The teams and drivers are back to test themselves at the unique venue at Zandvoort. After the 4-week summer break, everyone will be itching to get back behind the wheel to see where they stack up against their rivals. With 10 races to go, both Championships are all but decided, however it should be a fascinating race between several teams for best of the rest, starting this weekend in the Netherlands.
We had another breakeven race last time out in Belgium, going 2-3 (+0.07u). Let’s look to eek out a little more profit this weekend.
2023 Formula 1 Betting Tips
Belgian Grand Prix Review
Pardon me for repeating myself, but yet again we were given a Max Verstappen masterclass at the Belgian Grand Prix. The Dutchman took Pole by over 0.8s, before again taking Pole in the Sprint Shootout. He then ran out the winner in the Sprint. Despite taking a 5-place grid penalty, Verstappen quickly made his way up into 2nd place in the race behind Perez, passing Leclerc on lap 9. Verstappen eventually took the lead from Perez on lap 17, where he ran away with the race, eventually winning by 22 seconds.
The race wasn’t overly exciting, with a splash of rain not enough to cause enough indecision amongst the drivers to spice things up. Charles Leclerc completed the podium behind the Red Bull’s, having his best race since the Austrian Grand Prix. Also, a shoutout to Yuki Tsunoda finishing 10th, who had his best race of the season. Tsunoda showed pace throughout, and thoroughly beat his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo.
Dutch Grand Prix Preview
We’ve had two races at the Zandvoort circuit since it’s return to the calendar in 2021, with Max Verstappen claiming both victories. Given the immense speed of the Red Bull this season, it’s difficult to imagine any other result in this race. However, as usual, there’s absolutely no value in the Verstappen to win market.
The next favourite to win, Sergio Perez, has struggled at this venue in the two seasons we’ve been here. Despite this, it’s conceivable that he will be the second fastest driver here this weekend, given the dominance of the Red Bull. However, I like fading Perez here, and will look for some other drivers to feature on the podium ahead of the Mexican.
Ferrari and Mercedes should be nipping at the heels of Perez, with Ferrari, especially Charles Leclerc, appearing to have decent pace here the past two seasons. Leclerc has qualified 5th (21’) and 2nd (22’) here, whilst finishing 5th (21’) and 3rd (22’). Mercedes, meanwhile, have been even better, with Hamilton (21’) and Russell (22’) finishing 2nd the past two seasons.
The dark horse is the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who have been tremendous the past few races. Can they keep up their momentum, or will they fall behind Ferrari and Mercedes here at Zandvoort?
Further back, I’ll take a stab at Alpine. They took a step in the right direction at Spa, after a series of poor results in the previous few races. Alonso and Ocon finished 6th and 9th respectively in both the 2021 and 2022 iterations of the Dutch Grand Prix, and I’ll bank on Ocon once again being in and around the points on Sunday.
One final look, this time in qualifying. I’m going to take a stab that this will be a tight qualifying session, with the margins of victory the past two seasons being very slim 0.038s (21’), and 0.021s (22’). This track is short, with margins in qualifying being historically tight.
Other Bets
Both Mercedes drivers (top 6) – $1.83 @ Bet365 (1u)
Qualifying margin of victory (under 0.1s) – $3.10 @ Bet365 (0.5u)
Esteban Ocon (Top 10) - $2.37 @ Bet365 (1u)
Lewis Hamilton (Top 3 finish)
$2.20 (2.5 Units)
