Formula 1 is the world’s premier racing series. It is here that the best pilots on the planet compete, and it is here that a huge share of all motorsport money turns. Naturally, there are many bets on this sport, and it is very difficult to find a bookmaker that would not accept a bet on a series of “royal races”. In this article, we will consider the main thing that is worth knowing before placing bets on Formula 1.
The Formula 1 season lasts from March to November and includes about 20 stages, the composition and number of which change literally every year. New tracks appear, old ones leave the calendar, but there are a number of Grand Prix that are classic and untouchable. It is very prestigious to win a race in Monaco, Belgium or Italy, and therefore the races here always turn out to be extraordinary.
Each stage (Grand Prix) consists of three free practice sessions, during which the pilots get used to the track; Saturday qualification, which allocates grid positions, and Sunday race. According to the results of the race, the first ten pilots receive points.
The number of teams in Formula 1 is also unstable. At the moment there are 10 of them, each with two cars, a total of 20 riders. Each team has its own chassis, which means that all cars are controlled differently. However, there are only four engine providers, and this aspect is also worth paying attention to when playing with bets. Three teams each are clients of Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes, another team buys power plants from Honda.
Historically, Mercedes is considered the most powerful and reliable engine, Ferrari is close to it, and the relatively young Honda, on the contrary, is the most unstable and short-lived. The French Renault minders from year to year are trying to get closer to the leaders, but so far in vain.
Types of autodrome
All routes are conventionally divided into three types: slow (for example, Singapore and Monaco), high-speed (Italy and Mexico) and medium-speed (France and Great Britain).
Naturally, the higher the average speed on the ring, the more important is the engine power, which means that you should pay special attention to race cars with a Mercedes engine. On slow racing tracks, the chassis comes to the fore – and here you can focus on the clients of Renault and Honda. On medium-speed tracks, the combination of engine and car aerodynamics is important.
Types of bets on Formula 1
Formula 1 bets can be divided into three broad groups: season bets, qualification bets and race bets. With the first, everything is clear: these are forecasts for the winner of the championship and for the owner of the Constructors’ Cup (team classification). It is necessary to dwell on the other two types in more detail.
Qualification Betting
For qualifications, bookmakers, as a rule, do not give a broad line and are limited to comparing pilots and the winner of the qualification. And for the most part this is a comparison of two representatives of the same team, and the coefficient for one of the riders is usually noticeably less than for his partner. This is due to the fact that with an identical technique in qualification, everything is decided by the pilot’s skill, and it is quite simple to predict who will be ahead of whom.
Racing bets
A much wider line is offered for the race. You can also compare two pilots. This is one of the easiest options. The winner is the driver who turns out to be higher in the final classification, and only if they both leave the race after colliding with each other, the bet is calculated as a refund.
Retirement bets are also extremely popular. More precisely, these are bets on whether this or that pilot will be included in the final classification.
Important: if a rider covered 90% of the distance, but never made it to the finish line, he still falls into the classification and is not considered to have descended.
You can bet not only on personalities, but also simply on the total of the finishing pilots.
It is also accepted and very common to bet on whether a safety car will enter the track. An important point here is that after the introduction of the virtual safety car (VSC), it began to travel much less frequently. This is especially true for non-urban autodromes with wide safety zones. On narrow routes, the appearance of a real safety car is almost guaranteed.
How to bet on “Formula 1”?
Formula 1 is a very difficult sport to bet on. A huge number of factors affect the race result. Among them are the weather, the physical and moral condition of the pilots and mechanics, tactics for the race, the degree of wear of the units, fines during and before the race, and some other unforeseen circumstances. The fate of a race is sometimes decided by a split second, and anything can influence them. That is why it is considered that it is unprofitable to bet on small odds in F1, which means that it is necessary to select such options so that the quote is at least about 2.00 and the probability of passing is high. It is not recommended for beginners to start betting money right away; it is better to practice on a virtual account first.
There are two race betting strategies. You can put before the qualification without knowing how the places on the starting grid will be distributed, you can put after the qualification. The first option is suitable for fans of predictions on the total of finishing drivers and other general bets that do not directly affect the order of the riders in the classification. The second option is a great chance to bet on a strong pilot who did not manage to qualify highly, or he was penalized with the loss of places on the starting grid. The coefficient for it will be higher, and the chances of success will not be much less.