We’re back! F1 is done with the Summer Break and is now heading to Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix. Not only is this a tough track, the weather is always dicey, and there is a new rule in place to help control how teams deal with porpoising. This is always a fun and whacky race on the F1 schedule and this weekend should be no different.

Belgian Grand Prix F1 DFS Strategy

The longest track on the F1 schedule is this weekend. Spa is 7.004 km per lap, or 4.34 miles, and it’s a very tricky 19-turn layout. It’s unlike any other track on the schedule in length and track style in terms of car setups. It’s also unmatched with weather concerns as well. It can start raining without warning on parts of the track without raining on others, which makes it tricky to judge whether to go with the inters or not. For DFS, this weekend’s race is going to a bit of a chaotic affair. Several drivers received grid penalties for making parts changes to their cars. There is going to be a lot of yo-yo-ing in the field throughout the race as drivers move up from the back of the gird up toward the front and vice versa as there are plenty of passing chances on the long circuit. While there are only 44 laps in the race, each lap has a ton of passing chances in DRS zones as well as braking zones to pass in. This is perhaps the most wide-open F1 Grand Prix of the season based on how the field is shaping up.

Top Driver Plays for F1 DFS Belgian Grand Prix

Captains

Any driver listed as a captain can also be played in a regular drivers spot as well.

Max Verstappen

He’s fast. What else is new? He ran the top-three fastest laps at practice and then actually qualified on the pole before being moved back to P15 due to grid penalties. That means there’s a ton of upside here for Spots vs. Grid points as well as still getting laps led and a shot at a win. Verstappen will likely be the most popular captain choice this weekend despite the highest price tag.

Carlos Sainz

Sainz ran very well at practice and is the Ferrari who didn’t wind up with a grid penalty. For us that’s good news as we should be able to get some early laps led chances from him. Not only that, he can likely finish on the podium, assuming, and making a big assumption here, that Ferrari can straighten out the strategy miscues that have plagued them this year. He has the speed and could still out-finish his teammate in Leclerc for the bonus points for defeated teammate.

Sergio Perez

Checo wasn’t quite as fast as Verstappen but he still had healthy speed and gets the advantage of starting P2. With that should come some early laps led and perhaps he gets a shot to outduel his teammate late in the race to boost Red Bull’s total points and standings position with Perez possibly being able to take second from Leclerc.

Lando Norris

Norris, as has been the case for much of the year, has more speed than his teammate does and by quite a bit. He’s also starting behind his teammate in the gird by 11 spots. That just means there’s upside here from Spots vs. Grid points, as well as a shot at a defeated teammate bonus and still getting finish position points. That makes him an attractive mid-tier captain option.

Drivers

Charles Leclerc

It’s hard to count on Ferrari at this point in 2022 and that’s why Leclerc isn’t in the captain recommendations. That and his starting spot. He does have speed in the car but will start P16 and that will take a lot of good things for him to move up. He needs the reliability in the car as well as the strategy to be proper from his team. That’s a big if. There will still be plenty of people who still play him, and he’s worth getting into a lineup or two but it’s a lot of crossing fingers and hoping for a clean weekend from Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton has finished no worse than P3 in the last five races this year. He’s now starting P4 on a track he loves and has speed and strategy on his side. Add to that that a few of his main competitors are starting well behind him in Verstappen and Leclerc and even Norris. That opens the door for value here as he can simply hold his spot and still payoff as well as starting ahead of his teammate should give him the upside on the defeated teammate bonus.

Fernando Alonso

Alonso has gotten faster as the weekend has gone on. His best practice came in FP3 before qualifying P3 though partially due to drivers moving back due to penalties. That being said though, Alonso has been known to make himself wide on the track and be tough to pass especially if he has pace like he appears to this weekend. He’s been good at Spa previously and experience on a track like this is paramount to having a good weekend. It doesn’t hurt that he should be in position to earn the defeated teammate bonus.

Lance Stroll

On Friday, Stroll really showed up well with top-five speed. Saturday didn’t quite go as well in terms of speed though, but still well enough to land in the top-10 of the grid. He should have the speed to stick in the top-10 even when drivers behind him starting moving up not to mention that he’s defeated his teammate in three of the last five races.

Guanyu Zhou

Zhou was one of the seven drivers given grid penalties for car improvements prior to the race. Before being dropped back to P19 in the grid, he ran P12 in practice which is faster than his teammate accomplished. With four drivers separating Zhou from Bottas and all four of those in faster cars, that should put Zhou within striking distance of Bottas pretty quickly.

Constructors

Red Bull Racing

Even with Verstappen starting in the back they’ll be the most popular constructor play. Verstappen has top-flight speed…again…and Perez put up the fastest time in FP3 as well. The strategy has been perfect from Red Bull this year and that should be the case again this weekend. If Verstappen moves up quickly he could still lead the most laps of the race and get a massive haul of points, the same is the case with Red Bull as a constructor.

Mercedes

Merc has been piecing things together very nicely over the last several races including multiple double-podiums. There’s no reason to think that run ends this weekend either. They are starting inside the top-five and have shown top-five speed at practice. They also have the advantage of one Red Bull and one Ferrari starting well behind them playing catch up. Quiet consistency has gotten Mercedes here and we can expect the same again this weekend.

McLaren

Norris is starting toward the back of the grid but showed top-four speed in the final two practices. Ricciardo also showed consistent, top-11 speed, and is starting 10 spots closer to the front than his teammate. If Norris can move up well, which is possible here, we can get double top-10 finish from them plus the Spot vs. Grid points from Norris to boot.

Aston Martin

It was an interesting set of practices for Aston Martin. They had speed at times and are starting P9 and P10 in the grid. The cars were loose and hard to drive at times too. If they can hang on to the speed while tightening things up, they should be in a spot to nab a double top-10. There will be cars that are moving up through the grid, but in the same respect there will be cars dropping back as well. Aston Martin should be able to hold serve though given the speed they’ve shown throughout the weekend.