Belgian Grand Prix Betting Tips: Lando to dominate again

The 2024 Formula 1 world championship is not following the pattern many observers expected at the start of the season and another exciting weekend is in prospect at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.

While only three drivers won races in the 2023 season as Red Bull dominated, McLaren's Oscar Piastri became the seventh different winner in 13 races this season when recording his first career success in the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday.

World champion Max Verstappen has failed to win for three successive races for the first time since 2021 but the Dutch driver still holds a commanding 76-point lead over McLaren's Lando Norris in the standings.

Tip 1 — Lando Norris to win race @ 9/10

Verstappen is officially in the worst spell of form he has endured for three years and his task as he attempts to win a fourth successive Belgian Grand Prix is set to be made much harder.

Red Bull are expected to take a fresh engine in Verstappen's car this weekend, exceeding his allocation for the season and incurring a 10-place grid penalty.

It's a sensible track at which to absorb a penalty as overtaking is easier than at many other circuits and Red Bull have overcome penalties at this venue in each of Verstappen's last two wins.

He no longer enjoys the massive performance advantage over his rivals that has been the case for much of the last three seasons, though, and this should be a golden opportunity for Norris to secure his second win of the season.

Norris has had a winning chance at almost every event since breaking his duck in the Miami Grand Prix — his second place in Hungary was his fifth podium finish since then and he was on course for another when colliding with Verstappen in Austria.

The British driver will have the bit between his teeth after reluctantly handing the race lead back to his team-mate Piastri last week.

He would love to win in his mother's home nation and has shown consistent pace in recent races to achieve that goal.

Piastri finished second in the sprint race at Belgium as a rookie last season but went out of the race due to a first-lap collision. Norris's experience at the track should give him an advantage and he looks the right favourite for this race.

Tip 2 — Lewis Hamilton to beat George Russell @ Evens

George Russell has taken a back seat to Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes since his victory in the Canadian Grand Prix and the seven-time world champion looks worth backing as the underdog in their match bet at Spa.

Hamilton put his experience to good use to win the British Grand Prix for a record ninth time at Silverstone three weeks ago, when Russell retired due to a water leak, and the older driver was also in front in Budapest.

Hamilton joined the McLaren duo on the podium when finishing third after qualifying fifth while Russell had another tough weekend, finishing eighth after being eliminated in the first qualifying session and starting only 17th.

Hamilton has a solid record at Spa — winning there in 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2020 — and he had one of his better weekends of last season there too, qualifying third and finishing fourth.

Russell was second in Belgium for Williams in 2021, although that was really just a qualifying result as no racing laps were able to be run in the grand prix.

He has finished fourth and sixth in his two races at Spa with Mercedes but may need to do better than that to stay ahead of Hamilton this week.

Tip 3 — Fernando Alonso top six finish @ 5/1

Aston Martin have had a generally disappointing season and while they occupy the same fifth place in the constructors championship that they held in 2023, they are a lot further away from the top four teams in terms of performance than they were last year.

The team recorded eight podium finishes last year but have yet to do better than Fernando Alonso's fifth place in Saudi Arabia this time.

An update in San Marino failed to bring the expected upturn in form for the green cars, but there were signs of progress as more new parts arrived in Hungary and they finished 10th and 11th.

Alonso has managed three top-six finishes this season and is a tempting price to add another in Spa, where he has finished on the podium three times in his career.

The Spanish veteran has finished fifth at the track in each of the last two seasons — from third on the grid in 2022 and ninth at the start last year — and could be a threat to the top teams if his engineers can get to grips with the car's setup.