Welcome back to Formula 1: Race Week British Grand Prix the 11th race on the calendar. This week the 20 drivers race at a known track to all, Silverstone, where the opportunity for overtakes is a stark contrast from last week’s Austrian GP. Something else that adds to the drama for Silverstone, Formula 1 teams have their home factories located close enough to the circuit that they can bring new upgrades to this track with relative ease. This leads to things like the Williams being competitive all weekend and a possible British driver on the podium. Plenty of opportunities for overtakes exist here so let’s find some quality plays for our DFS lines.
Team Breakdowns
Alpine
Alpine feels like discount Mercedes right now, just genuinely off the pace but at a discount for DFS. Pierre Gasly ($5600) has been better than his teammate as of late so I would play Pierre over Esteban Ocon ($6000) but just like their DraftKings pricing, it won’t take much for them to invert.
Aston Martin
The talk of the grid at the start of the season has been whispers lately. The Aston tends to be a draggy car which never boded well for them in Austria, the trend continues into Silverstone. Fernando Alonso ($8400) P9 and Lance Stroll ($6200) P12 are not a priority for me this weekend and probably won’t be for a while.
Alfa Romeo
The last guy in Zhou ($3400) tends to find himself in GPP winning lineups even though he is not exciting to roster.
Alpha Tauri
Yuki Tsunoda ($5000) should comfortably beat his teammate Nyck De Vries ($3200).
Ferrari
What a confusing time to be a Scuderia Ferrari fan, one side of the garage looks great, the other side looks pretty appealing…until they put on their clown masks. Carlos Sainz ($8000) comes into this race with some good momentum having crossed the finish line in Austria 4th, Carlos drove his Ferrari during this weekend’s practice sessions to within 2 hundredths of Max’s practice times and qualifies just behind his teammate in 5th. While his teammate did outpace him over one lap, Charles Leclerc ($10,200) did experience some electrical issues that prevented him from getting laps in on the Silverstone circuit. Ferrari ($9700) does have a good track record here, winning last year’s race, and should not be overlooked especially in large-field GPPs.
Haas
Nico Hulkenberg ($4200) and Kevin Magnussen ($3800) aren’t separated by much. Nico comes with risk as he continues to get the better of his Haas over one lap, which puts them in a bad place DFS value-wise because he tends to fall back during the race.
McLaren
As mentioned in last week’s Austrian article, “Upgrades people, upgrades!” McLaren looks like it loves its upgrades. Lando Norris ($6800) held the pole before Max just did Max things. Considering Lando’s pace from last week (on a circuit he does well at) and this week’s efforts from his teammate Oscar Piastri ($4800), the McLaren ($5200) looks like a great DFS play and will be popular on DK, my advice, join the party.
Mercedes
The Mercedes Petronas AMG Race Car continues to be a shell of itself. Neither Lewis Hamilton ($9600) nor George Russell ($7400) were in the top 10 in either Friday practice session and qualified 7th and 6th respectively. The Mercedes ($9100) did show some encouraging long-run pace but nothing that has me excited to roster them in my DFS lines.
Red Bull
If last year’s race was a nice reminder that random things happen in racing, Max Verstappen ($15,000) did not dominate from P2 a fate Im sure he will be looking to make up. His Red Bull Rocketship continues to be the class of the field. Starting from pole I expect Max to dominate with contenders not so far off, but still behind.
The sister Red Bull is just as classy on Friday but disappears during qualifying. Having been just 2 tenths off in FP2 Sergio Perez ($10,800) has the car, but continues to throw it all away on Saturdays. This marks the 5th consecutive time Sergio has failed to make it out of Q1. Last week I thought it was prudent to use Sergio in my DFS lines, while he scored well, he was not optimal. Perhaps if his price goes down and he becomes a better value he would be a good DFS play, but for now, limited exposure paired with Red Bull Racing ($14,000) would be a good way to be contrarian in GPPs, but probably a thin play overall.
Williams
Just like McLaren, the Williams has taken very well to their upgrades. Alex Albon ($5200) has always been a good driver battling an underwhelming car, but with James Vowles at the helm, the team continues to improve and look like a proper race team. The only “issue” I have with playing Alex’s teammate Logan Sargent ($3000) is that he might have qualified just outside of a comfortable zone if he goes backward in the race. Williams ($3100) however showed its overall pace this weekend as Albon was in contention during all three practice sessions, and his teammate qualified P14. As of now, I will have some Logan, that price tag is too nice, but I will post in Discord my issues with him as a value play if something does go wrong.
Advice:
Drivers I will be heavy on:
Max Verstappen
Carlos Sainz
Lando Norris
Oscar Piastri
Alex Albon
Less than $5k drivers:
Yuki
Piastri
Zhou
DeVries
Constructors:
Red Bull
McLaren
Williams
As always if you want to chop up some plays, @tcuz86 in the Discord. I appreciate you taking the time to read this edition of Formula 1: Race Week, British GP.