F1: Who are the betting favorites for the 2023 Championship?
It feels like two minutes since Max Verstappen was picking up his record-breaking 15th victory of the season back at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November. But the turn of the year means that the new Formula One season is just two months away, and excitement is already reaching a fever pitch. The new campaign will get started in Bahrain on March 5th and, if oddschecker – which compares F1 odds and free offers – is to be believed, fans could be in for a three-team title fight this coming year.
That news should be welcomed by motor racing fans the world over. Formula One has only given us one true title fight in the last half-decade. That, of course, came back in 2021 when Max Verstappen pipped Lewis Hamilton to his maiden World Championship amidst some more than controversial circumstances. Last year, Super Max dominated the competition to successfully retain his crown and, in the years prior to 2021, seven-time champ Hamilton was unstoppable.
But in 2023, we could finally be set for a proper title fight, the likes we haven’t seen in a decade, since the days when Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari went head-to-head on numerous occasions. Next year, two of those protagonists remain, with Mercedes replacing McLaren as the third contender.
Here are the three betting favorites to lift the 2023 Formula One World Championship.
Max Verstappen – 4/5
Following on from his record-breaking campaign last year, Max Verstappen is most definitely the man to beat. The bookies make him the odds-on favorite to make it three World Championships on the bounce next term, and it’s clear to see why. The Flying Dutchman battered his opponents into submission in 2022, and both Mercedes and Ferrari will need to be at their very best to stop the 25-year-old streaking away in the championship standings once again.
The opposition can draw some hope from the fact that many of Verstappen’s wins last season were handed to him on a silver platter by Ferrari. With Mattia Binotto now out of the picture at Maranello, the Scuderia’s decision-making could well improve and, in doing so, narrow the gap to Super Max.
Lewis Hamilton – 3/1
2022 marked the first season in Lewis Hamilton’s 15-year career that he finished an entire campaign without picking up a victory. There were chances aplenty, with the Grand Prix in Great Britain, the Netherlands and the United States immediately springing to mind. But some uncharacteristically poor decision-making from the Mercedes pit wall – as well as some untimely safety car periods – cost the seven-time world champion victory on each occasion.
In 2023, you can bet that Hamilton will be a man possessed and, as long as the machinery is up to scratch, he will do his utmost to upset the Red Bull applecart. Toward the end of the season, the German outfit managed to narrow the gap to their Austrian counterparts, and they will be hoping that gap narrows further in preseason testing.
Charles Leclerc – 7/1
Last season, Charles Leclerc looked to be a genuine title challenger. He picked up victories in two of the first three races, and at one point held a 50-point championship lead over Max Verstappen. Then, one catastrophe after another saw him lose ground to his Dutch rival, with his title hopes all but extinguished when he crashed out from the lead during the French Grand Prix.
The young Monegasque superstar had issues when leading on no less than six occasions last season and, had he managed to cling onto those victories, who knows how the 2022 world championship would have ended.
This year, there’s a new-look in Maranello. Long-term team principal Mattia Binotto has been ousted and, hopefully, that will bring with it some better decision-making from the Scuderia pit wall. If that happens, odds on Leclerc picking up his maiden world championship may well shorten as the new season approaches.