Testing is in the bag now ahead of the 2020 F1 season. But there has been no change in what bookmakers think is going to be the outcome in the 2020 F1 Drivers’ World Championship.
In the F1 2020 betting market, it is Lewis Hamilton trading as the 1/2 odds-on favourite* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 23:14 GMT on February 28th, 2020).
The British driver is going for title number seven, which would draw him level with another of the sport’s greats, Michael Schumacher.
F1 Drivers’ World Champions Winner Odds 2020*
Lewis Hamilton 1/2
Max Verstappen 5/1
Charles Leclerc 13/2
Valtteri Bottas 13/2
Sebastian Vettel 12/1
100/1 bar
* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 23:14 GMT on February 28th, 2020)
F1 Betting at Bet365
Table of Contents
Hamilton still strong for number 7
The pre-season testing is never a great benchmark to really hint at what is going to happen in the season itself. Over the past few years, Ferrari have done superbly in testing but have fallen short when it comes to the competitive season.
But with some impressive early showings in testing from Mercedes, maybe the rest of the pack do have something severe to worry about in 2020.
It was actually Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas who posted the quickest time overall, in testing in Barcelona.
But when it comes to competitive races, Hamilton is front and centre and that is reflected in the outright winner market in F1 2020 betting. The bookmakers have Hamilton well clear of the rest of the field.
Last season Hamilton won 11 of the 21 races for the season. He sort of caught everyone on the hop in 2019 by making such a start. Hamilton took a win in six of the first eight races of the season to streak away in the World Championship title race.
In previous seasons it was usually towards the middle part of the season that Hamilton started coming on strongly. But he is the favourite for 2020, justifiably so and given the dominance of Mercedes as a team, it’s a powerful combination to try and knockdown.
The Key Challengers
Normally we would be talking about four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel as the big threat to Hamilton. But the German who has become increasingly known for his rushes of blood to the head and errors of judgement is as distant as a 12/1 shot to win the 2020 F1 Drivers World Championship* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 23:14 GMT on February 28th, 2020).
That’s a big quote on him. More realistic options are Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.
Red Bull’s Verstappen claimed a trio of race wins last season but he needs to find a way to get closer to Mercedes and more consistently as well. It’s always hard to tell what Red Bull are going to do as they never reveal everything at the pre-season testing.
Notably, Verstappen spun his car six times in the six days of practice. There is always the feeling that the Red Bulls shine only when Mercedes are having some difficulties on race day.
The Ferrari team have been cautious about their chances this season, especially after seeing how strong Mercedes were early in testing. Last season Charles Leclerc got the better of Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel in the final standings and that will likely be the same way in 2020.
Leclerc, much like Verstappen lives on the edge and is highly competitive. He won his debut F1 win at the Belgian Grand Prix last season, one of two wins he earned.
Leclerc is 2/5 odds-on in the Sebastian Vettel v Charles Leclerc betting market at Unibet* (betting odds taken from Unibet at 23:14 GMT on February 28th, 2020).
Constructors Championship Odds
Mercedes 2/9
Red Bull 4/1
Ferrari 13/2
* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 23:14 GMT on February 28th, 2020).
Can Bottas stop his teammate?
Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas is a 13/2 contender for the title* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 23:14 GMT on February 28th, 2020). It’s a strange position for him to be in because even if there are no team orders, he is always going to be playing second fiddle to Hamilton.
Picture the scenario if Hamilton gets off to a strong start in the season and starts tracking towards a seventh World Championship title. Would Mercedes really let Bottas go full tilt and potentially damage Hamilton’s hopes?
It would be the same if things were tight at the end of the season, with Hamilton knocking on the door of the title. The team would probably use Bottas as a tool to help the British driver get across the line.
But Bottas, who some have criticised for having a lack of competitive edge that other drivers like Verstappen and Leclerc seem to have, did seem to have good pre-season testing.
The Finn looked comfortable with his car. Bottas did have a decent end to last season winning two of the last five races.
2020 Driver Changes
There hasn’t been much happening ahead of the 2020 season. They may come at the end of the 2020 season when Hamilton is out of contract with Mercedes. Anyway, that’s another story for another day.
The only driver changes from the 2019 season are Esteban Ocon replacing Nico Hulkenberg at Renault and Nicolas Latifi replaces Robert Kubica at Williams.
There have been no team changes this season, aside from Toro Rosso having a name change to AlphaTauri.
Longest season ever (maybe)
The 2020 season of F1 is going to be the longest ever in terms of the number of races. There are 22 races under contract.
However, the China Grand Prix, which was due to be hosted in April, has already been postponed and is going to be tough to see how it squeezes back into the schedule.
If it does, then 2020 will indeed be the longest season ever.
Maybe.
As things stand the rest of the races are going ahead. But things could still change.
Coming back for the first time since 1985 is the Dutch Grand Prix which replaces last season’s German Grand Prix. A debut Vietnamese Grand Prix has provisionally been scheduled for April 2020 in what would be a street circuit race in Hanoi.
2020 F1 Race Calendar
1) Australian Grand Prix Australia Albert Park Circuit, Melbourne 15 March
2) Bahrain Grand Prix Bahrain Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir 22 March
3) Vietnamese Grand Prix Vietnam Hanoi Street Circuit, Hanoi 5 April
4) Dutch Grand Prix Netherlands Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort 3 May
5) Spanish Grand Prix Spain Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona 10 May
6) Monaco Grand Prix Monaco Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo 24 May
7) Azerbaijan Grand Prix Azerbaijan Baku City Circuit, Baku 7 June
8) Canadian Grand Prix Canada Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montréal 14 June
9) French Grand Prix France Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet 28 June
10) Austrian Grand Prix Austria Red Bull Ring, Spielberg 5 July
11) British Grand Prix United Kingdom Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone 19 July
12) Hungarian Grand Prix Hungary Hungaroring, Mogyoród 2 August
13) Belgian Grand Prix Belgium Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot 30 August
14) Italian Grand Prix Italy Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza 6 September
15) Singapore Grand Prix Singapore Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore 20 September
16) Russian Grand Prix Russia Sochi Autodrom, Sochi 27 September
17) Japanese Grand Prix Japan Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka 11 October
18) United States Grand Prix United States Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas 25 October
19) Mexico City Grand Prix México Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City 1 November
20) Brazilian Grand Prix Brazil Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo 15 November
21) Abu Dhabi Grand Prix United Arab Emirates Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi 29 November
– Chinese Grand Prix China Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai DATE TBA
2020 F1 Betting Predictions
How do you pass up Hamilton on winning another title in F1 betting? Mercedes got the jump on everyone with their super duel-axis steering, which allows them to adjust their wheels so that they are straighter on the straights (as they are usually angled slightly outwards for cornering).
No-one knows how much of an advantage that is going to be. It looks good though and Ferrari sounded concerned.
But still, if all cars were exactly evenly matched, would you put it past Hamilton’s astonishing fighting ability to win out?
It’s Hamilton all the way, but Leclerc definitely gets the nod at 5/2 in the Without Hamilton market* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 23:14 GMT on February 28th, 2020).
