Formula 1 Betting: Tips for F1 Bets (2021)

These bookmakers are also among the best cricket betting sites around, with a reputation for being up-to-date and competitive throughout the year-long cricket calendar.

F1 Betting Odds, Tips & Predictions

The best odds, including those on sports betting in India, are shown in the table below.

F1 Betting Odds (Driver)

Below are the odds for the outright winner.

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F1 Betting Odds (Constructor)

Below are the odds for the outright winner.

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F1 Betting Tips & Predictions

Live vs Antepost Wagering

Antepost prices (those seen before the start of the race) are far less prone to sudden fluctuation. The only exception here would be a situation where there are unforeseen driver absences. As such, with the main contenders for victory always known long before the start of a race weekend, some bettors prefer to wait until the race has started before wagering.

The decision to wait until live betting is active is a wager in itself. If the pre-race favourite takes a huge lead early on, then there's every possibility they could lead until the very end, save for pitstops, which generally don't affect in-race odds in any case.

In this scenario, the odds can shorten to an even greater extent compared to the antepost price. However, an early setback for a favourite can see their odds lengthen significantly beyond their antepost price, and this is where people can get more of a potential payout.

In the past, the later races in the calendar have seen drivers with races to spare after winning the championship underperform. This creates a dual effect, in which the in-play odds for the favourite (usually the champion-elect) often lengthen, while the lesser drivers in the field have the same odds, but a greater chance of winning or attaining a podium finish.

Picking a Top Team Driver

Some bookmakers allow bettors to choose which driver (of two) will attain the higher finish within a certain team, either in an individual race or over the course of a season. Every F1 team has what they might consider to be a ‘primary’ driver, generally the more skilled of the two teammates.

Skill aside, the identity of the primary driver may also be tactical, with the ‘secondary’ driver briefed to drive in a way that ensures his teammate has a clear run towards the chequered flag. Either way, there are still clear pre-season favourites within teams.

Making a shrewd call here requires some consideration, but after some research, the choice often becomes clear. Some teams have elected to blend youth and experience, and the focus will often be on ensuring the younger driver is able to benefit from their teammate’s wisdom and ability to manipulate events on the track. With other teams, the primary driver is simply the one with a greater history of success.

In addition, betting on multiple drivers to win a race can also be helpful, as backing a very likely winner will at least partially cover any losses against a more speculative bet. For instance, if you backed Hamilton to win at Silverstone, and placed a wager of ₹1000 with odds of just 1.50 against him, the profit from a win would be ₹500. In anticipation of that likely win, a bettor would also place up to ₹500 on a less likely winner – for example, Perez – at 7.00. If Perez wins (and Hamilton doesn’t), the profit – which would be ₹6000 – is still ₹5000 after the lost bet on Hamilton.

Course History Is Important

Although a lot depends on machinery, some drivers still thrive on courses more than others. A quick look through past F1 results can reveal a lot. However, the nature of certain courses themselves can act as something of a disruptor to expectations. Monaco, along with the Indy 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, is considered by many to be the most difficult course. There's practically no room to manoeuvre, so even the best drivers can make costly errors.

Naturally, newer courses with  modern layouts, such as the Street Circuits of Baku (Azerbaijan Grand Prix) and Jeddah (Saudi Arabian Grand Prix), are less familiar to the entire field. This can act as an equalising factor, considering circuits are now geared towards the way in which newer talents, and especially those graduating from an academy, are taught to drive.

The latest predictions to aid you in Formula 1 betting can be found on Formula1.

F1 Betting – Popular Markets

These are the most popular markets around when it comes to F1 betting. All of the best F1 betting sites shown have a rich history of providing competitive or market-leading odds over a longer period, though other bookmakers may change their agenda to provide a better price.

F1 Outright Winner (Driver) Betting

This is a straightforward wager on the driver leading the standings after the final race points are awarded. Depending on the operator, payouts may only be released at this point, even if the driver in question has won the championship before the final race. Sub-markets may include the margin of victory in terms of overall points.

Best F1 betting site for Outright Winner (Driver): Betway

F1 Outright Winner (Constructor) Betting

As with the previous bet, the narrower field here ensures that this market fluctuates less drastically compared to the Top Driver market.

Best F1 betting site for Outright Winner (Constructor): bet365

F1 Race Winner Betting

In Formula 1 betting, ‘race winner’ can refer to the winning driver or constructor of an individual race. Certain drivers are known for thriving on certain circuits. For instance, Sir Lewis Hamilton finished in the top two of the British Grand Prix (his ‘home’ circuit) every year between 2014 and 2020, ultimately claiming the world title in all but one of those years.

Best F1 betting site for Race Winner: Marathonbet

F1 Betting: Fastest Lap

With F1 cars constantly evolving, and performance-enhancing elements such as the DRS zone an ever-present feature, lap records are falling almost every year. This makes the fastest lap market very worthwhile, especially if a driver is aiming for a ‘hat-trick’ (pole position, fastest lap, and race win). Betting on a ‘hat trick’ itself may also be possible, but most likely as a bespoke bet.

Best F1 betting site for Fastest Lap: bet365

Formula 1 Racing Live on bet365!

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F1 Betting – Tournament Structure

The F1 season is a series of race weekends held one or two weeks apart. Weekends start with Friday practice sessions, followed by race qualification sessions via a time trial on Saturday, which also determines each driver’s starting position on the grid. Sunday is race day, after which points are distributed to drivers as follows:

While scheduling is subject to change, the race calendar traditionally begins with the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in mid- or late-March every year. Bahrain also commonly features inside the first three races of a Formula 1 season due to the desert climate in which it's held. Between May and September, the contest is held entirely in Europe, with circuits such as Monaco, Silverstone, and Monza being long-standing locales steeped in history and prestige.

Between October and the end of the season, the contest predominantly features tracks in Asia and the Americas. Among them is the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, a notorious track with a narrow and complex layout, making it a difficult track to negotiate, especially under inclement conditions.

Since its completion and inauguration into the F1 calendar back in 2009, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has traditionally served as the final race of the season. Though it's a modern circuit with wide berths, and a layout that favours speed and entertainment over precision, it's still very challenging.

F1 Betting – History

The F1 World Championship has roots going back to 1947, but it's generally accepted that the 1950 F1 season was the first to be fully codified through the FIA World Championship of Drivers. Prior to 1950, there was no defined points system or recognised champion, though the driver winning the most races was ranked top in the final standings.

Giuseppe Farina was the first to win the title, and building on the success enjoyed by the greats of that era, such as Juan Manuel Fangio, the tournament format couldn't fail to expand. The 1960s largely belonged to British drivers, with Mike Hawthorn, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees, and Graham Hill sharing a total of nine titles between 1958 and 1974.

During the 1970s, F1 cars enjoyed a period of rapid development. This especially gained pace after the near-death of Austrian driver Niki Lauda during the 1976 German Grand Prix, when he was trapped inside his burning car for nearly a minute after a horrific crash at the Nürburgring. The emphasis in development was on downforce, acting as a stabilising factor while also making it easier to negotiate corners at speed.

In turn, races became much more entertaining and unpredictable, and in 1978, FOCA chief executive Bernie Ecclestone negotiated a series of legal challenges posed by FIA for the right to negotiate television contracts. Using his business expertise, Ecclestone turned the sport into box office entertainment, thrusting a new generation of drivers such as Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna to unprecedented levels of wealth and stardom over the following two decades.

The new century put a greater emphasis on packaging, which would be aided by the more defined presentation of races as weekend-long events, again with television contracts in mind. More recent years have also brought a clearer vision as to how incoming talents are to be honed, with 2005 marking the inaugural GP2 season, which replaced the Formula 3000 series. It was repackaged to more closely resemble the competitiveness of F1, working in tandem with the growth of devoted racing schools and academies.

F1 – Past Winners

Below is a comprehensive list of winners between 2001 and 2020.

Top Five Repeat Winners

Drivers

Constructors

F1 – Key Stats

• Italian driver Giuseppe Farina won the very first F1 race of 1950, held at Silverstone.
• The oldest driver to finish a race is Philippe Étancelin of France, who claimed 8^th place at the 1952 French Grand Prix.
• The 2008 Singapore Grand Prix was the very first race to be held at night.
• By the end of 2020, Kimi Raikkonen had started the most races ever, with 329 by that point.
• Between 1950 and 2020, British driver John Watson was the only racer to win a Grand Prix after starting outside the top 20 on the grid, doing so at the 1983 US Grand Prix West.

The Latest F1 News

The latest F1 news can be found on NewsNow, which aggregates F1 news from a variety of reliable and trusted sources.

F1 – Team List

Below are the active F1 teams on the roster:

Alfa Romeo

This Swiss outfit last won a world title way back in 1951. They haven't been anywhere near such heights since, and took just eight points last season. Once again, they're set to make up the numbers, with the hope that they can benefit from the latest fashion of blending of youth and experience.

AlphaTauri Honda

This was known as ‘Toro Rosso’ until the end of 2020. Now a sister team to Red Bull rather than a junior one, it contains two drivers who will be striving to use AlphaTauri as a proving ground, with the aim of joining a giant in the future.

Alpine

Alpine raced as Renault up until 2020, a year in which they took just three podiums, although they missed out on a top-four berth in the constructor table back then by just 15 points.

Aston Martin

Competing under the ‘Racing Point’ brand between 2016 and 2020, Aston Martin have made some meaningful moves in order to consistently finish inside the top three of the constructor’s table.

Ferrari

A frequent rival to Mercedes’ might, Ferrari have been a feature in F1 since the very beginning. The team has forged the reputation of legends across multiple generations, from Alberto Ascari in the early 1950s, to Niki Lauda in the mid-1970s and Michael Schumacher in the early 2000s.

Haas

Hailing from the US, Team Haas is a relatively new addition to the field, debuting in 2016 and participating in exactly 100 races by 2020. Haas took just three points across the whole of 2020, and with the departure of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean, the team’s focus has shifted towards developing the next generation of talent.

McLaren

Once a giant, McLaren took seven constructor titles between 1984 and 1991, as they boasted talents such as Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. They were also the team behind Hamilton’s first world title in 2008. In stark contrast, the 2020 season brought just one podium, but every race bar the Russian Grand Prix saw at least one McLaren driver register championship points.

Mercedes

Even by their own standards, 2020 was a truly magnificent year for Mercedes, making them Formula 1 betting favourites to top the constructor’s table. Only the Grands Prix of Italy and Sakhir (out of 17 races in total) failed to yield a podium for the Silver Arrows. The 2020 campaign also yielded a win-rate of 76.47%, making it difficult to foresee anything other than dominance in the future.

Red Bull

Red Bull’s second-placed finish in the constructor’s standings of 2020 was a team high since their prior winning season of 2013, when Sebastian Vettel was their primary driver. Barring a gross underperformance, Red Bull are a safe bet to finish in the top half of the constructor’s table.

Williams

Much like fellow British constructor McLaren, Williams used to boast the finest talents and a superlative reputation, winning their seven prior world titles over a mere 17-year period (1980-1997). However, 2020 marked the second year in a row they ended up last. That second successive ‘wooden spoon’ came just five years after Williams recorded the second of two straight podium finishes in the constructor’s table.

^{Last updated on 23 January 2021}

F1 – Driver List

The drivers below are listed alphabetically:

Fernando Alonso

With two-time champion Alonso (the winner in 2005 and 2006) now an aged figure, the newer tracks may prove more problematic for the Spaniard. However, he knows the older ones extremely well, particularly his ‘home’ track of Catalunya. This will enable him to take the pressure off his teammate and score his team some valuable points.

Valtteri Bottas

Up until replacing Nico Rosberg at Mercedes in 2017, Bottas was little more than mid-field fodder, with just seven third-place finishes across the 58 races prior to his switch. Aided by machinery far superior to the Williams-Martini car of the mid-2010s, Bottas finally won a race on just his fourth attempt with the Silver Arrows, winning the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi. By the end of 2020, he had finished in the top three of the driver’s standings in three of the previous four seasons.

Pierre Gasly

Gasly shocked the world when he won September 2020’s staging of the Italian Grand Prix. Doing so on the Monza circuit, with its iconic straight that tilts the odds in favour of speed over other attributes, was (and still is) a testament to his ability. Repeat performances will be rare, but he's now enjoying the focus of pundits for the right reasons.

Antonio Giovinazzi

2020 marked only his second season at an age (27) where drivers are approaching their peak, and a return of only three top-ten finishes out of 17 races in that campaign makes him destined for little more than mid-field anonymity.

Lewis Hamilton

Always a Formula 1 betting favourite, Hamilton accounted for 84.62% of Mercedes’ wins in 2020, the season which brought his seventh world title. No circuit fazes him; he knows every turn, corner, and hairpin, and can negotiate them with ease. By the end of 2020, Hamilton held the outright records for the most wins, pole positions, and podium finishes of any previous driver.

Nicholas Latifi

Latifi appeared in all 17 races held in 2020, but failed to build on a second-place finish in the 2019 F2 season, scoring no points at all in his rookie F1 campaign.

Charles LeClerc

LeClerc is a Monegasque driver with rich potential, boasting the sort of balance between competitiveness and composure more commonly seen in drivers several years his senior. He finished at an impressive 13^th in his debut season with Sauber, but upon moving to a far superior Ferrari outfit, he transformed into a true racing prodigy, scoring 12 podiums in just 38 races with the team.

Nikita Mazepin

Debuting for Haas F1 at the tender age of 21, Russian native Mazepin finished fifth in his second F2 season, winning twice, and finishing with two podiums in his final five races of the season.

Lando Norris

Norris is just 21 years old, but has already shown some skill beyond his years. He began 2020 by finishing third in Austria, showing shades of countryman Hamilton while doing so. A frustrating midpoint aside, in which he retired once and scored no points twice, Norris consistently picked up points between race 4 (Britain) and the finale (Abu Dhabi).

Kimi Raikkonen

The world champion in 2007, Raikkonen is exceptionally experienced. Albeit with a far-superior Ferrari team, Raikkonen finished third in the overall standings as recently as 2018. His natural skill is firmly intact, and he has a few good races left in him.

Daniel Ricciardo

Driving for Red Bull between 2012 and the end of 2018, the Australian driver last won a race in May 2018, choosing the very prestigious Monaco Grand Prix to produce a vintage performance. He has yet to hit the same heights, but memorably scored two podiums in three weeks towards the end of 2020.

Esteban Ocon

Ocon is less prominent as a driver, but can produce the occasional surprise when in good form. The Sakhir Grand Prix of 2020 yielded a first podium, and showed what he can do via his own initiative.

Sergio Perez

The only Mexican driver in the field, Perez won the penultimate race of 2020, the Sakhir Grand Prix, which employed the outer circuit of the regular Bahrain Grand Prix. It was a result that showed his true potential in a better machine, and a podium finish in the driver’s championship is his overall aim.

George Russell

Russell is a natural talent, scoring a fastest lap as a substitute for Hamilton in a Mercedes car at the Sakhir Grand Prix in only his second professional season. He finished ninth on that occasion, scoring his first-ever tranche of points.

Carlos Sainz Jr

By the end of 2020, Sainz had only attained two podiums in 118 starts, with the latter of those podium finishes coming in the Italian Grand Prix of 2020. He finished the season with seven successive point-scoring races.

Mick Schumacher

Among the ‘next generation’ is the son of a racer many believe to be the greatest of all time, realistically rivalled only by Ayrton Senna and Niki Lauda. Just 21 years old, Mick Schumacher already bears a heavy burden as the son of Michael Schumacher, but early signs are promising. He won the 2020 F2 season by a 14-pont margin, despite winning just two races, thus showing his ability to self-manage.

Lance Stroll

Jacques Villeneuve’s triumph of 1997 remains the last occasion in which a Canadian driver won the title. Stroll will not be addressing that any time soon, though he finished third at Italy and Sakhir in 2020, and has years of development ahead of him.

Yuki Tsunoda

Flying the flag for Japan, the 20-year-old from Sagamihara moved up to F1 after finishing third in the 2020 F2 Championship. He ended the year with three podiums (including one win) in his final five races.

Max Verstappen

Debuting at just 17 back in 2015, Verstappen is known for his daring exploits on the track, and is a good each-way pick for the championship. He won his very first race after being promoted to Red Bull in 2016, taking the chequered flag in Spain.

Sebastian Vettel

Vettel won his first four titles in consecutive years, between 2010 and 2013, and, like his boyhood idol Michael Schumacher, he races with great precision and composure. Though he'd do well to ever return to the heights of the early 2010s, Vettel’s reputation alone makes him a significant figure in every race.

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F1 Betting FAQs

When is the F1 season?

The F1 season is scheduled to run between March and December. Exact dates can be found on the official Formula 1 website.

Which are the best betting sites for F1?

Based on current odds, and their reputation worldwide, the best betting sites for F1 are Betway, bet365, and Unibet.

Which F1 team has won the most titles?

Up to 2020, Ferrari led the way with 16 world titles, though the 2008 season marked their last championship triumph at the time. It was also the last occasion in which the winning constructor didn't contain a title-winning driver within its racing team.

Which F1 driver has won the most titles?

At the end of 2020, Sir Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher held the joint record, with seven titles apiece.

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CricketBettingAdvice Final Words

As seen on other pages, such as the best football betting sites in India, every tournament has its clear favourites. In Formula 1 betting, this is certainly the case, but with the sport in constant evolution, no period of supremacy lasts forever. Ultimately, every constructor out there has something to fight for, even if it's just to bring through the next generation of talents.

Undisputedly, the F1 World Championship is motorsport’s greatest and most high-octane spectacle on a global basis, even if other forms, such as Rally, NASCAR, and MotoGP tournaments, have greater popularity within certain regions. Above all, F1 racing offers the undying potential for entertainment, drama, crashes, and sudden twists, not to mention the birth of new legends, and moments that provoke intense debate and discussion, every year.

Cricket Betting Advice

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