It has been a little while since we caught up with the action in the Formula 1 season, which is a bit of a shame because as things stand, we are set for one of the most exciting climaxes to the season in years between two drivers, for two opposing teams, battling it out for dominance.
In one corner it is the seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, racing for Mercedes and he currently trails the current leader, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by 12 points.
It is equally interesting in the Constructors championship, where Mercedes hold a lead of 23 points over Red Bull Racing, but with 25 points now up for grabs for the winner of a Grand Prix, seven more than the 18 a driver receives from finishing second in a race, plus constructors able to land 43 points in a single weekend, all could change in just one race.
Of course, interest in the battle between the two teams and both drivers has been huge in a sport which has been something of a procession for Hamilton and Mercedes over the last few years. Bet365 Sport has offered some fantastic betting on all the races this season so far, as well as some fantastic Live Betting action when the qualifying and race are in progress.
Remember too, you don’t need to transfer money from, say your bet365 Games account into your bet365 Sport one any longer due to the new single account system now adopted across the bet365 family of sites.
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If you are following the action from the United States and want somewhere to enjoy good quality F1 racing betting for the remainder of the season, then BetRivers Sportsbook is a very good choice too.
So let’s quickly review how this back-and-forth season has gone, before we take a look ahead to this weekend’s key race in Mexico.
The F1 Season So Far
After years of dominance by one team and one driver in particular, this season’s epic battle between Lewis Hamilton, for a record-breaking eighth world title, and Max Verstappen for his first in what looks like being a stellar career, has been enthralling.
Over the course of the season, both drivers have at one point or another held top spot in the rankings and there has always been just a few points between them.
Presently, Verstappen holds a 12 point lead over Hamilton, with 287.5 points compared to 275.5.
After the cancellation of the Australian Grand Prix, the season began in Bahrain and saw an exciting race which was a prelude for the season to come with Hamilton beating Verstappen into second place by less than three-quarters of a second.
However, a few weeks later, the roles were reversed as Verstappen took top spot in the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix ahead of Hamilton.
The British driver then opened up a gap at the top of the table with wins in Portugal and Spain, Verstappen finishing second both times.
However, at Monaco, Verstappen won the race and Hamilton finished outside the top three and after Sebastian Perez’s win in Azerbaijan, Verstappen seemed to take a grip on the Drivers race winning the next three races in France, Styria an Austria.
At the British Grand Prix a controversial win for Hamilton after a clash with Verstappen forced the Dutch driver out of the race, brought the World Champion back into contention and he went into the lead in the Championship with a second place in Hungary behind Esteban Ocon, with Verstappen not on the podium.
Wins at the rain-shortened Belgium Grand Prix and on home soil in the Netherlands, brought Verstappen back into question and after both drivers missed out on the podium in Italy, Hamilton won in Russia, but since then he didn’t podium in Turkey, where Verstappen finished in second, and at the last Grand Prix, Verstappen extended his narrow lead at the top of the Driver’s Championship by beating Hamilton into second at the US Grand Prix.
F1 Driver’s Championship Points
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 287.5
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 275.5
- Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) – 185
- Sergio Perez (Red Bulls) – 150
- Lando Norris (McLaren) – 149
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 128
- Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) – 122.5
- Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) – 105
Consistency But Key DNFs Hurt Verstappen
Verstappen has been the more consistent of the two drivers winning eight races this season, compared to just five for Hamilton. The Dutchman has also claimed pole nine times this year, compared to three for Hamilton.
In fact the Dutchman has led races for over half the laps (504 out of 990) in all races this season and the only reason he is not further in front of his rival is that he has more costly races where he has not finished, such as the British Grand Prix. These have allowed Hamilton to keep pace with his rival despite not performing as well as him on track in most races.
Verstappen still has more podium finishes (13) and points finishes (16) than Hamilton this season, who has 12 and 15 respectively.
This weekend’s race starts with the usual practice sessions before qualifying, which starts at 8pm on Saturday night UK time, before the race takes place from 5.30pm on Sunday.
After the Mexican Grand Prix this weekend, there are just four more races to go in the season. Brazil follows the week after before the teams head to the Middle East for the new Qatar Grand Prix, which will be followed by the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in early December.
Finally, the season finishes with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on the 12th December at which the new Champion may well be crowned.
Who Will Win The Mexican Grand Prix?
Bet365 currently have Max Verstappen as the 4/6 favourite to land his 9th win of the season in Mexico and if he did, he would open up a considerable lead over Hamilton with four races of the season remaining.
Hamilton is 2/1 to land the win that would close the gap on his rival or could even see him take over the lead in the Driver’s Championship depending on where Verstappen finishes in relation to him.
Outside of those two drivers, it seems that Sergio Perez (12/1) and Valtteri Bottas (16/1) are viewed as the only two driver’s likely to have a chance at upsetting the leading duo and it is hard to argue with that given how dominant Mercedes and Red Bull have been over the course of this season.
It should be another intriguing race but it is hard to see past Verstappen landing the win here given his dominance over the latter stages of the season so far. I’d pack Verstappen to win, Hamilton to finish second and Lando Norris to push on to finish third.
