2020 F1 Prediction: Max Verstappen Seeks Lead as DNF Denies Leclerc in Spain
Formula 1 Betting
This season there will be 6 races, however, only two pilots, apparently, really claim the championship.
In 2021, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won his first overall Formula 1 title, but his victory was considered highly controversial, while the legendary Lewis Hamilton failed to become world champion for the eighth time in his career.
After the return of the seven-time champion to the Mercedes team and his decision to participate in Formula 1, it was believed that we would witness a close fight for the championship between Verstallen and Hamilton.
Up to this point in the current season, Max has shown a high class, and Lewis cannot yet show what he is capable of.
2022 hasn’t gone the way the Mercedes team would have liked due to their failure to adjust to the changed rules. On the contrary, the Ferrari and Red Bull teams were able to easily adapt to the changes.
Max Verstappen is in first place in the drivers’ competition after an early exit from the fight by Leclerc
And just recently, Max won his fourth race of the year at the Spanish Grand Prix. This victory allowed him to take the lead in the drivers’ competition, with Leclerc behind him and even further behind – Perez.
Leclerc won the Bahrain Grand Prix at the start of the season, and two races later he finished in the lead in Australia, and by this weekend he already has an 18-point lead over his opponents.
Leclerc started the race in Barcelona on pole position and was close to winning his third race of the year. However, towards the end of the race, a breakdown occurred, the car lost momentum and the rider’s hopes of winning the race were in vain.
After Leclerc retired, Verstappen overtook Pérez with Russell in third position.
Lewis Hamilton took 5th place, and this can be considered a good achievement, given that he was already nineteenth at the beginning of the race. According to the results of the races, he lost positions in the rankings and at the moment he is 28 points behind Russell, who is fourth.
At the moment, the standings among the pilots (after 6 races) looks like this:
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 110 points
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 104
- Sergio Perez (Red Bull) – 85
- George Russell (Mercedes) – 74
- Carlos Sainz Jr. (Ferrari) – 65
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 46
- Lando Norris (McLaren) – 39
- Valteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) – 38
- Esteban Ocon (Alpine) – 30
- Kevin Magnussen (Haas) – 15
With Verstappen now in first place, his prospects for winning the overall standings at the end of the season look brighter. Next will be the table of odds for winning in Formula 1 from Betwinner.
The odds table looks like this (after 6 races):
- Max Verstappen -160
- Charles Leclerc +145
- George Russell +1800
- Lewis Hamilton +2600
- Carlos Sainz Jr. +3400
- Sergio Perez +7000
Considering that Perez is in third position and only 25 points behind the leader, one would be surprised that he is given such a great chance of success.
Even less than a third of the scheduled races have passed in the season, so the standings may still undergo significant changes. Now the probability of this is low, but it is very likely that Hamilton or Russell will improve their performance and will strive to win the overall standings.
The problems of these pilots are completely solvable, you just need to improve your current form. The season is long, so it’s too early to write off Mercedes pilots.
But at the moment, everything is moving towards the fact that it is Verstappen and Leclerc, who have a long history of personal confrontations behind them, who have the best chances of winning the 2022 overall standings.
Red Bull beat Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship ahead of Monaco
In the Constructors’ Championship in 2022, apparently, the struggle for leadership will unfold between the teams of Red Bull and Ferrari, but whether it will be as stubborn as the opposition of the pilots, no one knows.
After six out of twenty-two races, Red Bull are currently in first place with 195 points, followed by Ferrari with 169 and Mercedes with 120 points in bronze third. Bookmakers estimate the odds the same way: Red Bull -130, Ferrari – +115, and Mercedes – +1000.
Changes in the positions of the leaders may occur at Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix, where Leclerc claims victory and a return to the first position in the overall standings of drivers.
In 2021, Leclerc came to the finish line on pole position, but after that he could not even start due to a breakdown, and Verstappen won and scored the necessary points, which brought him closer to victory.
