Canadian Grand Prix Betting Tips: Norris a value bet to strike back in Montreal
Oscar Piastri extended his lead in the 2025 F1 World Championship to 10 points over his McLaren teammate Lando Norris when leading home a one-two for the team at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona two weeks ago.
Max Verstappen's rush of blood to the head when driving into George Russell and picking up a 10-second penalty dropped him to 10th place and he is now almost two race wins behind Piastri, 49 points in arrears.
The title battle looks to be increasingly between the two McLaren drivers as the series heads to North America for the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.
Verstappen has won the race in each of the last three seasons, but any hopes Red Bull had that McLaren might be pegged back by the stricter front-wing flexing regulations brought in at the last race were scuppered.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton has won this race seven times while Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso won in Montreal way back in 2006. His team-mate Lance Stroll's participation had been in doubt after he missed the Spanish round with a hand injury but the Canadian driver's team have confirmed he will take part in his home race.
Tip 1 – Lando Norris to win the race @ 7/4
McLaren have won seven of the nine races this season and while Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes will all be hopeful of running them close, another success for the British team looks most likely in Montreal.
That is reflected in the odds of 1/4 that one of the papaya-coloured cars gives them their first Canadian success since Hamilton's 2012 victory, but it may be worth challenging the decision to make Piastri favourite over Norris for the 10th race of the season.
The Australian leads his team-mate by 10 points after reigning in Spain, but he has not had much success on his first two visits to Montreal, finishing 11th and fifth.
Norris had a stronger weekend in Canada last season, topping the times for the first practice session and qualifying just ahead of Piastri in third.
He looked to be on course for a race win, too, as he held a clear lead at one point, but he lost ground with a bad tactical decision by the team when the safety car was deployed and finished 3.8 seconds behind Verstappen in second place.
With Norris being the bigger-priced of the two closely-matched McLaren men, he looks the better value option as he bids to draw level with Piastri in career wins with a seventh success.
Tip 2 – Nico Hulkenberg Top-10 Finish (1-10) @ 7/2
Sauber made a major step forward in Spain when an update to their car produced some impressive results and they gained ground on several of their rivals.
The team had only one points finish all season when heading to Barcelona, but rookie Gabriel Bortoleto impressed in qualifying, narrowly missing out on Q3, while Nico Hulkenberg proved to be a real star in the race.
The German started 15th on the grid but converted that into an eye-catching fifth-place finish, showing impressive pace to come in ahead of the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton.
He looks well worth supporting to at least pick up another top-10 finish in Canada, a track where he has often impressed for his previous teams.
Hulkenberg was a regular finisher in the points in Montreal for Force India and Renault between 2014 and 2019 and he had another strong race there last season for Haas, climbing to 11th place from 17th on the grid.
Tip 3 – Alex Albon best of the rest @ 9/4
There remains something of a two-tier competition in F1 but BetMGM have reflected that with their Best of the Rest market. The market removes the eight drivers from McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes from the equation and Williams' Alex Albon looks a solid favourite to have the best result of the other 12 drivers.
The Thai driver has already far exceeded his 12-point tally of last season in the much-improved Williams. With 42 points in the first nine races, he is eighth in the championship, 32 points ahead of Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda and only six adrift of Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli.
Albon was involved in two collisions in Spain and finished out of the points for only the second time this season, but he already has top-five finishes in Melbourne, Miami and Imola and can be expected to go well in Canada.
Montreal is a street circuit with long straights like the first two of those tracks and the London-born 29-year-old was seventh in Canada in 2023, while he was targeting another points finish when he was an innocent victim of a spin by his now team-mate Carlos Sainz last season.
Albon will have competition from Aston Martin and Racing Bulls in this category but his car's straight-line speed should be a real asset.
Odds correct at time of publication but subject to fluctuation