The third race in three weeks for the teams and drivers, as they head to Sau Paulo for the third last race of the 2023 season. With Verstappen hot on the heels of his record setting 16th win of the season, can anyone stop the flying Dutchman from winning his second Brazilian Grand Prix?
We won our best bet at the Mexican Grand Prix with Hamilton coming home in second position, but once again some bad luck had our other bets going down. We move on.
2023 Formula One Betting Tips – Brazilian Grand Prix
Mexican Grand Prix Review
Verstappen once again flew out of the gates at the Mexican Grand Prix, leading every practice session heading into qualifying. He was then quickest in Q1, 2nd quickest in Q2, before the Ferrari pair somehow both found close to a second per lap in Q3 to lock out the front row of the grid. Daniel Ricciardo confirmed his pace around this circuit, qualifying 4th in just his second race back from a broken hand.
The Red Bull pair of Verstappen and Perez both had cracking starts, which caused all three to be battling for the lead heading into turn 1. Unfortunately for Perez, 3 into 1 didn’t work, as he and Leclerc collided, causing Perez to retire from the race, and Leclerc to suffer front wing damage. Naturally, it worked out perfectly for Verstappen, who took the lead and was never challenged.
The front of the field was stagnant throughout the race, with Lando Norris the mover through the field, after starting 17th on the grid. Lewis Hamilton also managed a solid outing, managing to get through the two Ferraris, as well as Daniel Ricciardo early on to earn his place next to Verstappen on the podium. Leclerc rounded out the top 3, with a solid drive after his turn 1 collision with Perez.
Two Aussies finished in the points, with Ricciardo 7th and Piastri 8th respectively. Great to see.
Brazilian Grand Prix Preview
It’s the final sprint race weekend of the season, meaning just one practice session this weekend for the drivers to get their vehicles ready for the race. Last year, Kevin Magnussen took a stunning Pole Position for the sprint race, in drying conditions, before dropping to 8th in the sprint race. It was obvious that the pace wasn’t really there for K-Mag, however it was great to see the Dane take his maiden Formula 1 Pole Position. In the race, Mercedes showed they had genuine speed at this circuit, in what was a crazy first few laps, with several front runners crashing. Russell won from Hamilton in a tremendous 1-2, in a result that has me believing the Mercedes pair have a genuine shot this weekend.
The market agrees with me here, but more so for Hamilton. Whilst Hamilton has been showing better form of late, Russell won both the sprint race and main race here last season, and I’ll be going a bit harder at the younger Merc driver here, and at $28 to win, I love this bet.
Alpine showed some genuine pace here last season, so we will have another coin flip on one of the Alpine drivers to get inside the top 10 at even money.
The Ferrari pair have been showing genuine pace over the past couple of races, and I like them to be up amongst the top 6 in this race. With this track seemingly not suited to the Red Bull car, the Ferrari pair should both have genuine chances at a podium here.
So once again, we fade Red Bull. I’ll have a sneaky bet on Leclerc to take Pole Position for the third straight race, and everything else will be on someone other than a Red Bull winning this race.
Other Bets
Double top 6 finish (Ferrari) - $2.32 @ Unibet (1u)
Charles Leclerc (Pole Position) - $9.20 @ Boombet (0.5u)
Double podium finish (Mercedes) - $5 @ Dabble (2u)
Esteban Ocon (Top 10 finish) - $2 @ NEDS (1u)
George Russell (Top 3 finish) - $3.30 @ TAB (1.5u)
George Russell (Race Winner)
$28 (1 Unit)