This weekend is the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix from the Suzuka International Racing Course. We had the shocking result of the season so far in Singapore last Sunday, with Carlos Sainz taking the checkered flag. But Max Verstappen is just -300 to bounce back with a win this weekend. Can Red Bull regroup and get back to winning ways? Here, we look ahead to the race with our latest Formula 1 betting picks.
Even though the two Red Bulls were way off the pace all weekend and started from 11th (Verstappen) and 13th (Perez) places on the grid, it still seemed hard to imagine one of their two drivers would not win in Singapore last Sunday.
But that’s exactly what happened as Carlos Sainz held off the treble threat of Lando Norris, George Russell, and Lewis Hamilton to win his first Grand Prix of the season.
Yes, there was a four-way battle for the checkered flag in the first exciting Grand Prix of the 2023 season. It was great to watch, and hopefully, we will see more races like that for the remainder of the season!
Unfortunately, the best Formula 1 betting sites don’t see that happening. Already, they’ve installed Max Verstappen as their -300 favorite to bore us all this weekend and win again at a canter.
In Singapore, the Red Bull car seemed to struggle for grip, and this was acknowledged by Team Principal Christian Horner, who said they learned a lot about the weaknesses of the car. But he did this without elaborating too much on what those weaknesses might be.
Further confirmation that the best F1 betting sites don’t see a repeat in Suzuka this weekend can be seen in the odds of Sergio Perez who is the second favorite at odds of +1200. Perez is followed by Carlos Sainz at +1600 to make it back-to-back wins this Sunday.
After his second-place finish in Singapore, Lando Norris is also +1600, with Lewis Hamilton at +2000, Charles Leclerc at +2200, and George Russell at +2500.
Full Japanese Grand Prix betting can be found on our Las Vegas odds table.
| Driver |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Verstappen | -300 | -300 | -300 |
| Sergio Perez | +1200 | +1200 | +1200 |
| Carlos Sainz | +1600 | +1600 | +1600 |
| Lando Norris | +1600 | +1600 | +1600 |
| Lewis Hamilton | +2000 | +2000 | +2000 |
| Charles Leclerc | +2200 | +2200 | +2200 |
| George Russell | +2500 | +2500 | +2500 |
| Oscar Piastri | +3300 | +3300 | +3300 |
| Fernando Alonso | +5000 | +5000 | +5000 |
| Lance Stroll | +25000 | +25000 | +25000 |
| Esteban Ocon | +25000 | +25000 | +25000 |
| Pierre Gasly | +25000 | +25000 | +25000 |
| Alex Albon | +50000 | +50000 | +50000 |
| Valtteri Bottas | +50000 | +50000 | +50000 |
| Guanyu Zhou | +100000 | +100000 | +100000 |
| Kevin Magnussen | +100000 | +100000 | +100000 |
| Yuki Tsunoda | +100000 | +100000 | +100000 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | +100000 | +100000 | +100000 |
| Logan Sargeant | +100000 | +100000 | +100000 |
| Liam Lawson | +100000 | +100000 | +100000 |
No one seems to be reading too much into Red Bull’s performance in Singapore last weekend. Max Verstappen is still favored to win the next race, but his odds are out at -300 when they have been -400 in recent weeks.
The team’s poor performance seems to be getting put down to simply getting it wrong on the weekend. The cars are set up to run a certain way on different circuits, and it could be just the case that Red Bull showed the world they were human last weekend and just got things wrong.
But that isn’t helpful when it comes to backing a Red Bull to win at the next Grand Prix. The odds on Max Verstappen to win are short enough as it is. So if there is a possibility that there is something more fundamentally wrong than it just being one of those weekends, then backing the world champion elect is even more risky this weekend.
As would be expected after a performance like we’ve just seen from Red Bull, Christian Horner had plenty to say in the aftermath of the race. In the main, he spoke about his Red Bull team, but one other point he did make that perfectly sums up this season is the inconsistency of the rest of the field.
And he’s right. One week, Ferrari is the team that seems to be performing well. The next it’s the Mercedes car, and then it’s Aston Martin or McLaren. No team other than Red Bull seems capable of putting together a consistent run of results. This makes picking drivers to finish on the podium difficult for our betting picks.
We are not going near a bet on Max Verstappen winning this weekend. But is it worth backing Sergio Perez instead? Last season, Verstappen won, with Perez coming second and Leclerc finishing third. The Red Bulls perform well at this circuit. So maybe a wager on Perez makes more sense than Verstappen this weekend.
Now that Verstappen’s winning streak has ended, maybe we will see a few more different winners across the remainder of the season. Perez is -137 to finish on the podium, which could be a good pick. But we’re going to back him to win the race at odds of +1200.
We’re also going to have a bet on a Ferrari to win. We did like the look of Leclerc to finish on the podium at +275. But just in case Ferrari is back and finally challenging Red Bull, we feel it makes sense to have a small wager on either car to win the Japanese Grand Prix at +900.
See below the best Las Vegas sportsbooks, where you can wager online and choose the best one for you:
