The Formula 1 season will begin this weekend in Melbourne, Australia as Max Verstappen looks to begin his quest for a record-equalling fifth consecutive Drivers’ World Championship.
In a pre-season that has been dominated by Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari, the achievement of the current world champion has been overlooked somewhat – and now he will have a chance to prove to everyone he is still the very best. But he will have some big competition in one of the most balanced grids in years.
We’ll take a look at the favorites to win the race as we provide you with our best free Formula 1 betting picks, as we aim to win you some extra cash while you enjoy the action.
| F1: Australian Grand Prix |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lando Norris | +170 | +175 | +175 |
| Charles Leclerc | +400 | +350 | +350 |
| Max Verstappen | +425 | +400 | +400 |
| Lewis Hamilton | +650 | +650 | +650 |
| George Russell | +1100 | +1100 | +1100 |
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Below you’ll find a list of the favorites to win the 2025 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
Norris won four races while getting on the podium 13 times last season, and made sure that Verstappen had to earn his fourth championship with a late push. Now this season he is looking to carry that momentum into a new, fresh calendar, and his race testing has shown he is more than capable.
Testing on Day 1 saw Norris lead the field and the McLaren car is seemingly the quickest on the field after being 0.3 seconds clear of their nearest rivals per lap. If they maintained that over the course of a race in Bahrain, they’d win it by 17 seconds. But this is Australia, not Bahrain, so it’ll be a little closer and nowhere near as one-sided.
It’s no surprise, however, that Norris is the favorite to win the opening race of the season, considering his performances in testing and the crucial experience he picked up being in a title race last season.
In the 2024 edition of this Grand Prix Norris finished third behind Chalres Leclerc and Carlos Sainz after Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton DNF’d. He knows the track well and is performing brilliantly, so take the +175 on him to win the race this time around while you can.
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Leclerc has had a frustrating couple of years in F1, proving his qualities as a driver but often being let down by his car and his team. But 2025 is a chance to put that right, and he will have the extra motivation of trying to beat his new teammate too.
Leclerc managed 13 podium finishes in 2024 and won three times, including in his home race of Monaco. That helped Ferrari to finish ahead of Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship despite the dominance of Verstappen for much of the season.
But Ferrari are now turning their attentions to the Drivers’ Championship with two stars more than able to compete, and Leclerc has looked ready to go in testing ahead of the opening weekend.
Last year Leclerc finished second in Australia but he has previously won here back in 2022, and with the car looking good he has every chance of success. At +400 there is great value if you don’t quite trust Norris to get it done.
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The reigning and defending world champion is capable of winning any race he is in with his aggressive driving style, and he usually starts the seasons well.
Verstappen won seven of the first ten races last season, and incredibly has been victorious 54 of the last 91 Formula 1 races to take place since Abu Dhabi in 2020. But Australia has not been his best track in his career. The Dutch driver has only won once in Melbourne, in 2023, and has been forced to retire three times including in two of the last three races there.
His chances this weekend have also been downplayed by the man himself after Red Bull’s performance in testing – where his fastest lap was 0.2 seconds off the fastest lap of the week. That shows how high his standards are, but also how far off Red Bull have fallen from their dominance in recent years.
Getting +425 on Verstappen to win a Formula 1 race is almost unheard of in recent times, so the value is there but the car is likely to be relying on others not living up to their potential in order to cross the chequered flag first.
We couldn’t do a preview of the first race of the season without looking at Hamilton’s chances, as he prepares to race for Ferrari for the first time in his illustrious career.
He had the fastest lap time for the team in the testing week and the car looks very good whether it be him or Leclerc driving it, which is a big positive. He also loves racing in Australia with two wins, six runner-up positions and two third-place finishes in his career.
Hamilton isn’t the favorite to win this weekend, but would you really rule out a fairytale start to the season for the sport’s most successful-ever driver? I wouldn’t. At +650, it’s certainly worth a look too.
