To The Max! Verstappen Leads Early 2024 F1 Predictions

This is the perfect way to end our extraordinary season 👏 I’m extremely grateful for all of the hard work that’s gone into this year by each and everyone of you involved @redbullracing & @HondaRacingGLB 🙌 To win 19 races in a season is just incredible 👏 It’s a privilege to be… pic.twitter.com/vOkhVPyD0k

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) November 26, 2023

Bet the Bank on Verstappen in 2024?

Verstappen’s current F1 odds are lofty. But given how dominant he and Red Bull have been, is it really feasible for another constructor to come up with something that can match them? Just check how historic Verstappen’s 2023 season was. He won 19 of the 22 races including 16 of the final 17.

On top of that, Verstappen had six instances where he recorded the hat trick in a Grand Prix: he set the fastest lap, had pole position, and won the race. He recorded the Grand Slam (Grand Chelem) in two of these where he led every lap of the race.

Verstappen’s 290-point margin of victory is likely a record that won’t be beaten by anyone but him any time soon. It’s such a large margin that even if you halved his points, he’d still win the title.

His teammate, Sergio Perez, came in second. But at 28-1 on the sportsbook, the Mexican is not expected to be a threat to Verstappen’s title reign. While he looked like a contender and alternated winning with Verstappen in the first four races, he quickly fell off. He never won another race and had just five podium finishes in the final 17 races.

Red Bull has invested its resources in Verstappen. At best, all “Checo” can hope to achieve is to keep finishing second while winning a race or two.

Deze records verbrak Max Verstappen tijdens het F1-seizoen 2023#F1record #GoMax #Verstappen #RedBullF1 #MaxVerstappen #RedBull #F1 #AbuDhabiGP #F1seizoen #F1records #RedBullRacinghttps://t.co/oS5zNm058a

— F1journaal.be (@F1journaal) November 27, 2023

The Runner-Ups: Anyone Else Worth Betting?

For the rest of the field, few may be worth betting online to win the title, whether it’s a driver or a constructor. Norris and McLaren may have an outside shot of making Red Bull sweat. The Briton had six second-place finishes, all of which took place in the latter half of the calendar. They’re not bad F1 picks if they can keep up their pace. However, it should be noted that they were distant seconds.

Red Bull was even more dominant in the constructor standings. The team finished with 860 points, which is more than the combined points of the second and third-placed teams: Mercedes (409) and Ferrari (406).

McLaren could have a good chance of overtaking Mercedes and Ferrari for second place. It may not be a bad bet if we can exclude Red Bull from the outright betting market.

Ferrari finished strong in 2023. Mired by bad luck and inconsistencies, the Italian team scored the second-most points in the final five races.

As for Mercedes, the former dynasty failed to win a race for the first time since 2011. It stayed second in the standings by way of consistency. Hamilton and George Russell finished in the top six in 10 of the 22 races. However, they did fade down the stretch as McLaren and Ferrari outdid them.

Changes to 2024: What to Note

The 2024 F1 season is scheduled to be the biggest one in terms of races: there are 24 races set to take place with the returns of the Chinese Grand Prix and the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The former was last raced in 2019, which was won by Hamilton. The latter was canceled last year due to flooding.

Additionally, the F1 Commission announced changes to the Sprint event structures. While details are yet to be announced, we can expect these mini-races to be a fixture for F1 moving forward.

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