Max Verstappen cruised to victory at the season-opening 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix. The triple-world champion is already -800 to win the Drivers’ Championship again. So with that betting market already looking like a foregone conclusion, we’re looking at the Formula 1 futures market to win the Drivers’ Championship without Max Verstappen.
Plenty of motor racing fans have claimed that F1 is boring thanks to the dominance of Red Bull. And while that’s true about events on the track, the current top team in Formula 1 is providing race fans with plenty of entertainment off the track.
The current soap opera involving Team Principal Christian Horner and Max Verstappen’s father, Jos, seems to be providing no end of drama for the watching world. And it also remains to be seen how the whole saga will play out.
There appears to be a Civil War within Red Bull. But already, this looks like the only thing that can derail the car on the track this season.
The bookmakers installed Max Verstappen as their -375 favorite to win the 2024 F1 Drivers’ Championship at the end of the 2023 season. He remained at these odds until preseason testing in Bahrain, despite the speculation that Christian Horner might not remain in his role as Team Principal.
After preseason testing, Verstappen’s odds were slashed to -700 to win the championship in 2024. And now, after an uneventful (on the track anyway) opening race in Bahrain, Verstappen is -800 to win the 2024 Championship.
To further underline just how dominant the Red Bull cars were, Sergio Perez finished in second place ahead of the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
As a result, Red Bull is already -1000 to win the Constructors’ Championship.
So, who is the favorite to win the Drivers’ Championship without Max Verstappen? The answer is his teammate, Sergio Perez. It stands to reason. The Red Bull car is superior to any other on the circuit. And even if Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, and Lando Norris are quicker than Perez, their respective cars shouldn’t be able to get them close enough to the Mexican to stop him from finishing second this season.
At the moment, Perez is -120 to win the Drivers’ Championship without Verstappen. But even with Red Bull’s domination, that is a risky bet.
Second in the betting without Verstappen is Charles Leclerc at +300, with Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton at +1000. Leclerc’s outgoing Ferrari teammate, Carlos Sainz, is fourth in the betting at +1400.
Full betting without Verstappen is on our Las Vegas odds table. We have taken the odds from the best sportsbooks for Formula 1 betting.
| Driver |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sergio Perez | -120 | -120 | -120 |
| Charles Leclerc | +300 | +300 | +300 |
| Lewis Hamilton | +1000 | +1000 | +1000 |
| Lando Norris | +1000 | +1000 | +1000 |
| Carlos Sainz | +1400 | +1400 | +1400 |
| George Russell | +2500 | +2500 | +2500 |
| Oscar Piastri | +2800 | +2800 | +2800 |
| Fernando Alonso | +4000 | +4000 | +4000 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | +10000 | +10000 | +10000 |
| Alexander Albon | '+25000 | '+25000 | '+25000 |
First up, Sergio Perez finished second in the 2023 Drivers’ Championship, and there is no reason why he can’t finish second again in 2024. The point we are making is there are better value bets out there.
The best Formula 1 betting sites will make Perez their favorite as he drives the dominant Red Bull car. But as we saw last season, Perez can be an accident waiting to happen. In 2023, he was reckless in his home Mexican Grand Prix and also couldn’t replicate his excellent street circuit performances on the numerous traditional F1 circuits, particularly the older F1 tracks in Europe.
This year, he has every opportunity to finish second again. But we just can’t trust him.
In 2023, McLaren showed a marked improvement before the halfway point in the season, and Charles Leclerc, in his Ferrari, had a strong second half of the year. If a similar thing happens again in 2024, but at an earlier stage of the season, Perez could easily be beaten to second place. Don’t rule out Mercedes improving as the season goes on as well.
Ferrari was supposed to have sorted out their tire degradation issues ahead of the 2024 season. But something was amiss in Bahrain for Leclerc. The problem is being attributed to the brakes. And as it wasn’t an issue for Carlos Sainz in the other Ferrari, it could be regarded as an isolated incident.
But despite the issues. Leclerc still finished fourth.
Either way, we would far more prefer to back Charles Leclerc than Sergio Perez in the betting without Verstappen. Leclerc has so much room for improvement. His biggest problem seems to be that either he, the car, or a combination of the two, can be unpredictable.
Perez is also unpredictable. But he does have a reliable car. But we expect Ferrari to keep on improving this season, so we make Charles Leclerc to win the Drivers’ Championship without Verstappen our pick.
As a little side bet, don’t be put off backing Carlos Sainz in this market at +1400. With no drive confirmed for next season, the Spaniard has plenty of reasons to perform well in 2024.
See below the best Las Vegas sportsbooks, where you can wager online and choose the best one for you:
