Warren Kosoy 
We’re back for another year of Formula 1 racing. Max and Red Bull look like the class of the field once again, however, after the second year under these current regulations the grid has tightened up. Let’s look at some options for this weekend’s race.
Top Captain Options
Lando Norris, McLaren Mercedes, $10,500. Of all these options, Lando is the riskiest. Lando qualified in P11, realistically he should be able to gain a couple of spots, and if he does, he lands in a point-paying position. Considering his teammate is a rookie down in P18 he should beat his teammate. As I stated he comes with risk, but like those dumb crypto.com commercials say, fortune favors the brave… I hate you, Matt Damon.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, $11,400. Alonso has been the talk of the grid, and I totally see why. Aston has not misstepped since testing and they showed pace throughout the entire weekend. I do not foresee him gaining positions on the Ferrari and Red Bulls, but I do not see him losing spots to the guys behind him either. I imagine he will be popular, and I’ll probably end up being with the field on Alonso.
Pierre Gasly, Alpine, $8100. Pierre’s appeal comes in that he is dead last after having lap times deleted in the first qualifying session. If Pierre actually has a capable car underneath him, he should be able to gain a good amount of spots as he passes the back markers.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, $13,000. Max should win this race with relative ease. Pair him with Red Bull Racing in the constructor spot if you think he dominates this race.
Rest of the Field
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing, $9400
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, $11,200
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, $9000
George Russell, Mercedes, $8200
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, $10,400
The thing about this group of drivers are they priced up and don’t have much of an opportunity to score maximum points unless they win the race. Max Did Not Finish this race last year (neither did his teammate Sergio Perez) and if he DNFs again, these drivers are good dart throws in tournaments, but pair them with their constructor.
Valtteri Bottas, $6600 and Zhou Guanyu $5200, Alfa Romeo I have a sneaky feeling that the Alfa will be a top 10 car consistently this year. Though for this race, they will be a price point play for me. One has to beat the other, but considering their starting positions of P12 and P13 respectively, it’s tough to differentiate between them.
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, $6200 If the Aston is as strong as it appears to be, Lance should not fair too badly from his starting position of P8. He comes with some risk as he was questionable coming into the race weekend after a bicycle accident he suffered weeks ago, but he logged laps and looked fine in the car.
Esteban Ocon, Alpine, $5800 Similar to Stroll, but comes with the added advantage of beating his teammate and should be able to finish in the top 10.
Oscar Piastri, Mclaren, $4800 starting in P18 Piastri should be able to overtake the Williams’ and Yuki Tsunoda, other than that Piastri probably won’t do much in this race.
Nick De Vries, AlphaTauri, $4400
Kevin Magnussen, Haas, $4200
Alex Albon, Williams, $3800
Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri, $3600
Logan Sargent, Williams, $3000
These gentlemen more than likely will drive around the back of the field. The AlphaTauri looked like an easy car to drive in testing; Logan Sargent brings an American back to F1 for the first time since 2015 and Alexander Rossi. Play at your own risk for all these guys.
Nico Hulkenberg, Haas, $3200 Anything can happen with this Haas, if he finishes even close to where he starts (and beats K. Mag) at $3200, he’s the ultimate value, and if he DNFs, he gets you negative points. Haas always seems to have a car look awesome in qualifying, but in the race…it all falls apart—a true GPP play.
Constructors
Keep in mind, Constructors can easily out-score driver plays so I think one of the best strategies is to pair you’re expected race winner with their constructor.
A sneaky team to play:
Alfa Romeo, if things fall their way, they could have both cars in the points, that’s 25 points at $4400, worth a shot.
Questions, comments, concerns @tcuz86 in discord.
