2023 Formula 1 Championship Odds

Racing fans are less than a month away from hearing beloved announcer David Croft exclaim, “It’s lights out, and away we go!” for the first time this year. March 5 in Bahrain will mark the start of a jam-packed, 23-race schedule that spans the globe until its familiar conclusion in Abu Dhabi on November 26.

Max Verstappen will battle Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Charles Leclerc, and the rest of the grid in his bid for a third consecutive championship. Verstappen set a new F1 record in 2022 with 15 race wins during a single campaign and is rapidly ascending all-time leaderboards in the sport.

Verstappen’s 35 race wins since his 2015 debut are the 6th-most in F1 history, and he will pass Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna with seven or more wins during the 2023 season to move into the top five. Only Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, and Alain Prost will have more career victories than Verstappen if that is the case.

Recapping the 2022 Season

Seven-time Formula 1 Drivers’ Champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes entered the 2022 season as a slight favorite over Red Bull’s Verstappen. Hamilton was being offered at +140, while Verstappen was +300 before the first race of the season in Bahrain.

On the heels of Verstappen’s controversial 2021 championship, the Dutchman left no doubt last year. He clinched his second title at the Japanese Grand Prix with four races to go in the season and finished 148 points ahead of runner-up Charles Leclerc of Ferrari.

Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez finished third in the Drivers’ Championship, and as a team, the duo clinched Red Bull’s first Constructor’s Championship since 2013.

Leclerc’s bid to challenge Verstappen last season started strong, with the Ferrari driver winning two of the first three races and leading the championship standings through mid-May. Once Verstappen wrestled the lead away at the Spanish Grand Prix, he did not look back.

Ferrari’s inconsistent power unit and questionable strategic decisions throughout the final 16 races cost them any chance of winning an individual or team championship despite having what many thought was the strongest car of 2022. As a result, Fred Vasseur now sits in the team principal chair as Ferrari looks to take a big step forward following the departure of Mattia Binotto.

Odds to Win 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix

Since Verstappen has the 2023 championship already racked up, let's take a look at the odds to win the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix instead. Check out where your favorite driver is!

2023 Formula 1 Betting Favorites

Verstappen leads the pack into the 2023 season as the odds-on favorite to defend his World Drivers’ Championship. His current odds are -125, according to Caesars. He’s followed by the Mercedes duo of Hamilton (+260) and Russell (+650), with Ferrari’s Leclerc just behind them at +700.

There’s a significant drop-off after the top four, which we’ll cover during the long shots portion. Red Bull’s driver lineup of Verstappen and Perez are also favorites to repeat as the team champions with odds of -110 currently.

Both teams with top challengers to Verstappen and Red Bull need to make measurable improvements to close that gap. Leclerc and teammates Carlos Sainz combined for nine DNFs in 2022 which trailed only Alfa Romeo’s 10 for the most in F1.

At their peak, Ferrari was clearly better than Red Bull at multiple venues on the calendar. At their worst, both Prancing Horses were retired in Baku at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. They’ll need to correct that to have a chance at reclaiming glory in 2023.

Mercedes won just one race as a team last season, George Russell’s maiden victory in Brazil, which marked their fewest in a decade. Lewis Hamilton did not win a race last year for the first time in a storied Formula 1 career that reaches back to 2007.

His nine podium finishes were his fewest since 2013, and his sixth-place finish in the Drivers’ Championship is a new career low. Mercedes and their drivers will aim to return to the form that led them to eight consecutive Constructor’s Championships from 2014-21.

Long Shots for 2023 Formula 1 Title

Just as the Drive to Survive series on Netflix has done for the sport, we’ll give some attention to those drivers and teams that don’t get as much spotlight week to week. Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez are the only two drivers outside the top four with odds shorter than 100-1.

There’s another group that rounds out the top 10 in preseason championship odds between 100-1 and 300-1 that features McLaren’s Lando Norris, two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso, and the Alpine driver lineup of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.

Beyond the top half, nine of the 20 drivers will begin the season at 500-1 odds, including rookies Nyck de Vries of Alpha Tauri and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Veteran Nico Hulkenberg joins this group of long shots in his return to Formula 1 as the teammate of Kevin Magnussen at Haas. Magnussen is among this tier of drivers as well.

Williams’ rookie driver, American Logan Sargeant, will make his F1 debut with the longest odds of them all. He is the first driver from the United States to drive full-time in the sport since Scott Speed in 2007. Speed was infamously replaced by future four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel after 10 races that year due to an off-track incident with his team principal at Toro Rosso.

2023 F1 Best Bets

We've analyzed every option on the Formula One board and came up with 3 investments to add to our season-long portfolio. We're hoping the plus odds on a couple of these will put us into a strong position later in the year. Good luck!

2023 World Drivers’ Champion: Charles Leclerc (+700)

As we alluded to earlier, Leclerc was quick in 2022 but plagued by mistakes and technical trouble with his car throughout the season. The hard lessons are the ones we learn the most from, and Leclerc was the living embodiment of that sentiment in a driver’s suit.

The Monegasque put his #16 Ferrari on the pole nine times last season but only managed three victories. He displayed a deft ability to both lead races and chase down drivers when his car was producing its maximum pace. We expect Vasseur to address the weaknesses within the team in both the strategy and engineering departments.

Last year’s runner-up to having longer odds than both Mercedes drivers shows the belief that oddsmakers have in Toto Wolff and the Silver Arrows to right their wrongs in 2023. At this number, we believe Leclerc is undervalued and will add him to our season-long plays.

World Drivers’ Champion Without Red Bull, Mercedes & Ferrari: Lando Norris (-165)

Norris has been the highest championship finisher among the cars that don’t include the Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari drivers for two straight seasons. He finished 6th in 2021, besting even Leclerc, and beat teammate Daniel Ricciardo by 45 points for this distinction.

Norris then finished 7th in 2022, scoring points every weekend but two on the calendar, and was 30 points clear of 8th-place Ocon by the time the checkered flag was waved in Abu Dhabi.

With three rookies on the grid, including Norris’ teammate Piastri, a leadership change at Alfa Romeo, and questions about the relationship between Ocon and Gasly at Alpine, we see Norris as the surest bet among this next tier of teams.

Charles Leclerc OVER 6.5 Fastest Qualifier (+170)

Ferrari accounted for 12 of the 22 pole positions during the 2022 season, and Leclerc led the way with nine. The team will have spent ample time tuning their car’s performance to show up more consistently on Sundays this season.

We are not discouraged by that with respect to Leclerc’s ability to beat the other 19 drivers over a single lap in qualifying.

With an additional race on the calendar, we project Leclerc to achieve at least seven pole positions this season. Whether he translates those to victories is a different story altogether.

April 17th Update

Well, that was fast. All jokes aside, Max Verstappen has looked untouchable this season. The defending champion’s most formidable competition this season has been with his car, which caused him to start 15th in the second race after an issue in qualifying. Verstappen still finished P2 behind teammate Sergio Perez and took the fastest lap away from him as the checkered flag waved.

Currently, Verstappen leads the World Driver’s Championship by 15 points over Perez and has a 24-point lead over Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who’s racked up three consecutive P3 finishes. Verstappen’s lead at the betting window has stretched to -750 with 20 races to go, while Perez is the runner-up at +1100.

Alonso has also looked quick this season, and his odds have shrunk to +2100 from +2400 before the season began in Bahrain.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton is the only driver within earshot of the top three at +2800. Teammate George Russell trails farther behind after a mechanical issue forced him to retire from the race in Australia.

As a team, the Red Bulls are nearly 60 points clear of Aston Martin for the lead in the Constructor’s title race. They took top points from both race weekends in Bahrain and Jeddah and still gained nine points on Aston Martin in Melbourne despite a fifth-place result from Perez.

It looks unlikely that any driver or team will be able to challenge Verstappen and Red Bull this season. Our Charles Leclerc future can probably be ripped up after just three races.

His championship odds have fallen to +4900, and the Ferrari driver sits in 10th position after accumulating just six points. The next race on the calendar is in Azerbaijan on April 30.

July 18th Update

The 2023 season has gone about as well as possible for the championship leader, Max Verstappen. Red Bull’s prodigy turned champion has won six straight races and seven of the last eight on his way to a 99-point lead in the Driver’s Championship.

It’s become such a foregone conclusion that Verstappen will add to his trophy case this year that sportsbooks like DraftKings and FanDuel are only offering championship futures that exclude him.

Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, is -200 to finish as the runner-up in the Driver’s Championship. Checo had been pushing Verstappen atop the standings through the season's first four races before the defending champion pressed on the gas and left Perez and the field in his rearview mirrors.

Perez is followed by Lewis Hamilton (+300) and Fernando Alonso (+550) in the standings and on the betting board. Alonso has seven podiums this season which trails only Verstappen, and Hamilton has scored the most points among this trio over the last five races (65). Perez leads Alonso by 19 points and Hamilton by 35 in the season-long standings.

Ferrari’s hopes of improving on a promising 2022 season have been thoroughly extinguished, and the team sits fourth in the Constructor’s standings behind Red Bull, Mercedes, and Aston Martin. Carlos Sainz (+6500) is fifth in the driver’s standings, while Charles Leclerc (+5000) sits seventh after finishing second a year ago.

Finally, McLaren's duo of Lando Norris (+20000) and Oscar Piastri (+100000) finished second and fourth at Silverstone and earned 42 points in the last two races. Norris still has an outside chance of competing for podiums weekly if they can maintain the pace advantage they’ve gained from midseason upgrades.

Update: November 10, 2023

It’s time to be fully accountable for our best bets that were shared before the start of the 2023 F1 season. With two races remaining on the calendar, Max Verstappen is taking one victory lap after another on his way to a historic season.

He’s lost three times in 20 races and looked untouchable week-to-week. His 591 points would be enough to win the Constructors title on his own and are more than the combined total of teammate Sergio Perez and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, the two drivers closest to him in the standings.

Our faith in Charles Leclerc has gone unrewarded. The Ferrari driver is 7th in the Drivers championship with four poles and four podiums to his name in 2023. Our plays relied on his qualifying ability and the chance that Ferrari had built a strong enough car to compete with Red Bull on Sundays. Neither occurred this season.

The one bet we’ve enjoyed following during the second half of the season is Lando Norris to finish as the top driver outside of Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari. He trailed Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso by 102 points after eight race weekends but has been on seven of 12 podiums since Austria and now leads Alonso by 13 points with two races to go. He has a real shot of catching Hamilton for P3 with a couple more podiums to end the year.

2024 futures are already available on DraftKings. Verstappen is a -360 favorite to win another Drivers championship, followed by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Norris at +900, and Hamilton (+1200). Red Bull as a team is favored to take the Constructors title with current odds of -250, followed by McLaren (+500), Mercedes (+600), and Ferrari (+700).

Past Formula 1 Champions

Are you new to betting on Formula 1? If so, the following list will help you brush up on this racing league's history. Here are the drivers who've won the F1 Championship from 2002 to 2022.

Formula 1 Championship FAQ

Want to know more about Formula 1 and its iconic history? Find some of the commonly asked questions and answers about this prestigious racing league as well as information about some of its best-ever drivers.

Who has won the most Formula One titles?

Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher are tied for the most Formula One titles. Both drivers have won 7 F1 titles each.

When was the Formula One racing league formed?

Formula One racing league was formed in 1950.

What's the most prestigious Formula One race of the year?

The most prestigious Formula One race of the year is generally considered to be the Monaco Grand Prix.

Who is considered the greatest Formula One driver of all time?

It is a matter of personal opinion, and there is no one answer to this question as it is subjective. However, many consider Michael Schumacher to be the greatest Formula One driver of all time due to his numerous records and 7 world championships.

What are the top racing teams in F1 history?

The top racing teams in Formula One history are widely considered to be Scuderia Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull Racing, and Lotus. These teams have combined to win numerous constructors' championships and have had some of the greatest drivers in the sport compete for them.

How fast can F1 cars go?

Formula One cars can reach speeds of up to 220 mph (354 km/h). The speed of an F1 car is determined by a combination of factors, including the car's aerodynamics, power unit, and tires.