Just nine races remain in the 2024 Formula One World Championship season and there is plenty of drama set to play out both on and off the track.
This weekend we head to the iconic Monza track in Italy for Ferrari’s home race and the prancing horse will be eager to put on a show in front of a sea of red.
However they might be left on the outside looking in at the main title race battle between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen with McLaren now looking like the team to beat over the next few months.
Elsewhere we have our first major shakeup of the driver lineup and it is not the one many were expecting, with Logan Sageant out at Williams, getting replaced by Franco Colapinto for the remaining races.
We’ve got our preview and best bets for Monza this weekend below so read on and see who we are backing!
Track Stats
- Direction: Clockwise
- Lap Distance: 5.793km
- Total Laps: 53
- Race Distance: 306.72km
- Lap Record: 1:21.046 (Rubens Barichello, FER, 2004)
- 2023 Podium: Max Verstappen (RBR), Sergio Perez (RBR), Carlos Sainz (FER)
- Most Event Wins: Michael Schumacher (1996, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006) & Lewis Hamilton (2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018)
Race Winner
12 months ago it was not the best of afternoons for McLaren with Lando Norris finishing in eighth place over 45 seconds behind Max Verstappen.
Meanwhile Oscar Piastri had to settle for 12th place but did manage to set the fastest lap of the race and from there, it has all been largely positive since then.
Norris was able to cruise home last week, over 20 seconds ahead of Verstappen and he is going from strength to strength as he tries to race down the Dutchman in the World Championship standings.
There’s only one pick for the overall winner and it might be the last time we see Norris priced at anything close to even money.
Lando Norris Race Winner @ $2.00
Podium Finish
The other major beneficiary of McLaren’s improvement is Oscar Piastri with the Aussie recording three podiums from his last five starts including a win in Hungary.
Backing a McLaren double podium finish offers up better value than backing any of the individual driver options.
Seeing both drivers for Zac Brown’s team up there with Max Verstappen at the end of the race seems like the most likely scenario.
McLaren Double Podium @ $3.00
Top 6 Finish
The second driver for Red Bull was given one last shot to keep his seat and while he is still a long way off race winning pace, he showed some improvement at Zandvoort last weekend.
He pulled off a sixth place finish and with the added motivation of trying to keep one of Liam Lawson, Daniel Ricciardo or Yuki Tsunoda from taking his spot, he is a decent shout to make it into the top six.
Sergio Perez Top 6 Finish @ $2.20
Points Finish
He came through for us last week so let’s have another play on Pierre Gasly at least finishing in the points.
There is some mixed form at Monza to take but it is the site of his lone race win back in 2020 with Alpha Tauri.
Gasly has not finished outside of the points in consecutive Italian Grands Prix since his first two events at the track and he also managed a ninth place last weekend.
At his current price, the Frenchman looks well over the odds.
Pierre Gasly Points Finish @ $5.50
Driver Match Bets
One last area where there is a bit of value to be found is backing an upset in the teammate head to head markets.
Lewis Hamilton has outperformed George Russell in four of the last six races and having him as even a slight outsider seems like a major surprise.
Lewis Hamilton to beat George Russell @ $1.95