The Complete F1 Betting Guide: Tips & Strategies

Despite today’s advanced technology and ridiculously fast cars that you see with Formula 1 now, the sport is covered with a rich history.  Motor racing began to take shape in the 1800’s in France with people racing each other between villages.

The emergence of the term Grand Prix came to fruition in 1906 and was arranged by the Automobile Club of France (CAF).  Grand Prix in French means ‘Big Prize’ and the prizes have never been bigger than they currently are in Formula 1.  Other countries then arranged their own events but with their own set of rules because there was no championship to link them together.

Fast forward to 1950 and the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) arranged the first World Drivers’ Championship to unite the different countries.  It was at this stage a scoring system was implemented and they decided to run seven races.  The very first World Championship took place at Silverstone on the 13th May 1950. 

And here we are today, seeing the summit of motorsport.  F1 offers an exciting opportunity to do some analysis and fully understand the world of Formula 1.  As with most sports bets, there are plenty of types of bets available for Formula 1. In this article, you'll learn about betting strategies for F1 to help make informed decisions and enhance your potential rewards.

F1: The Basics

Before we get into the betting on the F1 side of things, let’s cover off the fundamentals of Formula One and what happens before the speed demons begin a race.

Teams

• There are 10 teams competing in each race (owned by car manufacturers or privately)
• Each team must have 2 cars and 2 drivers
• Each team (known as constructors) must build their own race car
• Drivers compete for the Drivers’ Championship
• Drivers compete for the Drivers’ Championship

Qualifying

A normal F1 Grand Prix takes place over a weekend and usually runs from Friday to Sunday. 

Friday

• FP1 (Free Practice 1): Teams and drivers usually use FP1 to get used to the race track, test the set up of the car and collect performance data. This takes place in the morning and lasts for one hour.
• FP2 (Free Practice 2): FP2 is then used to tweak and fine tune the cars and look at data over longer distances. This takes place in the afternoon and again, lasts for one hour.

Saturday

• Free Practice 3 (FP3): FP3 is another hour long session that allows the teams to make any final adjustments. At the end of FP3, ‘parc ferme’ (closed park) is applied and the cars are kept in a secure area. The teams are then banned from making any major changes. They are able to make small changes such as draining or replacing liquids. However, an FIA representative must be present for any changes.

Saturday

Saturday afternoon then focuses on qualifying in the afternoon and is split into three sessions.

• Q1: All 20 drivers take part in this session. Q1 lasts for 18 minutes and the slowest five are eliminated. The eliminated drivers are then positioned 15th to 20th on the starting grid based on their fastest lap during Q1.
• Q2: This session lasts for 15 minutes and the remaining fifteen drivers take part. Again, the objective is set a fast time to qualify in the ten fastest drivers. At the end of Q2, the slowest five drivers are eliminated and as with Q1, their grid place is determined by the fastest lap time.
• Q3: This is the final qualifying session and lasts for 12 minutes. The final ten drivers take part in Q3. The fastest driver from Q3 will take pole position on the grid with the remaining nine drivers lining up in positions two to ten based on their lap times.

Whilst the positions are determined by the qualifying stages, this sometimes changes.  It’s not unheard of for grid penalties to be handed out after qualifying has finished.  The penalties are dished out for breaking technical regulations or violation of behaviour rules.

Pit Stops

Are pit stops mandatory? Sort of yes.  The teams have to use a minimum of two different tyre compounds in a race.  However, the rule states the two different types must be dry-weather tyres.  Should a driver break the rules and complete the race without a pit stop, they will be disqualified.

There is an exception to this rule though.  If the teams use intermediate or wet tyres, the drivers don’t have to pit.  It’s worth pointing out that this is very rare though.

Interesting fact – Teams used to refuel during pit stops to keep their cars as light as they could.  However, in 2010, this was banned due to safety concerns as there had been incidents involving car fires in the pit lane.

The Race

Any Formula One Grand Prix must cover at least 305 kilometres.  As all the race tracks are different sizes, the number of race laps will vary from race to race provided they cover the minimum distance. The race time usually lasts up to two hours in total. 

Upon completion of the race, drivers are awarded points towards the Drivers Championship as follows:

The Constructors Championship is closely linked to the Drivers Championship.  As each team enters two race cars per race, any points scored by either car are attributed to the team.  One thing to point out is that each team is allowed up to four drivers and even if they all drove in one F1 season, any points scored by any of them are awarded as points in the Constructors Championship.

Betting On Formula 1

Betting on F1 has significantly advanced in recent years.  The information and data available to bettors is better than ever and can help both experienced and new bettors.  You can pit your wits by analysing team data to consider strategic bets or just do a basic bet on who will win a race.

Some reasons to bet on Formula 1 might include:

• Data Availability: The shear amount of data available these days can help bettors make more informed decisions when choosing their bets.
• Market Variety: You aren’t limited to just picking a winner. You can look at podium finishing positions, create bet builders and place bets whilst the race is still going on.
• Excitement: So many things can change the outcome of F1 races such as changing weather conditions and car failure. This means there are no guarantees which can add to the thrill of the race and your bets.

Types of Formula One Bets

The types of bets available on F1 will differ between the different bookmakers and may be more readily available closer to the event starting.  One thing for sure though is because of the type of sport Formula One is, the betting markets are a lot less than you will find for types of horse racing bets or the types of bets you might find on other sports.

Let’s take a look at some of the more common Formula 1 bets:

Outright Winner

This is the most popular Formula 1 bet and the easier one to place and is a Single bet. You need to predict which driver will win a single race.   Sounds easy right? The law of averages says you might land lucky eventually with uninformed decisions.  However, the best way to increase your chances of success is to do a bit of analysis.  Take a look at the drivers form, team performance, success rates at particular tracks and weather conditions.

Placing an Outright Winner Bet

Placing a F1 Outright Winner bet is straight-forward and is usually the main market on most bookies when you access the Formula 1 betting markets.

Placing the bet is no different to any other type of bet in that you just select the driver you predict to win the race and enter your stake in the bet slip. In this example at Sky Bet, Charles Leclerc must win the Las Vegas Grand Prix or your bet would lose.

Podium Finish

This time you’re widening the net a little as you are predicting a driver to finish in the top three positions.  The first three over the finishing line get to stand on the race podium.  This is similar to an Each Way bet but uses different terminology and the stake isn’t split.  The difference between an Each Way bet on horses compared to an F1 podium finish bet is the odds.  With horse racing Each Way bets,  the odds remain the same whether you’re doing win only Single bets or Each Way bets.  However, when doing podium finish bets, the odds are vastly reduced.

Placing a Podium Bet

Again, this is another simple bet to place. The Podium bet always shows in the F1 betting markets.  Even though you are placing a bet on a driver to finish in the top three, it’s still and straight-forward Single bet and not each way.  Therefore, whatever stake you place, that is the total stake.

You can clearly see the difference in odds between the same driver, Charles Leclerc, winning the GP outright or finishing on the Podium.  The reduced odds are perfectly normal because you are giving yourself a safety net in that Leclerc doesn’t necessarily ned to win the race for your bet to win.

Each Way

As with all Each Way bets, your total stake is split in half, with one half placed on the win part and the other half placed on the driver being placed.  The place market on F1 Each Way bets is always almost for three places. Just remember that a £10 stake will cost a total of £20 with this type of bet.

Placing an Each Way Bet

Again, you head to the Outright Winner market and make you selection.  Once it’s in the bet slip, you’ll see an ‘EW’ tick box option.  Tick the box, enter your stake and place the bet.

Don’t forget, the stake you enter will double!

Fastest Lap

As you might have guessed, this is a bet on the driver that records the fastest lap during the F1 race.  This can be one of the more exciting bets to place in Formula 1 as it doesn’t always result in the best driver winning the fastest lap. 

There are times when teams who aren’t likely to finish on the podium try to get an extra point for getting the fastest lap and the teams push the cars limits to achieve this.

Placing a Fastest Lap Bet 

The Fastest Lap market will be available on most bookies but may differ in where it is located.  With Bet365, it’s on the Formula 1 markets home page and they show the three drivers with the lowest odds.  You can choose a driver from there but if you want to see the full list just click on the Fastest Lap highlighted.  Just pick your driver, enter your stake and place your bet. 

Pole Position / Fastest Qualifier

Following on from the qualifying sessions, this bet relies on you predicting who will finish the qualifying sessions in pole position on the grid.  Getting success on this bet is no mean feat though.  Without thorough analysis before qualifying begins, your chances of success could be limited.

One thing to note with this bet is that it can be placed each way.  This is something to consider if you’re unsure which driver will get pole position.  Bookies tend to offer 2 or 3 places at ⅕ of the odds. If you think it’s likely to be between two drivers, it’s worth considering a Forecast bet as the returns can be much better.

Placing a Pole Position Bet

Quite a lot of the bookies tend to call the Pole Position market, the Fastest Qualifier.  They both mean the same thing but it’s worth looking out for. The Pole Position bet is no different to any other bet, pick your selection and place your bet.  As mentioned, you can opt to place it as an Each Way bet if you wish.

Top 6 Finish

This bet can be considered as a Cover bet as it gives you much less risk than the outright winner and podium markets.  When you consider that only twenty drivers take part in a F1 race, this gives bettors a great chance of success.  As you can imagine, the odds for this type of bet aren’t amazing.  That said, there’s no reason you can’t look out for good odds-on mid-range drivers or racing teams that finish quite well on a consistent basis.

Please note - The market won’t always be for a Top 6 Finish.  It can vary from race to race and bookie to bookie.

Head-to-Head

With this bet, you need to pick two of the drivers and predict which one will finish ahead of the other in a particular F1 race.  With Head-to-Head bets you can study driver form to make more informed predictions and even check on historic outcomes between the two drivers at previous races.

Winning Margin

This bet requires you to predict which driver will win the Grand Prix and the margin by which they will win it.  Bookies tend to provide different time ranges for bettors to pick how much the winning margin will be.  This is a single stake bet.

Placing a Winning Margin Bet

In this example from Bet365, there are three betting options for this market.  You can choose under 5 second, between 5 and 10 seconds or over 10 seconds.  It’s possible the bookies might offer different margins in other races.

Formula 1 Drivers Championship Outright Winner

Similar to betting on the outright winner of a race, you are predicting which driver will win the entire season.  This is a single stake and can be placed at any point during the F1 racing season.  Obviously, the market odds will continuously change as each race is completed.

Formula 1 Constructors Championship Outright Winner

As mentioned, each team (constructor) has two drivers entered into each race.  Any points the drivers score is added to the constructors points tally.  Even if a team were to use four drivers in one season, all the points that each of those drivers score is attributed to the team points.

The constructors don’t get additional points from any other source than the points the drivers score.  The team with the most points at the end of the F1 season are awarded the Constructors Championship and a hefty lump of prize money.

Prize money isn’t just for the winning team though.  All ten constructor teams are given prize money with the amounts depending on where they finished.

Here’s the prize money dished out for the F1 2023 season:

Other F1 Bets

The F1 bets shown in this article only scratch the surface of what’s actually available.  There are so many more options you can look into that cover team bets, race bets, qualifying bets and even practice bets.

It’s worth pointing out that the closer to the race date, the more markets will appear. 

Here’s an example of the Bet365 F1 betting options for the main race and teams

F1 Betting Strategies

Betting blindly on F1 isn’t advisable.  A lot of more experienced bettors adapt betting strategies when betting on Formula 1.  Here’s some potential strategies that may be worth considering before placing any bets on F1:

Qualifying v Race Day

It’s worth looking at how drivers perform in qualifying compared to the main race.  The main drivers tend to perform the same in both.  However, there can be times when drivers perform well in qualifying but struggle in the race.  There’s also drivers that better suited to race day.  Spotting this type of anomaly can help when looking at outright race winners and head-to-head bets.

Spotting Value

Always keep an eye out for odds that might seem a little high compared to the probable outcome.  An example could be that a particular driver or team always performs well at a specific race track but they might have had a poor season so far.  This could mean the bookies expect that poor form to continue so the odds are in your favour.

Betting In-Play

Live betting can work in your favour as part of a F1 betting strategy.  Things can change quickly in F1 races, sudden rain, mechanical problems. Paying close attention to the race in-play can help spot changes you can take advantage of.  For example, you might spot the race leader's lap time has started to slow down meaning there could be engine problems or tyre problems.  This can provide an opportunity to look at betting on the driver in second place mid-race.

Multiple Bets

You could consider diversifying your bets instead of sticking to one F1 betting market.  For example, you could cover more bases and enhance your opportunities by betting on the fastest lap, a podium finish and the outright winner.

Cover Bets

You can consider doing Cover bets to reduce your risk exposure.  If you place a bet on the driver in pole position to win outright, you could also place a smaller wager on the driver who is in second place on the grid.  Whilst your winnings may not be as much if the driver in pole position wins the race, if they don’t, your losses will be covered if the other driver wins the race.

F1 Betting Pointers

In addition to the above betting strategies, there are additional things that can enhance your F1 betting strategy.  You should never underestimate the impact analysis and research can have on your F1 bets.  Betting without knowledge can hugely impact your chances of success.

Research

This is probably the most important part of betting on Formula One. Understanding the drivers and teams is a key part.  Looking at historical data and results can provide great insights into what might happen.  Historical analysis can highlight patterns, along with any weaknesses or strengths that might impact upcoming F1 races.  This might include driver experience and skill and track records. 

It doesn’t always just stop at past and recent performances.  It’s also worthwhile checking on social media and the press for any disgruntlement between drivers or unharmony within the team.

All the research you can do will help identify any value bets and can assist bettors with making informed, more accurate bets.

Qualifying

Qualifying is an important part of a F1 weekend as it determines who will start where in the main race.  Qualification rounds give you a chance to assess how well the drivers are performing, how well the cars are set up and what strategies the teams might be thinking about.

In addition to this, some bookies offer bets on the F1 qualifying.  You can use this opportunity to have a bet.  Alternatively, you could use the qualifying session to practice your predictions.  A dry run if you like. 

Evaluate Race Strategies

Team strategies can involve choices about tyre management, lead drivers and pit stops.  Every team is likely to have slightly different strategies because they have different strengths, different levels of drivers’ skills etc.  Different race tracks can suit some teams and cars better than others.  Being able to gain knowledge about F1 race strategies can prove to be invaluable when it comes to creating effective Formula1 betting strategies.

F1 Betting Mistakes To Avoid

Betting on Formula 1 is relatively straight-forward but there are always pitfalls to be wary of when betting on any sports and F1 is no different.  Here’s some potential mistakes to consider avoiding:

• Lack of Research: As mentioned, doing your research is key to achieving success. It puts bettors in a much stronger position when placing bets.
• Race Conditions: Don’t ignore information that might affect how a car or driver might perform such as weather conditions and track layout.
• Backing Short Odds: Always look for value bets as whilst betting on favourites might seem like a more likely result, they sometimes lose and they offer low profits.
• Lack of Diversity: As the saying goes, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. The same can be said for betting on F1. Betting on one outcome can be risky. It’s worth looking at all the offerings on the F1 betting markets.

Which Bookie Should I Use For F1 Bets?

Most of the online bookies offer Formula 1 betting markets and all the main markets will be covered.  However, some of them do offer a little bit extra.  Let’s have a quick look at which bookies offer what:

Bet365

Bet365 offer bettors and great selection of F1 bets including bets for qualifying, the main race and combinations bets.  As usual, Bet365 offer competitive odds. They also offer different odds boosts on each race so keep an eye out for those.

Bet365 are second to none when it comes to updating things in-play so you have to be fast to beat any odds movement.

The race coverage provided by Bet365 is very impressive with live track graphics.  In addition to this, they provide customers with race previews, team statistics and a race news section.  The only drawback with Bet365 is that they don’t release all the markets until closer to the race.

Parimatch

Parimatch offer the usual Formula 1 betting markets except they don’t offer Bet Boosts.

The main reason they are appearing here is because they offer punters something quite unique. 

They offer customers the chance to have a go on their two F1 Lucky Dips. All you need to do is enter your stake and spin the wheel to see what they give you.  Whilst you might not have control over what you’re betting on, the odds they provide in the Lucky Dip are very generous.

You could have Lucky Dip for the race winner and another as a Straight Forecast.  It’s worth pointing out that each Lucky Dip has a stake limit per spin but you can have as many spins as you want.  The maximum stake will be dependant on the market the Lucky Dip is for.

BetVictor

BetVictor again offer all the usual F1 betting markets, however, they also include Formula 1 as part of the BetVictor Loyalty Club.  This gives customers the chance o grab free bets for F1 races. 

The Loyalty Club offers free bets that range from £1 to £25.  However, you must opt in to the offer and getting a free bet is subject to customers placing five bets of £5 or more per week on any sport.

BetVictor also compete with both Bet365 and Parimatch in terms of they do Bet Boosts and also offer a Lucky Dip.  For example, they offer a Straight Forecast Lucky Dip at odds of 325/1.  Obviously, you’ll have no idea which two drivers will be drawn out but you never know your luck.

Other Bookies

Most of the other big bookmakers don’t offer anything above what we’ve covered and some offer less.  However, a crystal ball can’t even help determine what bookies might offer next so it’s always worth looking around for special offers on Formula One bets.

Conclusion

Betting on Formula One can provide great fun along with possible rewards.  However, to give yourself the upper hand you need to do your research and decide on an F1 betting strategy.

Make sure you understand the markets you’re betting on and always keep an eye on the latest news from reliable sources such as motorsport websites, social media and the official Formula 1 website.