Season 2024 of the Formula One World Championship is about to enter its sixth racing weekend, as the 20 drivers head stateside to Florida for the third edition of the Miami Grand Prix.
After comfortable victories in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia for three-time world champion Max Verstappen, Red Bull’s’ flying Dutchman retired just three laps into the Australian Grand Prix, citing a brakes failure and missing out on the chance to extend his healthy lead in the 2024 points tallies.
A brakes failure may have seen the three-time world champion miss out on the podium — and indeed the chequered flag itself — in Australia, but he’s been back to business as usual in the two races since.
The Suzuka International Racing Course was tamed by Verstappen to defeat both his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, and he also made light work of the first Chinese Grand Prix to be held in five years, recording a fourth race win from five attempts to establish a healthy lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship.
It was certainly a mixed weekend for Lewis Hamilton too, who despite coming second in Saturday’s pre-race sprint challenge, the Mercedes veteran then failed to make it out of Q2 in the qualifying sessions, starting from 18th on the grid and recording well to finish in ninth place. Mercedes will be hoping that Hamilton and team-mate George Russell can recover their form quickly enough to begin chasing down Red Bull and Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship.
The first two meetings of the Miami Grand Prix were both won by Verstappen, but coming into only the third-ever World Championship F1 race to be held at the Miami International Autodome, we’ve still got plenty of unpredictability to look forward to.
And, ahead of the new season’s sixth meeting in Florida, The Sporting News have gone through all the odds offered by our partner bookmakers to come up with the best bets, tips and predictions you’ll need ahead of the Miami Grand Prix.
After returning to form in fine style with dominant victories in both Japan and China, it’s no surprise to see Max Verstappen leading the way in terms of favourites for this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix. Can he make it five wins from six so far in 2024?
There’s a huge chasm from Verstappen’s moneyline lean of -550 and the +800 of Sergio Perez, his Red Bull team-mate, with BetMGM suggesting that the Dutchman is on track to record another big win at the Miami International Autodome. Perez and the chasing pack, whose odds widen with each passing race, have their work cut out to stop Verstappen this weekend.
BetMGM then gives us a three-way tie in the favourites for this race, with Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz both locked at +1600 odds , alongside McLaren’s Lando Norris. Fernando Alonso is sixth favourite, after a mixed outing in Shanghai where he finished seventh, but recorded the race’s fastest lap in the process.
Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have both had very mixed beginnings to their 2024 seasons, with neither really able to get close to the runaway Red Bull and Ferrari units so far. They’re each on +4000 odds, while Oscar Piastri is at +5000 before the odds grow exponentially from Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg onwards.
Odds via BetMGM (USA), correct as of Wednesday, May 1.
MORE: Predictions and best bets for the 2024 Formula One season
With Verstappen the overwhelming favourite to pick up yet another race victory in 2024 at Miami, the order of the field behind him does make for an interesting look. Perez and Leclerc are the Dutchman’s closest rivals so far in the World Drivers’ Championship standings, and given that Verstappen is already 25 points ahead of his Red Bull team-mate after just five races, Perez in particular will be keen to close the gap.
Leclerc has got the better of Verstappen twice so far this season, albeit only in terms of pipping the defending champion to recording the fastest lap in both Saudi Arabia and Australia. With he and Perez shaping up to be the best of the rest once more, BetMGM’s +230 moneyline lean that the pair will both finish on the podium looks to be a safe bet.
This one’s being pitched as a long shot, however after veteran and former world champion Alonso finished third in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, and recorded the fastest lap of the race proper despite finishing seventh, DraftKings’ +2500 moneyline lean on this is certainly one worth taking up.
He became the first driver other than Verstappen or Leclerc to record the fastest lap in any race so far this season, and his performance last time out, as well as a third-placed finish at last year’s Miami Grand Prix, suggests that this could be an offer that is simply too good to miss out on.
Given he’s won both previous editions of the Miami Grand Prix, recording the race’s fastest lap on each occasion, it’s somewhat odd to see Verstappen as only the second favourite to reach the highest on-track speed during the sprint challenge which will be held the day before the race proper.
Instead, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll has been billed as the favourite to hit top speed in this event, leaving Verstappen’s longer odds of a +550 moneyline lean with DraftKings as an offer which is certainly worth taking a punt on — he’s the favourite in almost every other category!
MORE: What can we expect from season 6 of Netflix’s Drive to Survive?
