2023 Formula 1 Drivers Championship Odds to Win

 

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2023 Drivers Championship Odds to Win

Amidst the final major shake-ups to Formula 1 team management to close out the 2022 Formula 1 season and with 2023 Winter testing a few short months away, we’re focusing on the 2023 preseason World Drivers’ Championship odds.

We might not know much about Ferrari’s potential fix for their power-unit reliability issues or what Mercedes is designing back at their Brackley factory. Still, we do know which drivers are the preseason betting favorites. We’ll review the current top 5 Drivers by odds to win the Drivers’ World Championship.

 

Max Verstappen – Red Bull (-134)

The reigning, defending two-time World Drivers’ Champion will again sport the number 1 on his Red Bull and a new set of golden racing boots in pursuit of a third-straight Drivers’ championship. Verstappen’s current racecraft, pace, and tire management are of a truly elite form that is reminiscent of greats like Prost and Schumacher from the past.

Red Bull has the strongest base from which to start their 2023 season, although they will have aerodynamic and CFD testing restrictions due to their cost-cap infringement from 2021. What effect this will have on the development of the 2023 Red Bull and Verstappen’s potential title bid are unknown, but Verstappen’s all-time great performance levels will not drop as he approaches his athletic prime.

 

Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes (+280)

Lewis Hamilton is one of the greatest racers of all time and the statistically most successful driver in Formula 1 history. The fatally-flawed Mercedes W-13 let Hamilton down in 2022, which was the first season in his career that Hamilton failed to secure a win and pole position.

Mercedes claims to have found the solution to their problematic W-13 and should produce a championship-contending car in 2023. With a competitive Mercedes likely to debut at 2023 winter testing, Hamilton will be a threat to win his eighth World Championship when the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix closes out the 2023 season.

 

Charles Leclerc – Ferrari (+600)

Ferrari’s reliability issues and a wide variety of errors and misjudgments by the team and drivers alike sunk Ferrari’s early season optimism of challenging for both World Championships in 2022. However, we learned in 2022 that Charles Leclerc is the best single-lap driver on the grid.

We also watched Leclerc and Ferrari struggle to turn pole positions into wins throughout the 2022 season. With long-time Leclerc ally Frédéric Vasseur as the new team boss at Ferrari, and a rumored fix for the Ferrari power-unit issues that plagued the Ferrari works team (and client teams alike), Leclerc could turn his electric one-lap performances into wins and potential 2023 World Drivers’ Championship.

 

George Russell – Mercedes (+720)

George Russell impressed during his first season with Mercedes, going from “Mr. Saturday” for his excellent qualifying performances with Williams to “Mr. Consistency” for finishing in the top 6 in 20 of 22 Grand Prix in 2022. Russell was the best driver of the weekend and the rightful winner of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and the Sao Paulo Sprint Race.

Russell has been tagged as a future Formula 1 World Champion throughout his rise through the junior single-seater racing categories as a Mercedes-contracted driver. If Mercedes has truly built a car that will close the gap to Red Bull, Russell and not Hamilton could be the Mercedes driver who brings the World Championship back to the silver arrows.

 

Carlos Sainz Jr. – Ferrari (+2400)

There is a steep drop-off in the odds from the top four Drivers’ World Championship contenders, and the fifth driver with the best odds, Carlos Sainz Jr. Sainz took his first pole position and Grand Prix win in 2022 and proved to be Ferrari’s best strategist, albeit from the cockpit and not the pit wall.

However, we’ve watched Sainz fade away from the front-running duo in races too many times in 2022 for Sainz to have better odds of winning the 2023 World Championship. If Ferrari has the power-unit solution, Sainz can build a championship campaign slowly with his intelligence and racecraft. Sainz will need to improve his race pace across the season to truly be a contender for the 2023 Drivers’ World Championship.

 

 

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2022 Season Rundown | F1 Betting

2021 was a fantastic year for Formula 1 fans, as it delivered the best World Championship battles we have seen in quite some time. Having said that, it also delivered a finish that left a bitter taste in the mouths of a lot of race fans. It looked as though Lewis Hamilton was well on his way to winning in Abu Dhabi and capturing a record 8^th world title. That was until the race was stopped and officials essentially created a clear path to 2^nd for Max Verstappen, who passed the defending champion to get the race win and his first title. It was a decision that seemed to fly in the face of the F1 rules, causing Mercedes to lodge complaints that were eventually withdrawn. Let’s take a moment to have a quick look at what is coming in 2022 so you can start planning your bets against the Formula 1 odds.

 

The question now is whether Hamilton will return to take another run at his record-setting win. Hamilton did say that he would be back, but he also stated that it might not be next year. Whether this is something said in the wake of a disappointing ending to the season remains to be seen, but the general consensus seems to be that he wants another crack at it as soon as possible.

While we wait for that story to develop, we can already look ahead to the 2022 season, as Formula 1 has already revealed the schedule for the coming season. We will have a record 23 races on the calendar for 2022, including a new entry that should be exciting for American fans of the sport.

The traditional schedule has been somewhat flipped on its head for the coming season, as races that we are used to seeing late in the year will now open the season. The first race will come in mid-March in Bahrain, followed a couple of weeks later by a trip to Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Grand Prix has traditionally been late in the season, so this move is a bit of a surprise.

When we get into the opening week of May, we have a new addition to the schedule, with the Miami Grand Prix making an appearance for the first time. This will serve as the first of 2 races in the US this coming season, with the other one set to go in October, with just 3 races to come after that one. The Monaco Grand Prix, which is arguably the biggest race on the schedule will take place on the weekend of May 27-29, with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone set to follow soon after.

After the British race, there will be 7 straight races in Europe before we get to the Singapore and Japan Grand Prix in early October. That will take us into the home stretch, with the final race of the 2022 season once again set to take place in Abu Dhabi. The hope is that we get a clear winner without any sort of controversy this time around. Yes, Verstappen probably deserved to win the title after the season he had, but it was still disappointing to see it all play out the way in which it did.

 

 

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F1 2022 Drivers Championship: Will Max Verstappen Win Again?

While the 2021 season is over and we are now looking ahead to the coming season, it is impossible not to think back to what happened last year. The results are final, and Max Verstappen is the champion, but the FIA is still conducting an investigation into the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi. A rather strange series of events at the end of that race gave Verstappen the chance to win when it looked as though Lewis Hamilton was cruising to his record-setting 8^th World Championship. The results of the investigation will not change the final result of last season, but it may well have a bearing on whether or not Hamilton decided to return to F1 in 2022. That decision will have a ripple effect that will impact the entire sport. While we wait for all of that to play out, let’s take a look at Verstappen’s chances of repeating as champion so you can bet against the Formula 1 Championship Odds.

 

What Happens if There is No Hamilton in 2022?

If Lewis Hamilton does indeed decide to sit out the coming season, the consensus would probably be that Verstappen will have his second championship in hand long before the season comes to a close. That would certainly make sense, as there doesn’t really seem to be another driver out there who could mount a series run at the title. That said, you also wonder what the absence of a serious challenger would do to Verstappen. Will he relax a little with Hamilton out of the picture and no clear challenger on the horizon, or will he do his best to lay waste to the competition in every single race? Given his tenacity as a driver, the latter seems like the more likely option.

 

Have We Seen the Best of Verstappen?

What many people seem to forget is that Verstappen is still just 24 years of age. Last season was one for the ages, but you do have to wonder if there is even better to come. Hamilton is at an age where a lot of drivers slow down or think about retiring, so the path could be clear for Verstappen for quite some time to come. He is part of a great team, has an outstanding car, and is in possession of the type of thirst to win that you really don’t see that often. You also have to think that, even after winning the championship, he may still have a chip on his shoulder. There are some who see his title in 2021 as being flawed given how that final race went, but this is a man that win 10 races on the year. That’s a pretty astonishing performance that probably warranted the title.

 

Will Verstappen Win Again in 2022?

That is not an easy question to answer until we get a better idea of what Lewis Hamilton will be doing this season. If Hamilton does indeed sit it out, I don’t see any way in which Verstappen doesn’t repeat as the champion. If Hamilton is in, which we all hope he is, then we could well be looking at another great battle like the one we saw in 2021.

 

 

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F1 2022 Drivers Championship: Will Lewis Hamilton win this year and why?

For fans of Lewis Hamilton, 2021 proved to be a bit of a depressing season. It was not just the fact that he failed to win his record-setting 8^th World Championship, it was the nature in which it happened. Hamilton had to win the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi to take the title and it certainly looked as though he had it in hand. That was until a crash late in the race and a decision made by the FIA that allowed Max Verstappen to essential move ahead of lapped cars to get a clear run at Hamilton. Mercedes protested the decision, but eventually withdrew their protest and lived with the decision. That said, there is still an inquiry going on into the events of the race, the outcome of which may have an impact on what Hamilton does this season. Let’s jump right into action so you can plan your bets against the Formula 1 Championship Odds.

 

Will Hamilton Even Race in 2022?

Since that race in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton has been very quiet, with no public statements or info posted on his usually active social media sites. The feeling is that the only way he will return for sure this season is if the FIA, the governing body of F1, fires Michael Masi, the man responsible for the strange decisions made in the final race of last season. Where things get complicated, though, is that the results of the FIA inquiry are not due until late March, a couple of days before the start of the season. If that is indeed what Hamilton is waiting for before making a decision on the coming season, then he is leaving it until the very last minute.

 

How Hamilton Will Win in 2022

Let’s work under the assumption that Hamilton does indeed choose to return this season, which is what we are all hoping for. If that is the case, then what arguments can we make for him coming out and riding off with another F1 World Championship? First of all, you need to talk about his team, as Mercedes have proven time and again that they have the fastest car in the sport. Couple that with Hamilton’s driving prowess and you have a team that is very tough to beat.

We also know that Hamilton is among the most competitive athletes in professional sports, so you can bet that he is currently looking at a very big chip on his shoulder. Would it really be that surprising to see him take that anger and frustration and turn it into something positive on the track? I don’t believe so, and neither do the majority of fans of the sport.

On the downside, Hamilton is reaching an age where drivers tend to retire from the sport, but the fact of the matter is that he is not really showing any signs of slowing down. In Verstappen, he has a worthy competitor and one that will push him to be better. He also has that record-setting championship looming large and it is tough to imagine him walking away from the sport when he has history within his grasp. Without Hamilton, we are potentially looking at a one-sided affair in 2022, so we really do hope that he returns.