BetMGM 2024 Formula 1 Season: Preview and Tips
A new Formula 1 season usually arrives with fresh car designs to pore over, a handful of rookie drivers and some familiar faces in new places.
But for 2024's marathon 24-race schedule, which starts in Bahrain on March 2nd, there are no rule changes of note and, for the first time ever, no driver changes across the entire grid.
That means this season more than ever will likely be a continuation of the last, and bookmakers certainly seem to think so with 2023's dominant world champion Max Verstappen installed at ¼ to win his fourth consecutive drivers' title.
MCLAREN COULD MAKE A FLYING START FOR ONCE
One team who will be especially pleased that this is a year of evolution rather than revolution is McLaren.
For the last two seasons the Woking-based outfit have arrived for the season opener in Bahrain woefully underprepared and thoroughly uncompetitive before finding their form once the car has been refined later in the year.
Last season McLaren introduced major revisions in three stages, in Austria, Britain and Hungary, and leapt up the field.
Lando Norris started and finished all three of those races in the top four, finding only Verstappen too good in the races at Silverstone and Budapest.
Both papaya coloured cars finished on the podium in Japan and Qatar, with rookie driver Oscar Piastri winning the sprint race in Lusail, while they rounded out the season by finishing fifth and sixth in Abu Dhabi.
That's a solid point to start from with their 2024 challenger and the highly-rated Norris was impressed enough to ink an early extension to his contract with the team.
Their poor start to the campaign meant they finished only fourth in the constructors' championship, but that gives them more access to wind tunnel testing than Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari who ended the season ahead of them.
Norris ended the season sixth in the drivers' championship, one point behind fourth-placed Fernando Alonso.
But from the final eight race weekends of the season he collected 126 points from Grand Prix and sprint races, while championship runner-up, Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, scored only 66.
With a full season under his belt, Piastri can contribute more technical feedback to the team's development efforts while pushing Norris more, and at odds of 15/4 the Bristolian racer looks the pick in the betting without Verstappen. https://www.betmgm.co.uk/sports#event/1020127300
Perez heads that market at 11/10, but was pushed hard by Lewis Hamilton last year.
The Mercedes ace is the same price as Norris, but with the team having gone back to the drawing board for 2024, it could be their turn to lose ground early in the season.
Ferrari were the only team other than Red Bull to win a Grand Prix last season, but consistency has been their shortcoming too often in recent years.
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Tip 1 - LANDO NORRIS DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER WITHOUT MAX VERSTAPPEN
There was more drama off the track than on it for Alpine last year, with changes aplenty behind the scenes at the Renault-owned team.
It was ultimately a disappointing year for the well-funded outfit, who looked good in pre-season testing, as they finished only sixth in the constructors' championship with 120 points, some 53 fewer than they collected in 2022.
Drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were well matched throughout the season.
Gasly edged their personal battle with 62 points to Ocon's 58, but the Evreux racer is worth a bet at Evens to turn the form around.
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Tip 2 - ESTEBAN OCON TO BEAT PIERRE GASLY IN SEASON BET MATCHUP
Ocon suffered four mechanical failures during the 2023 season, while the only race in which Gasly was not classified as a finisher was in Hungary, where the Alpine pair collided at the first corner.
Ocon's season was also blighted by a laughable number of penalties, earned as a result of being a hard racer in the thick of a tight midfield pack.
Each Alpine driver made one Grand Prix podium appearance during the season.
However, while Ocon's Monaco third-place finish was earned entirely on merit, Gasly's bronze medal came in a Dutch Grand Prix characterised by extreme weather changes which was more about fitting suitable tyres than driving quickly.
The French pair are likely to be closely matched again, but the value call is to side with Ocon.
Discover the full range of Formula 1 season betting options and markets on BetMGM's Formula 1 page. https://www.betmgm.co.uk/sports#event/1020127300