Types of F1 Bets
There are a lot of ways to bet on Formula One, and ways to select multiple drivers in a single race. Of course multiple drivers can be chosen to win a race, but punters can also wager on matchup bets, podium finishers, top-6 finishers, and a wide variety of prop bets. Futures bets for the World Drivers Championship and World Constructors Championship are also easy to find.
For serious punters, it’s important to compare odds at several of the best online bookmakers. Over the course of a season and dozens of bets, small advantages make a huge difference. Also, take advantage of the free bets that sports betting sites offer. Experienced punters can get some extra value, while new punters can get their feet wet without using their own money.
We discuss each type of bet in more detail inside the site, but here’s a quick rundown of the F1 betting options.
Race Winners
The easiest & most common way to bet on F1 races is to pick the winner. If your driver wins, you win. If he loses, you lose. The trick with making money on race winners is finding value. Big favourites often have very low odds, so your job is to dig deeper into the stats and race details, and see if another driver offers better value.
F1 Matchup Bets
At most online bookmakers, matchup bets consist of 2-6 drivers that are pitted against each other. The punters job is to pick the driver that will have the highest finish in the race. These can be fun bets to make, and offer handicappers more ways to find value. Many betting sites offer as many as 10 or 15 different matchup bets per race.
Formula 1 Top 3 Bets
Top 3 bets (also called Podium Bets) are wagers where a punter selects a driver or drivers they think will finish in the top three in a race. It doesn’t matter if they finish in first, second, or third, the payouts are always the same. These are common bets that can be found at most betting sites that offer any type of F1 betting.
F1 Top 6 Bets
Top 6 bets are exactly the same as top 3 bets, except your selected drivers only need to finish in the top 6 of a race. These are less commonly found than top 3 bets, but still fairly easy to find. Top 6 bets aren’t necessarily as easy to win as one would first think. Many bookmakers don’t offer top 6 bets on the favoured drivers in a race.
Winning Margin
The winning margin is the difference in finishing time between the top two finishers in a race. Some books post them as simple over/under bets based on a single time difference. Others offer them in 3 different groups, like ‘Under 6.9 Seconds’, ‘Between 7.0 and 9.9 Seconds, and ‘Over 10 Seconds’.
Formula One Futures Bets
Most online betting sites offer futures bets for the F1 Drivers Championship and Constructors Championship. A lot of new punters think these are easier bets to win than they usually are. It’s simple to say that driver X or team Y won last season, so they’re likely to win again next season. However, there’s a lot more to it than that, and those who follow the sport closely have a much better chance of selecting winning futures bets.
F1 Prop Bets
Many online bookmakers offer betting on a number of oddball or luck-based things that might happen during a race. While they can be fun bets for casual punters looking to add some excitement to a race, serious handicappers need to be very selective in regards to prop bets. Juice tends to be higher on prop bets than other types of bets, and the luck involved often means these are poor choices anyway.