Verstappen vs Hamilton: Unpredictable F1 title finale is great to join
Verstappen isn’t by no means close to putting Hamilton away in the battle for the F1 championship, but given how close things have been in 2021, the Dutchman has a healthy lead at the moment. Would we recommend betting on Verstappen to win it all at the end of the year? Probably, and the odds have him as the favourite.
Unpredictability goes a long way in generating more excitement for sports, even when the sport is already as thrilling as Formula 1 racing can be, when considering the unbelievable machines we get to see on race weekends and how they defy physics. Online sports betting is also driven by unpredictability, and it is certainly a way to test your luck and bet on an outcome that is definitely uncertain before the event unfolds.
At the moment, the Red Bull driver seems to have a slightly comfortable advantage over Hamilton (Mercedes) in the battle for the World Drivers’ Championship. The Dutchman leads the standings with 312.5 points against the British driver’s 293.5 units.
However, the Dutchman had a 33-point gap over Hamilton before the 10th round of the 2021 Formula 1 calendar happened, and he entered the 12th round of the campaign trailing by eight points. That’s how fast things can change in Formula 1, and it is also why Hamilton, a seven-time World Champion, is still a viable choice in terms of betting on who would win the World Championship of Drivers.
Red Bull has had the upper hand on most tracks during the 2021 Formula 1 season, which is why Verstappen’s odds to win the title are -225, against Hamilton’s +165, according to Unibet.
Betting on Formula 1 is quite fun and it goes beyond just the World Drivers’ Championship, as you could also bet on the upcoming 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix, which also has Verstappen as the favourite to take P1 honours after Sunday’s race (his odds are at -139).
Obviously, the precedents are important and you should take note. Verstappen and Hamilton have won at Mexico in the last five times F1 visited the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The English racer won the race in 2016 and in its most recent edition in 2019, while Verstappen won it consecutively in 2017 and 2018 and now did it again in 2021.
Max Verstappen driving the (33) Red Bull Racing RB16B leads Lewis Hamilton driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team and the rest of the field at the start during the F1 Grand Prix of Mexico at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Arguably, Red Bull has had the best car in the last four editions of the Mexican round of the F1 championship, which gave the Austrian team and its drivers, including Mexican Sergio Pérez on home soil, a ‘favourites’ tag headed into the weekend of the 18th round of the 2021 Formula 1 calendar.
Mercedes dominated in 2015 and 2016, but it all happened before the new, wider cards and tyres were introduced in 2017. Things have not gone to plan in every race of the 2021 Formula 1 season, and that’s what unpredictability and high--level competition does to a sport: every pre-race analysis could be thrown into the trash can once lights go out on Sunday, and Red Bull proved that in the previous race at Austin, where Mercedes had dominated the United States Grand Prix since 2014, and Hamilton had also won for McLaren in 2012.
The 2021 Mexico City Grand Prix could have been a big blow from Red Bull to Mercedes if the Austrian outfit manages to dominate again. In reality, Red Bull has been dominant this year, and especially in the last 13 races, with eight victories and eight Pole Positions in that stretch.
Mercedes, on the other hand, has six wins this year, against Red Bull’s ten, and has only taken three Grand Prix wins in the last 13 events, an unprecedented streak for the German team during the era of hybrid engines (since 2014).
Who would be your pick for both the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix and the 2021 Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship? Let us know in the comments.
Disclaimer:
The opinions expressed are those of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of F1-Fansite.com, staff or partners.
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hamilton and merc are cry babys please grow up give us all a break sick watching hamilton racing what about the other racing drivers lets c more of them after all its a f1 race not a hamilton only race f1 needs new leader ship to change the rules even the cannel 4 program is all about hamilton sick of it im starting to think its a waste of timme watching f1
You have the rankings wrong on this site.
You have Hamilton as Number 1 followed by Max at Number 2. Max is Number 1 because he has had more race wins even though they are equal on points.
Go Max
How does a driver who was more than 11 seconds ahead when the safety car came out end up losing all the time he built up by the time the race re-starts? It's just not right and shouldn't have happened, especially in the final race of the season with the entire world watching. They basically gifted the title to Max and it looks very bad on the people who organise F1. I can see why they don't want to change the decision after the event but it's so clearly the right thing to do, if they don't, I think it will come back to bite them later.
new to motorsport? or butthurt ur guy lost? that's literally the definition of what a safety cars job is!
There was a crash which neither Max Nor Lewis were involved in, the safety car came out to increase everyones safety and pause the race until the wreckage could be cleared from the track. It's job is not to re-start the race, with everyone in different positions, that decision was taken, I think in haste by Michael Massi as he was dealing with a diffucult stressful situatin,the aftermath of the crash/pressure fomr teams to make dcisions in their favour etc.Whenever all that was over he should have realised or others should have told him that what he had done wasn't "fair" and the decision should have been changed. Now the dust has settled a bit, what driver, sponsor, team owner would actually choose to join F1, where decisions can be changed on a whim of one individual, where the rules are so open to interpretation two similar incidents can be judged differently and where decisions aren't "fair" and that's where they lose if the decision isn't changed, they have lost the respect and trust of the world.
Well i know Merc have a space on there car for a sponsor after the last embarrassing episode lol