Gavin Puszczalowskyi looks at the best bets for this weekends Brazilian Grand Prix, including the Sprint Race.
If you look at the outright odds for the winners of the Sprint Race, and the main race, you will notice Verstappen is a huge price to win both and that is due to the not-yet-confirmed but almost common knowledge fact that his car is going to have a brand new engine installed. Each car is allowed a certain number of engine changes across the season, and once you exceed that number, and then change an engine, you will penalised by having a 5 place grid penalty after qualifying.
Red Bull are changing Verstappen's engine for the Brazilian Grand Prix for 2 reasons. 1. They suffered in the Mexico Grand Prix with a lack of race pace so Verstappen had to get his elbows, and knees out, to stop Norris from overtaking him, and broke the rules doing so, and 2, because you can overtake at this iconic track, look at Hamilton in 2021, won from 10th on the grid in the main race after suffering a 5 place grid penalty for an engine change. Sound familiar?
Main Race
For the main race, Verstappen in 10/1 at Hills and why not? He'll have a new engine. He'll be super determined, I think he races better in adverse situations, and if he qualifies poles, and starts 5th, he won't be too far from the front. Yes to the Ferrari's and to the McLaren's winning but Verstappen, 10/1 to win? When does that happen?. Small stakes, a lot of fun, and let's see.
Sprint Race
For the Sprint Race on Saturday, I fancy either Ferrari to win. The Sprint Race is Verstappen territory, having won each of the last 6, but Sainz finished 2nd in the last Sprint Race at the US Grand Prix, and the Ferrari is, for me, right now, the best car on the grid. Sainz is 100/30 to win the Sprint Race at BetFred and Leclerc is 13/5 at Spreadex, both a play for me.
Points Finish
Let's play my favourite market in F1, one that have given us some nice winners recently, including Gasly at 5/1 last week. The "to finish in the points" market.
Hulkenberg is my top pick at 9/4 at Hills. The German in the Haas, which is delivering some great race performance at the moment, has finished in the points in each of his last 3 races, and Magnussen had a great race in Mexico last week finishing 7th. He is 5/2 at Paddy Power to finish in the points, just like he was last week, and I am backing it again.
Good luck with your bets in Formula 1, and please gamble responsibly.