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2022 Formula 1 Betting Preview

Formula 1 Car for Saudi Arabia Grand Prix

Formula 1 Predictions and Betting Odds

The 2022 Formula 1 season will kick off on Sunday, March 13 with the Bahrain Grand Prix. Can Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen defend his crown, or can Lewis Hamilton capture another record-breaking championship? Kevin Dolan offers his 2022 Formula 1 betting preview.

2022 Formula 1 Betting Preview Season Starts on Sunday, March 20
Defending Champion: Max Verstappen
Defending Constructor’s Champion: Mercedes
2022 Championship Favorite: Lewis Hamilton (+120)
2022 Constructor’s Favorite: Mercedes (-150) (Odds Above Courtesy of DraftKings)
First Race: Bahrain Grand Prix

Formula 1 Betting Preview

After a thrilling close to the 2021 Formula 1 season with Max Verstappen edging out rival Lewis Hamilton in an extremely close, somewhat controversial fashion…It’s time to do it all over again in 2022.

Last year’s runner-up and seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton is the clear bookies favorites ahead of this season with the British driver going off between +120 and +140 at most sports books.

Current champion Max Verstappen is the book’s second favorite to regain his crown at +275 with Hamilton’s teammate George Russell and Ferrari’s top choice Charles LeClerc making up the only other single-digit prices on the odds board.

What’s Changed in 2022?

Well frankly a lot of things as the competition looks to bridge the gap between all the teams moving forward.

Frozen power units come into force this season in an attempt to get constructors to adopt new hybrid units that will officially come into play in 2026 and aerodynamic testing will also be limited for teams this season depending on where they finished in the previous year, with a subsequent review at the mid-point of the season also.

On top of that a lower budget cap level for all teams will be introduced this year and new tire regulations also, moving from 13 inches to 18 inches, which should ensure less uneven airflow over the car, meaning more wheel-to-wheel type racing and over-taking opportunities for those stuck behind as F1 cars saw a 46% drop in performance last season when chasing down another car.

Bahrain Grand Prix Preview

The first race of the season kicks off in Bahrain on March 20th with three days of testing due to start on Thursday, March 10th.

The preseason track session in Spain didn’t tell us much about any team in particular, with Mercedes being especially coy in testing, but we’ll likely see a lot more from them here at the track session in Bahrain.

Lewis Hamilton goes into the opening race as the +175 betting favorite, with Max Verstappen coming back at a +275, and it’s no surprise to see both men listed at the top of the odds screen for this one as both finished first and second respectively in this race last season.

Formula 1 Best Bet

It’s hard to look past Lewis Hamilton reclaiming his crown once again in 2022. The seven-time champion has looked good in testing and seems extremely focused ahead of this year.

Mercedes had a ton of reliability issues at the back end of last season which forced grid penalties for both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas and yet they still almost won the Driver’s Championship. So if Mercedes can iron out those kinks ahead of this season, it’s very difficult to look past them winning a ninth-straight Constructor’s Championship this season with Lewis Hamilton at their head.

Because of that we’re not going to re-invent the wheel here and simply take Lewis Hamilton & Mercedes in the F1 Driver-Constructor Double market at +175 as our play ahead of this season as we believe the British driver regains his foothold at the top of the Fomula 1 mountain with yet another world title in 2022.

Interested in placing a bet on the 2022 Formula 1 season? DraftKings is offering a $1,000 Deposit Bonus for first-time bettors in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Tennessee, Michigan, Virginia, Wyoming and Arizona.

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Formula 1 Betting Tips

How does Formula 1 differ from America’s racing circuits? Interested in learning more about how to bet on Formula 1 racing? Kevin Dolan answers those questions and offers some Formula 1 betting tips as we prepare for the 2022 season. This video was filmed prior to last season, but many of the same basic principles and philosophies still apply.

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Meet the Author

‘The sharpest sports mind in Ireland’ is how one prominent newspaper dubbed Kevin Dolan after he became the first foreigner ever to win the World Series of Handicapping tournament back in 2015. “The Irishman” made his start wagering on GAA, football, soccer and boxing, all to immense success. Since becoming a professional bettor, he has since lit up the sports betting scene in the U.S. and abroad, winning two handicapping awards and writing a best-selling book on sports handicapping named ‘The Complete Guide to Sports Betting’.

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