Formula 1 races have been around since 1950 and since then it has become the zenith of motorsports with well-founded teams and super advanced technology cars, however, this is not the first option people think of when they want to gamble.

Maybe it’s because few people know about the types of gambling options available for formula 1 races or maybe is because sportsbook doesn’t invest enough in promote betting options for this races, either case we put together a complete guide to understand gambling on formula 1.

First, let’s take a look at how the Formula 1 Championship is structured:

The championship has 11 teams made up of two drivers, who had to compete in 21 Grand Prix across the world.

During a race weekend, there are three free practice seasons, an F1 qualifying format (that has three parts) and the Race.

Of course, the most important part is the Race that has a point system to award drivers regarding their finishing position.

There is 25 Formula 1 points for the first place, 18 points for the second, 15 points for the third and the points continue to reduce gradually until the 10th place.

The driver that accumulates more points at the end of the season is awarded the FIA Formula

One World Drivers Champion.

Here is where the tricky parts begin there are 2,432,902,008,176,640,000 different combinations of finishing results for a race.

Yes, the number of possible outcomes is nuts, that’s the reason why most betting options for Formula 1 focus on the whole season instead of each race, this is called Outright Betting.

In other sports, this type of betting is usually placed before the beginning of the season, but due to Formula 1 has so many possibilities and things can change so fast so easily, Outright Betting can be done throughout the whole season.

Betting Odds:

Drivers Championship

This is pretty easy a bettor choose which driver will win the Drivers Championship, keep in mind that as we mention above this is awarded to the driver that accumulates more points through the whole season, meaning that the result of a single race doesn’t matter that much, which can be a little disappointing for bettors that are used to the adrenaline produced by other types of race betting like horses, where each race matters.

Constructors Championship

This award goes for the race team that finished with more cumulative points with their two drivers at the end of the season.

A bettor just needs to pick the winning team.

Driver vs Driver Match

In this type of bet, players have to choose between Driver A and Driver B from the same race team, the winner is the driver that finishes higher on the official standings at the end of the season.

Some teams have big inter rivalries between their drives, so this is a great way to take advantage of all that.

Any Race Podium Finish

Bettors that use this betting option can pick any driver to win a race or finish on the podium during the season.

Fastest Lap

Bettors must pick a driver that they think can complete the quickest lap during the race.

This can happen at any time during the race and the driver don’t even have to complete the session, he just needs to set the fastest lap time for the bettor to win the bet.

Race Winner

Bettors that want to focus on a single race can use this type of betting option.

They just need to pick a driver to win the race.

Keep in mind that race winner in Formula 1 has to fulfill some requirements such as the completion of a prescribed number of laps and cross the finish line ahead of the rest in the fastest time.

Top 3 Finish

Bettors can select any driver on the grid to achieve a podium finish, it doesn’t matter in which position the drivers finish as long he reach the podium, the bettor wins the wager.

Pole Position

This betting option is exclusive of the Saturday afternoon before the race day.

During the qualifying sessions, the driver who finishes the third session with the fastest time once all laps have been completed is awarded pole position.

Bettors can take a chance on guessing which driver will earn the pole position.

Safety Car

It may sound ridiculous, but bettors can pick if a safety car will appear during the Grand Prix, there are just two options yes or no on this type of betting.

Betting on Formula 1 is like a marathon it takes some time and patience to reach the finish line.

Once you understand how the betting options work it can be fun and thrilling to wager on this kind of races.