We’re in the meat of the F1 2022 schedule now. The Austrian Grand Prix is just a week after the action-packed British Grand Prix. That’s not a lot of time to recover from all of the damage both to the cars and drivers done at Silverstone. There was also a sprint race this weekend that we saw on Saturday setting the gird order for the Grand Prix on Sunday. With all that going on, we’ll take a look at the Red Bull Ring layout, weather, DFS strategy, and the top plays for the Austrian Grand Prix.

Red Bull Ring Track Layout and Guide

The Red Bull Ring is one of the shortest tracks on the F1 schedule at just over 2.6 miles. It’s also one with a small number of turns with just 10. Granted not all 10 are really turns as a few are just kinks in straightaways. To add more to it, the Red Bull Ring also has the most elevation change per lap than anywhere else as the first half of the lap is all uphill and then the second half is all downhill. What does this mean for the teams? It’s mainly an engineering race as the balance of the car has to be perfect to deal with the straights, tight, tricky turns, and the three DRS zones.

What’s The Weather For The Austrian GP

So far the weather has been very good in Spielberg. That might just change on Sunday though. They are expecting rain for the race at some point. Clearly, the F1 cars can race in the rain but it certainly can change the strategies of the pit calls and the tire strategies. For some drivers the chance of rain benefits them as they’re better than others in the slick conditions as well.

F1 DFS Strategy For Austrian Grand Prix

This is one of the longer races on the schedule in terms of number of laps. There are 71 for the scheduled distance with the only way that doesn’t happen is if the rain is too heavy and it costs them track time. With that many laps, Laps Led can be a differentiator in building lineups. The other thing to keep in mind is the three DRS zones on the track which should help with overtaking. That being said though, the pole sitter has dominated in four of the last five Austrian Grands Prix. If the new car can keep cars closer, some overtaking might be able to happen especially in the mid-pack where we saw the racing was close in the sprint race.

Formula 1 DFS Austrian Grand Prix Top Plays

This week we’re going to try something a bit different with the write-up, we’ll analyze each team and driver for said team together. I’ll give you my thoughts on how the race plays out for each team and where the value lies. They’ll be listed in descending salary order based on constructor pricing on DraftKings.

Red Bull

Drivers: Max Verstappen ($18,000 D: $12,000) Sergio Perez ($13,500 D:$9,000)

Constructor: $11,700

Starting Spots: Verstappen P1, Perez P5

The early crash last week took the shine off of Verstappen a bit, but he’s rebounding well this week. He’s been fast this weekend, for most of it, and ran away from the Ferraris in the Sprint race. In fact, Verstappen has dominated here in his career having won and led every lap in last year’s back-to-back races here. Sergio Perez was put in a tough spot having his P4 qualifying time disallowed in qualifying and instead moved to P13 in the Sprint before moving up through the field. Both look very fast again, at their namesake track, and there is a good shot they’ll run away with the race on Sunday. It’s quite limiting to stack Red Bull and Verstappen in the constructor and captain spot but Perez could fit there with $4,500 in savings.

Ferrari

Drivers: Charles Leclerc ($16,800 D: $11,200) Carlos Sainz ($14,400 D: $9,600)

Constructor: $10,700

Starting Spots: Leclerc P2, Sainz P3

It’s pretty telling that Charles Leclerc said all he wants this weekend is a clean race weekend for Ferrari. Who can blame him given his last five races. It almost wasn’t though as Leclerc and Carlos Sainz had a few close passing attempts in the Sprint on Saturday. Both of them have been fast this weekend and they topped FP2, though not that far ahead of Verstappen. If Ferrari can simply hold their starting spots it’ll be a win for them this weekend. That’s not saying a lot for DFS upside but the scoring is still there with the finish points chance. As for who gets the team orders, it’s still likely that Leclerc is the favored choice for strategy.

Mercedes

Drivers: Lewis Hamilton ($15,300 D: $10,200) George Russell ($12,600 D: $8,400)

Constructor: $9,800

Starting Spots: Hamilton P8, Russell P4

Mercedes has been showing signs of life of late, well last week excluded for Russell at least. They’re back at it this weekend. Hamilton and Russell have both shown top-five speed at times this weekend but it’s been more consistent from Russell than Hamilton. That could be due to the wreck that Hamilton had on Friday. Russell seemed to have nothing for the Ferraris or Verstappen in the Sprint while Hamilton moved up a bit through the field before running out of time to pass Magnussen. If Hamilton can make the most of the new chassis on his car, he should be able to move up a few spots and perhaps challenge for a top-five finish. It’s setting up for another ho-hum weekend for Russell with another top-five finish and perhaps there’s value here for the only mid-tier Constructor with two high finishing drivers.

McLaren

Drivers: Lando Norris ($11,400 D: $7,600) Daniel Ricciardo ($8,100 D: $5,400)

Constructor: $6,000

Starting Spots: Norris P10, Ricciardo P11

Will McLaren figure things out this year? Just when they’re showing glimpses of speed, it only shows up in one of the cars at a time. The last few weekends Norris has had better speed but it’s undecided this weekend as to how that pendulum will swing. The two have split faster pace in each practices with Norris qualifying faster. Ricciardo thought he had better pace during the Sprint but wasn’t given the chance overtake his teammate. If Ricciardo can overtake Norris there is value there, perhaps even without overtaking his teammate simply for the price savings. Norris is still the better play given they’ll give him preferential treatment in team orders. McLaren could also be a sneaky constructor to fit two expensive drivers in the lineup with a shot for double top-10 finish.

Alpine

Drivers: Fernando Alonso ($10,500 D: $7,000) Esteban Ocon ($8,700 D: $5,800)

Constructor: $5,500

Starting Spots: Alonso P19, Ocon P6

They were perfectly setup to have a great weekend in the Austrian GP. Then Alonso failed to start the Sprint. Why is still unclear other than there was an issue with the car. He’ll now start P19 in the race. The good news though is that Ocon is starting P6 and shown top-five speed, as did Alonso. Ocon has been a very good play most weeks and still hasn’t gotten a price bump. Starting with a shot at a top-five and being below $6K will make him a popular play. Alonso on the other hand, has his work cut out for him starting P19. If he can pass a bunch of cars and show the top-five speed he had at practice, he has PD value but that’s a price tag that’s tough to swallow. We’ve had Alpine as a constructor before but this week it might be tough to justify with Alonso’s starting spot.

Alfa Romeo

Drivers: Valtteri Bottas ($9,900 D: $6,600) Guanyu Zhou ($4,800 D: $3,200)

Constructor: $4,400

Starting Spots: Bottas P20, Zhou P13

From going through one of the scariest looking wrecks in recent memory in F1 to showing solid speed this weekend, it’s been a crazy week for Guanyu Zhou. It’s also been a rough mid-season stretch for Alfa Romeo as the once promising start to the year has vanished race by race. Bottas will be starting at the rear due to a power unit penalty and will be scored from P20 for DFS. He’s run in the top-10 all weekend and there’s a chance he can move up well given his skill set and experience on the track. There’s also a concern that Zhou has an engine issue that might crop up given what happened to him at the start of the Sprint. They are both contrarian plays for DFS but Bottas will likely be popular for those expecting PD points, which will be tough to come by.

AlphaTauri

Drivers: Pierre Gasly ($9,300 D: $6,200) Yuki Tsunoda ($6,600 D: $4,400)

Constructor: $3,900

Starting Spots: Gasly P14, Tsunoda P16

Can Gasly just have a clean race? He’s been involved in early race wrecks multiple times recently including last week at Silverstone and on Saturday in the Sprint. Tsunoda has been up and down as well. Just this weekend, Tsunoda has run P10 in FP1, started P14 and finished P17 in the Sprint, and ran P19 in FP2. That’s a bit too inconsistent to really count on. Gasly started the Sprint in P10 after getting bumped up one spot from the Checo penalty, though he should’ve been allowed to compete in Q3 and start perhaps a bit closer to the front. If he can run clean, Gasly has the speed to run in the top-10 and pass drivers. He’s beaten Tsunoda in three of the last four Grands Prix and moved up from his starting spot seven times this year.

Haas F1

Drivers: Kevin Magnussen ($6,000 D: $4,000) Mick Schumacher ($5,700 D: $3,800)

Constructor: $3,500

Starting Spots: Magnussen P7, Schumacher P9

There are a few weeks a year that Haas becomes a viable option — this is one of those weeks. Both Haas cars have been fast this week, running inside the top-nine in FP1, Qualifying, and the Sprint. They also held off a faster Lewis Hamilton well in the Sprint. Both cars have value in the Grand Prix with a good shot to finish in the points with the edge going to Magnussen who’s been the quicker Haas all weekend. They do work as a contrarian constructor to fit a couple of higher priced drivers in the rest of the lineup. Schumacher’s only real value is the hope that he can outrun, or out-finish, Magnussen, and gets the defeated teammate bonus to go with the finish points, his first in his F1 career.

Aston Martin

Drivers: Sebestian Vettel ($7,500 D: $5,000) Lance Stroll ($6,300 D: $4,200)

Constructor: $3,300

Starting Spots: Vettel P18, Stroll P12

It’s been an interesting weekend for Aston Martin. They’ve only been able to muster so-so speed so far with their best runs being P11 in practice. Things got worse in the Sprint Race when Vettel went into the gravel trap thanks to Albon. There is some value in Vettel in the hope he can move up and run P13, where he was in practice, but he’s still been slower than Stroll this weekend which reduces the chance for that bonus. Stroll has been top-11 in both practices and raced well in the Sprint. Stoll is likely to be the higher-played Aston Martin given the price discount and the shot for potential finish points and defeated teammate bonus points. They, like Williams below them, aren’t a great play for constructor simply because they won’t have two cars in the top-10 by the end.

Williams

Drivers: Alexander Albon ($5,400 D: $3,600) Nicholas Latifi ($4,500 D: $3,000)

Constructor: $3,000

Starting Spots: Albon P15, Latifi P17

I didn’t want to be mean and not include Williams in the write-up, but honestly this week there’s only one play here. Alex Albon is the only viable play in the Williams’ garage. He was running P12 in the Sprint before getting hit with a time penalty for running Lando Norris off the track in an overtaking attempt. If he can move back up a handful of spots, there is value there with him likely to beat his teammate as well.