Formula 1 Lenovo United States Grand Prix 2023 Odds
We’re a little over two months away from the 2023 Formula 1 Lenovo United States Grand Prix, set for the weekend of October 20-22 at the Circuit of the Americas just outside Austin, Texas.
That’s a significant chunk of time, still, with major races in five countries across two continents left before the Western Hemisphere circuit begins in earnest, but we already have an idea of who the favorites will be in the upcoming race.
Early Favorites in Formula 1 US GP
Over the past few years, the favorites in Formula 1 often begin and end with a single name: Max Verstappen, the 25-year-old (he’ll turn 26 in late September, just ahead of the US Grand Prix) phenomenon who is running rampant through the sport.
Verstappen has back-to-back World Drivers’ Championships under his belt and he’s looking to stretch his legend to a three-peat this season, leading the pack with 314 points, 10 wins (including the last eight in a row), and another two podium finishes, meaning he’s within a hair of cleaning house across the 12-race season to date. The next closest driver, Sergio Pérez of Mexico, sits a distant second with 189 points and two wins.
Both Verstappen and Pérez race for Red Bull, so the relative newcomer (at least in the face of entrenched brands like Ferrari and Mercedes) has another constructors championship all but locked up, even with nearly four months left in the season.
Their 503 points as a brand are more than double the 247 from Mercedes, a distant second.
In fact, the discrepancy is so great that many betting platforms are offering odds on the drivers and constructor’s championships without Verstappen and Red Bull, respectively, knowing that the dynamic duo are runaway favorites to win it all.
Verstappen, Pérez, and Red Bull ended an eight-year run of constructors’ championships for rival brand Mercedes-Benz last season, and the warring builders have cleaned house in the award in every season dating back to 2010.
Odds vary from sportsbook to sportsbook (and from race to race, looking at how drivers perform historically on the various courses), but Verstappen typically sits around -400 to win in each race: Pérez comes in a distant second (around +800), with other racers like Lewis Hamilton falling to +1400 or more.
Red Bull… and the Rest
As runners-up last season, Mercedes-Benz is another one of the favorites for the title at the US Grand Prix, with star driver Lewis Hamilton drawing plenty of attention with his exceptional skills and experience. US betting sites are providing a perfect platform for fans to place wagers on the race, with competitive odds and various betting options available.
Hamilton (148 points, good for fourth) sits close enough behind Pérez that he could make things interesting down the stretch, and he’s neck and neck with fellow veteran World Champion Fernando Alonso, who sits in third place with 149 points.
Even with the top of the podium largely settled, the rest of the field shaking out will create plenty of drama over the last four months of the season.
Discord Brewing?
When you assemble a team of some of the top performers in the world in a given category, it can be a challenge to keep everyone working harmoniously. Conflicting egos are a bitter enemy of teamwork, and we’ve seen that fact rear its ugly head repeatedly during Verstappen’s run of dominance this season.
Verstappen landed himself in hot water with Red Bull’s management during the Austrian Grand Prix after pushing his crew to conduct a pit stop for new tires (hoping to go for the fastest lap in the race) when they thought it unnecessary. He’s not the compromising sort, and his team only caved in because they knew that he could put himself at risk if he continued to push his car to its limits and attempt the time trial on worn shoes.
Just last week at the Belgian Grand Prix, Verstappen and engineer Gianpiero Lambiase went back and forth about how to time their pit stops again, this time with the added complication of Ferrari driver Charles LeClerc hot on Verstappen’s trail.
Not all championship duos are best friends–these are working relationships, after all, and anyone who’s ever worked a job knows that you probably aren’t going to be inseparable from your coworkers — but with Verstappen a known tough customer to deal with, it’ll be interesting to see if his harsh way of doing business ever costs him in the win column, or if he changes his headstrong approach as he gets older.
Verstappen’s desire to push the envelope is part of what makes him great, but there’s a happy medium for everything.
When you’ve got a Formula 1 driver like Verstappen, already knocking on the door of the GOAT conversation at just 25 years old, though, it’s a little easier to look past his eccentricities as the wins continue to pile up at a record pace.
