With odds slightly above even money, Lewis Hamilton is the early PointsBet F1 French GP favorite.
Formula 1 returned to Paul Ricard Stadium in 2018 for the first time in nearly three decades. Hamilton won both the 2018 and 2019 races there and is listed with odds of +105 for Sunday’s race. The 2020 edition of this race was not run because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hamilton has three victories in six races this season with the most recent coming in the Spanish Grand Prix in early May.
One way to view American Odds is to move the decimal point two positions to the left. That will let a bettor know what they will make on a $1 bet, so the return on investment for this week for Hamilton is $1.05. For bettors more comfortable with fractional odds, a bet of +300 is the same as 3/1.
With a narrow lead in the points standings, Max Verstappen is the next favorite at +185. Verstappen has two wins and five podium finishes this year. Hamilton has been on the podium four times.
Anyone who watched last week’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix knows how unpredictable racing can be, however. With only a handful of laps remaining in the race at Baku, Verstappen cut a tire and made heavy contact with the wall. Formula 1 red flagged the race to allow the other competitors to change tires. On the restart, Hamilton made a rare mistake and failed to brake in time for the first corner.
As a result, both Hamilton and Verstappen failed to earn any points. It was the first time in 55 races that Hamilton finished outside the points.
Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas is ranked third this week with odds of +625. Bottas finished second in the 2019 French GP. In six starts this season, he has three podium finishes.
Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez won his second F1 race in his last eight starts with odds of +1000. This week he is listed at +1100. His other victory came late last season in Bahrain behind the wheel of a Racing Point Mercedes.
George Russell rounds out the top five with odds of +1500. Russell has not yet scored atop 10 this season, nor has he finished on the lead lap.
No other driver has odds of better than 25/1.
Charles Leclerc is listed at +2800 for the French GP. He won the pole for the last two F1 races when qualification was abbreviated by an accident both times. He was the cause of the qualification accident in the Grand Prix of Monaco and failed to start the race when his car was not repaired in time. Leclerc finished fourth in Baku last week.
Sebastian Vettel finished second in last week’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. This week he is listed at +12500. Those long odds for the outright win drag his odds of scoring a podium finish to +1800. Vettel has one other top-five finish this year, which came at Monaco.
Pierre Gasly took the final podium position in Baku. He has earned one podium in each of the last three years. His outright odds to win this week are +6000.
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Lewis Hamilton is PointsBet F1 French GP favorite originally appeared on NBCSports.com