F1 Drivers Championship Betting Guide: Strategies, Statistics & Picks

F1 Drivers Championship Betting Guide

In this blog, we look at the 2024 F1 season in terms of the driver's championship, a championship that Max Verstappen will be looking to successfully defend for a third time.

In this blog we have covered:

• Picks for the 2024 F1 Drivers Championship
• F1 Driver Changes for 2024
• The 2024 F1 Calendar
• Current F1 Drivers Championship Standings
• F1 Driver Records
• How Max Verstappen won the 2023 Championship

Other Motor Racing Blogs

• NASCAR Cup Series Betting Guide
• IndyCar Series Betting Guide
• Indianapolis 500 Betting Guide
• F1 Constructors Championship

2024 Formula 1 Drivers Championship Picks

Before we look at the 2024 season, there are a couple of links that are worth bookmarking for the season.

First, on the F1 Betting Picks page, you will find the F1 betting predictions & strategies for each and every Grand Prix over the season from the OLBG handicappers.

Secondly, there is the Best F1 Tipsters page, on there only the profitable F1 tipsters will be shown along with the predictions.

Additionally, don't forget that you yourself can be an F1 Tipster! You can win cash prizes in our monthly F1 Picks Contest.

It is completely free to enter, just simply sign-up and start adding your predictions to see if you have what is needed to win some of the monthly cash prizes!

If you are more interested in team affairs then our F1 Constructors Championship blog might be to your liking as we look at which teams could land the championship.

F1 Driver Changes for 2024

The final announcement has been made and Logan Sargeant retains his seat at Williams which means the 2024 lineup will be as we finished 2023. The only change from the start of the 2023 is Daniel Ricciardo replacing Nyck de Vries, a seat he took up after ten rounds last year.

2024 F1 Calendar

If you are planning on having a wager during the season on any of the Grand Prix then our Which Sportsbook is Best for Motor Sport guide will be a handy tool for you, it looks at which sportsbooks are best when wagering on not only F1 but other motorsports too like Nascar.

Here is the schedule for the 2024 season:

F1 Drivers Championship Standings for 2024

Here are the latest standings for the 2024 F1 drivers championship with Max Verstappen looking to defend his title.

Formula One Driver Records

The 300 Club

The are no new names in the 300 Club, it still remains just the six races that have started 300 or more GPs, however, there is one change with Lewis Hamilton moving above Rubens Barrichello following the 2023 season, Lewis has now started a total of 332 GPs. Veteran Fernando Alonso has extended his lead at the top with 377 GP starts and should he feature in all GPs in 2024, he could become the first driver to make it into the 400 Club!

1. Fernando Alonso (377 starts from 380 entries)
2. Kimi Raikkonen (349 starts from 353 entries)
3. Lewis Hamilton (332 starts from 332 entries)
4. Rubens Barrichello (322 starts from 326 entries)
5. Jenson Button (306 starts from 309 entries)
6. Michael Schumacher (306 starts from 308 entries)

Most consecutive race entries

Rubens Barrichello's 326 consecutive race entries between 1993 and 2011 look safe for the time being after Lewis Hamilton missed a race in 2020 his run of 265 came to an end and ahead of him, Vettel's run came to an end in the opening GP of 2022 when missing the race due to illness having made 280 consecutive race entries. The only ongoing run in the top 10 is Valtteri Bottas who is on 223, he has started every single GP since the Australian GP in 2013.

1. Rubens Barrichello (326)
2. Sebastian Vettel (280)
3. Lewis Hamilton (265)
4. David Coulthard (239)
5. Daniel Ricciardo (232)

The one and only in the 100 Club

During the 2021 season, Lewis Hamilton became the first-ever driver to record 100 wins, he has now won 103 races which is now some twelve clear of Michael Schumacher and forty-nine ahead of the next active driver which is Max Verstappen on 54 wins but Lewis has failed to win a single GP in the past two seasons.

1. Lewis Hamilton (103 wins)
2. Michael Schumacher (91 wins)
3. Max Verstappen (54 wins)
4. Sebastian Vettel (53 wins)
5. Alain Prost (51 wins)

Lewis fast closing in on Schumacher

Now, Lewis will not be achieving this in 2024 unless he sets an unprecedented number of fastest laps but it is a record that he could take a large chunk out of during the season, that is for fastest laps, Michael Schumacher currently holds the record with seventy-seven and Lewis is some twelve behind him on sixty-five, this is going to be a hard record to snatch from Schuey because of the nature of the fastest lap since an additional world championship point has been made available for the fastest lap setter it has been so competitive which means this record could remain with Schumacher for some time yet.

Total races finished in the points

Lewis increased his number and now has a total of 290 points finishes despite a struggling 2023 season. Fernando Alonso also increased his number to 250 and are the only two active drivers in the top five. Looking further down the list, Sergio Perez (171) is at number six, Max (151) is ninth and Bottas (145) is tenth.

1. Lewis Hamilton (290)
2. Fernando Alonso (250)
3. Michael Schumacher (221)
4. Kimi Raikkonen (219)
5. Sebastian Vettel (219)

How the 2023 Formula 1 Season Was Won

The 2023 calendar season included twenty-two races with the Chinese Grand Prix still missing but a third US GP being added with a race in Las Vegas.

If you are a Max fan then I am sure you enjoyed the season, it was one of the most dominating F1 seasons with records broken along the way.

The whole season was pretty much a Red Bull and Max domination and it all started as it meant to go on with a 1-2 in the opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

The first half of the season was domination, Red Bull won all eleven races with nine of the victories going the way of Max with Perez winning in both the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

During the 2022 season, Max at the halfway point had accumulated a total of 208 points and was 38 points clear in the championship, during the 2023 season at the same point, he had 281 points and was 110 points clear in the championship which just highlights his dominance.

Half-Way Championship Standings

1. 281 pts - Max Verstappen
2. 171 pts - Sergio Perez
3. 139 pts - Fernando Alonso
4. 133 pts - Lewis Hamilton
5. 90 pts - George Russell

Aston Martin looked early early-season contenders, Alonso and Stroll picked up 184 points in the first half but development seemed to take them backwards only picking up 96 points in the second half of the season.

McLaren was the opposite, they looked in big trouble early on, Norris and Piastri picked up a combined 17 points over the opening eight GPs, but they really got their act together with Lando finishing 6th in the Championship, and Piastri who had an excellent rookie season finishing 9th.

There wasn't much change in the second half of the season, Max went on to win ten of the eleven races which meant he won nine of the twenty-two GPs during the season and Red Bull won all bar one GP in a dominating season.

Final Drivers Championship Standings

1. 575 pts- Max Verstappen
2. 285 pts - Sergio Pérez
3. 234 pts - Lewis Hamilton
4. 206 pts - Fernando Alonso
5. 206 pts - Charles Leclerc

Contributor Details

Andy Powell manages all of our Motor Racing content as a huge F1 and Speedway fan, giving up much of his weekend to watching the action unfold in qualifying and betting on the various potential outcomes as well as managing the Motor Racing Tips and Tipsters in the competition. Ably assisting with the data collection as necessary is our Data Scientist on the expert team, Dan Tracey.

Dan Tracey

Data scientist and football editor

Dan Tracey is a multi-talented writer, data analyst and podcaster whose six-year career in the sports data sphere has seen incredible successes. From helping UEFA create their annual technical reports to writing articles for Sports Betting Websites including sites like TheLinesUS and Goal - there's no shortage of areas where his expertise shines through!

Andy Powell

Content editor

🏎️🏁 Outside of horse racing and football, Andy also enjoys spending his weekends following Formula 1. His dedication is such that he doesn't mind setting alarms for odd hours to catch both qualifying sessions and the races.