The 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship will be the 73rd renewal of the much-loved and globally famous racing competition. This promises to be one of the most competitive campaigns in living memory, with followers easily able to make a strong case for any one of at least four names winning the Drivers Championship, including Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
The year 2022 could be the year we see a changing of the guard in F1, something fans of motorsport have been expecting for a while now. In Britain’s Hamilton, they have a driver who has dominated the sport in recent years, breaking records across the board. His reign as champion of the circuit has been a long and interesting one, but critics say he’s now too old to continue and looks there to be passed. Is Lewis past his best, or does he have another season in him? If his best days are disappearing in the rearview mirror, Is Verstappen the man to take over control of the wheel, ushering in a new generation of F1 racing?
We’ll have to wait for our answers to that one as the season is set to begin with the Bahrain Grand Prix with practice getting on Friday 18th March with the race itself on Sunday. Then attentions move to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which gets going a week later in a hectic start to the season. The leading gambling apps are already offering odds on the winner of those races and the season outright. You can place your Formula 1 bets now using your desktop computer or smartphone. But where does the smart money lie?
In this article, we reveal what the bookies make of it all. Which driver they are backing to win the title and the constructor they expect to finish head and shoulders above the chasing pack come the chequered flag at the end of the year. To put it simply, this article has all the information you need to know before placing a bet on the F1.
Constructors championship
The oddsmakers expect a frantic season but have wasted no time in nailing their colors to the mast. They have evaluated the schedule, practice times of the cars and drivers, the tactics expected, rule changes, and the technology used by every team. Only then did they feel in a strong enough position to publish the betting, and the leading betting apps make Mercedes the team to beat this year. They are favorites ahead of Red Bull, who are deemed to be the main danger, with Ferrari completing the podium position in third place. Those cars are miles ahead of McLaren, who have seen better days and are down in fourth, according to the bookies.
The pre-season betting odds don’t decide where a team will finish and which teams can contest the championship. The traders employed by sportsbooks don’t always get it right and, in fact, have been proven to be very wrong on more than one occasion in the past. As any experienced follower of F1 already knows, this sport rarely follows the script. The season has more twists and turns in it than any of the circuits used. But it is always useful to know where the bookmakers stand as they are correct far more often than they are wrong.
It comes as no major surprise to see Mercedes dominate the betting as they look to have the best and fastest car with the latest technology, certainly on paper. Will that translate to success in the Grand Prix? We don’t yet know, and there’s only one way to find out. Fans will have a much clearer picture of what to expect after the results from Bahrain IC, Sakhir are posted, and we expect to see Mercedes dominate. They hope to make it a one-two on the podium on race day. That would serve as an ideal start to the season but also a statement of intent for the year ahead.
Max, the man to beat
Which driver carries the support of the betting? All leading sports betting apps are in agreement over this one. They pick Verstappen as their favorite, and he sits just ahead of Hamilton with Charles Leclerc in third and George Russell a distant fourth.