. Over the last 4 races, Mick has been one of the 5 worst drivers to return fantasy value, with 3.5 DKFP. The last guy in is definitely not a priority play.

Mick’s teammate Kevin Magnussen $4800 has been equally as disappointing this weekend. Hanging out in the cellar of the bottom 5, Kevin’s price tag is hard to use, even with his recent form of 6 DKFP. I think you can get better value elsewhere.

Alpha Tauri $3300

This is where things start to get interesting this weekend. The sister Red Bull has performed well here at the Yas Marina in the past 4 races, with 3 top-10 finishes. Yuki finished just off the podium in P4 having started in P8 last year, and Pierre has gone from P10 to P8 and P12 to P5. Very encouraging for Alpha Tauri.

However, even with the team’s strong historical trends here, Pierre Gasly $5000 has not shown much over this weekend. He has been a bottom 5 driver on pace in FP2, 3, and qualifying. With his starting position of P17, he’s overvalued at $5000. In his last 4 races, he has returned 70% value, 2nd worst of all 20 drivers.

Yuki Tsunoda $3400 finds himself in P11. A very spicy proposition. Yuki has been in the 3rd tier (P15-P10) of drivers this weekend (20 drivers divided by 5 for 4 tiers) and was awarded an extra grid start for Danny Ric being penalized for his torpedoing of K-Mag and my lineups last weekend, I’m not salty, I promise. At his price point, having returned 139.71% of value scoring 4.75 DKFP over his last 4, I’ll have some Yuki in my lineups.

Alfa Romeo $3700

The Alfa has not shown much positive or negative here in Abu Dhabi. A very neutral playing field for Italy’s favorite second son. Zhou Guanyu $3200 has won here in the F2 series, the equivalent of the Xfinity series for NASCAR. Over this weekend Zhou has been in the 3rd and 4th tier of drivers, having qualified P15. Scoring 3.75 DKFP in his last 4, returning the value of 117.91%, he’s not a priority but fine as a DraftKings play.

Valtteri Bottas $5600 has had a disappointing last 4 races. At his $5600 price point, he has only scored 3.75 DKFP, returning a value of 66.96% over his last 4. The absolute worst value of all drivers. He has gone from bringing the Williams from the ashes of mediocrity to a top team’s rear gunner, to a bottom-dwelling team driver. Starting in P18 he’s just like the Williams drivers with a starting grid position so low, he can’t hurt you, but that’s an extreme premium at $5600.

Aston Martin $4200

Just like the Alfa Romeo, Yas Marina is a neutral circuit for Aston Martin. That being said, they tend to perform better than the Alfa here in Abu Dhabi. This weekend hasn’t bucked that trend. Flirting with the bottom fringes of the 2nd tier and the top of the 4th tier, I would put The Astons firmly in the 3rd tier.

Lance Stroll $4200 starts just ahead of the 3rd tier ranking, starting in P14. There’s nothing in Lance’s history here that suggests Lance is over or under-qualified. In his last 4 races at the circuit, he has gained positions from P20 to P13, dropped positions from P13 to DNF, P8 to P10, and maintained positions P13 to P13. A very meh kind of play. having scored just 3.75 DKFP over his last 4, Stroll has only returned a value of 77.38%. Nothing makes stroll a priority play this weekend.

Sebastian Vettel $6200 leaves the F1 grid after this race as he is set to retire after the checkered flag drops this Sunday. The 4-time world champ, takes his 122 podiums with him as this is his 300th race. For this weekend, Seb starts in P9, just ahead of the team’s 3rd-tier placing. That reads like Seb is driving hard this weekend. Historically Seb has gone from P3 to P2, P5 to P5, P13 to P14, and P15 to P11, definitely in play. Scoring 9.25 DKFP over his last 4, returning a value of 149.19% I will have exposure to Seb and will play him with confidence in my DK lines. Danke Seb, you will be missed.

Alpine $5300

Alpine is a tier 2 car this weekend. Firmly in the top 10, Alpine has historically finished where they have started here. Fernando Alonso’s $7000 has had an interesting last 4 races. And by interesting, I mean very disappointing. He has only scored 6 DKFP over his last 4 and returned a value of 85.71%, nothing to be excited about. Starting P10 you really need him to beat his teammate and gain 3 spots to pay off the price tag, a proposition that’s hard to trust.

Esteban Ocon $6600 looks like the better value between the 2. Once again the history of the Alpine suggests Ocon should finish in the top 10, and if he doesn’t drop places or get beat by his teammate, he should continue to return his last 4 race value of 181.12% scoring 12 DKFP over his last 4.

McLaren $5900

McLaren really solidifies itself as the best of the rest. Historically they have finished just well within the 2nd tier of cars here, with finishes at P8, P5, P7, P4, P11, P7, and P12. Not that special. But for our purposes, playable.

Lando loves finishing P7, and because of that he has only scored 6 DKFP over his last 4. He is overpriced at $7600. He starts this race in, of course, P7.

His teammate Daniel, the torpedo, Ricciardo won’t be a starting driver next year. He should be confirmed as the reserve Red Bull driver so we will still see Danny Ric around the paddock. Danny has had 2 really good races out of his last 4 scoring double-digit DraftKings points, which has him returning a value of 181.82% not terrible for 8 DKFP over his last 4. Having been penalized for a doggy move last weekend, I can see Danny Ric performing well from P13 gaining at least spots, maybe even a 3rd. Not a priority by any means, but good for a lineup or two as a contrarian play.

Ferrari $10,300

Ferrari still has something to play for as Charles Leclerc has a shot at 2nd in the driver’s championship and the team is just 19 points ahead of the surging Mercedes for the 2nd place constructor championship. What a far cry from the Ferrari glory days. Very disappointing as the team started off so well this year. Historically the Scuderia has performed like a tier 2 team in Abu Dhabi. With only 1 podium over the last 4 appearances.

That one podium finish was accomplished by Carlos Sainz Jr $8800 after starting from P5 to finish P3. Outside of that, Carlos has not done much here. Of the top 6 drivers, he has been the least valuable at 142.05% 12dkp over the last 4. Not a top priority by any means, but he has been a 2nd tier car all weekend and qualified P4, making him slightly overvalued.

Carlos’s teammate, Charles LeClerc $10,600 starts from P3 and has been a Tier1/2 car all weekend. As he is fighting for the 2nd place drivers championship, and also a slight middle finger to his team, Charles is very much in play this weekend. Here in Abu Dhabi Charles has not faired well driving for Ferrari, he has lost places in both races he has had here with the Scuderia. Returning a value of 158.02% with 16.75 DKFP over his last 4, it’s very much in Charles’ wheelhouse to perform well here.

Mercedes $11,100

Mercedes scored its first 1,2 last weekend after having started this season on the backfoot compared to their competition. This bodes well for the Silver Arrows next year. As for Abu Dhabi, the Mercs have been a Tier 1 team all weekend. Historically the Merc finds itself on the podium here in Abu Dhabi, a trend I can see continuing.

George Russell $10,000 starts in P6 meaning he slightly underqualified. This is his first year with a good team here so his historical trends are kind of meaningless. Over his last 4 races though, he has scored 19.25 DKFP and returned a value of 192.50% the second most valuable driver over his last 4 races. George is a solid play this weekend.

Lewis Hamilton $11,200 starts in P5, his car has not been outside the top tier all weekend. Historically Lewis has never finished off the podium here in Abu Dhabi with 2 wins, a 2nd, and a 3rd in his last 4 races. I like Lewis’ chances here. 191.96% puts Lewis just behind his teammate in terms of value returned over his last 4 and he has scored 21.5 DKFP over the span. Definitely have some Lewis.

Red Bull $12,500

The class of the 2022 season finishes strong as the drivers to beat this weekend. Both Max Verstappen $13,600 and Sergio Perez $9400 have shown out this weekend. They will be tough to dethrone. Red Bull has had a mixed bag of results here, however, as Max does well, but Sergio has not.

Sergio Perez $9400 has returned a value of 148.94% and scored just 14dkp over his last 4. At his price point, we really need him to win to outperform his teammate in terms of being valuable for our fantasy lineups. Hard to say if he can do it. If you are going to play Sergio, having him in the captain’s spot makes a ton of sense.

My analysis of Max is as follows: play him. The guy is the best driver on the grid, in the best car. The most valuable driver over the last 4, the highest-scoring driver over that time frame. He’s tough to fit, but there’s enough value to make it work. Max, like Lewis, has not finished off the podium here.

TL;DR

Find a way to Fit Max in. Yuki, Zhou, Albon, and Latifi make for good values. The Mercs have been in form over the last 4 races. Sergio and Carlos are fighting for P2 in the driver’s world championship, and Mercedes and Ferrari are fighting for 2nd place in the constructor’s championship.

DFS Constructor options

• Red Bull Racing $12,500 The class of the field.
• Ferrari $10,300 Fighting for P2 in constructors.
• Mercedes $11,100 Also fighting for P2 and coming off a double podium finish.
• Alpine $5300 A solid value play. 

Your time is your most valuable asset and I thank you for spending some of it on reading this article. If you have questions feel free to get at me @tcuz86 in Discord.

Best of luck and see you next season,

Theodore