It was an entirely predictable start to the 2024 Formula 1 season with Red Bull picking up right where they left off in 2023.
Max Verstappen cruised to a dominant victory with Sergio Perez leading the rest of the field home.
Now the action moves to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia for the second race of the season and the dominant Red Bull team are once again expected to control this event.
Last year this race was one of the few that the Verstappen did not win, but it was still a Red Bull quinella with Sergio Perez leading his teammate home.
We’ve got our race preview and best bets below so read on and see who we are backing.
Track Stats
- Direction: Anti-Clockwise
- Lap Distance: 6.174km
- Total Laps: 50
- Race Distance: 308.45km
- Lap Record: 1:30.734 (Lewis Hamilton, 2021)
- 2023 Podium: Sergio Perez (RBR), Max Verstappen (RBR), Fernando Alonso (AST)
- Most Event Wins: Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez (1)
Winning Margin
Max Verstappen is at a near unbackable $1.25 to win the race, but just like last week there is value to be had backing the race winner to do it comfortably.
In Bahrain the Dutch driver finished 22 seconds clear of his teammate and based on the early returns, it’s tough to see anyone getting close to them in Jeddah.
Under normal racing conditions, the only driver who seems capable of ruining this bet is Verstappen’s teammate Perez but given his habit of qualifying poorly before driving like a madman in the race, that gap might be too much to chase down.
Otherwise unless there’s a late safety car, Verstappen (or whoever does win) is likely to do so in a canter once more, leaving fans hoping there’s some competitive racing amongst the rest of the field.
Winning Margin of 11 or more seconds @ $1.85
Podium Finish
George Russell went incredibly close to the podium in this race last season, finishing in fourth place just over five seconds behind Fernando Alonso to improve on his fifth place in 2022, so he definitely likes this track.
Not to mention his fifth place finish in Bahrain showed plenty of signs of encouragement for the Mercedes car and it’s ability to compete in 2024.
His price of $3.50 to finish on the podium looks like overs considering how wide open it is going to be behind the Red Bulls.
If he can have a solid qualifying effort like last week, I’m expecting him to hold onto his position and will jump on the value available for the English driver.
George Russell to Finish on the Podium @ $3.50
Double Podium Finish
If you have watched any Formula 1 lately, you’ll know that this price seems awfully high considering the overall dominance of Red Bull lately.
Better jump on this before it drops because even if something goes majorly wrong for the team, they are still so far ahead of the pack they will probably wind up in second and third anyway.
Red Bull @ $1.91
Top 6 Finish
Fernando Alonso had the entire F1 world asking, “really?” as he ended the 2023 Grand Prix in third place, one of eight podium finishes for the Spaniard last season.
He has shown an impressive ability to get the most out of his Aston Martin car and I’m fully expecting him to be amongst the points and likely fighting for the podium in this race.
It should not be a surprise to see the veteran driver succeeding like this but with the McLarens still getting settled, he could be a chance to take advantage if any of the big teams start to struggle.
Fernando Alonso Top 6 Finish @ $3.25
Driver Match Bets – Ricciardo v Tsunoda
It wasn’t the best start to the V-CARB team (that acronym really is rough to use) with their two drivers taking up 13th and 14th place.
Daniel Ricciardo edged out his teammate on the night but Tsunoda did out-qualify his teammate and does appear to be able to get bit more pace out of his car.
It really seems like these two are going to be evenly matched all season which makes Tsunoda the value play in this market.
Yuki Tsunoda @ $2.00
Number of Classified Finishers
In perhaps the biggest surprise of the Bahrain Grand Prix, all 20 cars successfully completed the race which was a massive upset compared to what was expected.
For reference, there were only two races last season where every driver finished the race so we are probably going to see at least one retirement this time around.
But it sure seems like there will be more of the same in Jeddah and with a competitive field looking to avoid causing too much damage, backing at least 18 cars to be classified looks like the way to go.
And if it’s wrong maybe we will see some carnage on the first corner which can be incredibly entertaining as well.
Over 17.5 Classified Finishers @ $2.60