Best Formula 1 Betting Sites – Complete F1 Guide (2021 Update)

In this article we rank the best Formula 1 betting sites for the upcoming season and put forward the most popular F1 betting markets, plus our best Formela tips. Read on to find out more.

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Best Betting Sites We Recommend for Formula 1 Betting in 2021

#1 Betfair	Wide selection of F1 sub-markets News and tips for the F1 season The most comprehensive F1 bookie online	READ Betfair REVIEW SEE OFFER	T&Cs APPLY, 18+ ONLY New customer offer. Place 5 x £10or more bets to receive £20in free bets. Repeat up to 5 times to receive maximum £100bonus. Min odds 1/2 (1.5). Exchange bets excluded. Payment restrictions apply. T&Cs apply. #ad
#2 Betfred	Dedicated F1 section Plenty of F1 Betting Markets Bet £10 and get £30 in free bets	READ Betfred REVIEW SEE OFFER	T&Cs APPLY, 18+ ONLY New UK & NI customers only. promo code ‘SPORTS60’. Deposit & place first sports bet of £10+ in one bet transaction, at odds of Evens (2.0) +. settled within 60 days. First bet must be on Sports. £30 in Free Bets credited within 48 hours of bet settlement, 7-day expiry. Payment restrictions apply. SMS validation may be required. Max 60 Free Spins on Justice League Comics. 7-day expiry.Full T&Cs apply. #ad
#3 888sport	Plenty of sub-markets £30 free bet Diverse Betting Options	READ 888sport REVIEW SEE OFFER	T&Cs APPLY, 18+ ONLY Minimum deposit of £10 using deposit code 30F - A qualifying bet is a ‘real money’ stake of at least £10 placed on any sports market - Minimum odds of 1/2 (1.5) - Free bets credited upon qualifying bet settlement and expire after 7 days - Free bet stakes not included in returns - Casino Bonus must be claimed within 7 days • To withdraw bonus/related wins, wager bonus amount x40 within 14 days • Wagering req. vary by game • Deposit methods, Withdrawal restrictions and Full T&C’s apply. #ad
#4 William Hill	Double £15 free bet! Live odds for F1 Plenty of F1 Betting Markets	READ William Hill REVIEW SEE OFFER	T&Cs APPLY, 18+ ONLY T&Cs: New customers using Promo code H30 only, Min £10/€10 stake, min odds 1/2, free bets paid as 2 x £15/€15, free bets credited after settlement of first qualifying bet, free bets will expire 30 days after the qualifying bet is placed, payment method/player/country restrictions apply. See full terms below. #ad
#5 Unibet	£40 Money Back Offer Bet on qualifications, practice sessions and more Plenty of other betting options	READ Unibet REVIEW SEE OFFER	T&Cs APPLY, 18+ ONLY 18+ begambleaware.org. New customers only. Min deposit £10. Money back as bonus if first bet loses. Wagering requirements: sportsbook 3x at min. odds of 1.40 (2/5), casino 35x. Unless forfeited the sportsbook bonus must be wagered before using the casino bonus. Bonus expires 7 days after opt-in. No deposit required for NI customers. Call 08081699314 to claim. Full T&Cs apply. #ad
#6 bwin	Variety of bets for every F1 Grand Prix race Highly competitive odds £20 Back up bet welcome bonus	READ bwin REVIEW SEE OFFER	T&Cs APPLY, 18+ ONLY 18+ | New UK players only | Min deposit req. £10 | Certain deposit methods excluded | Place 1 sport bet (3+ selections) | Excl Horse Racing | Min stake £10 | Max stake £20 | Min Odds 1/5 (1.5) for each selection | Max FreeBet £20 for football only | FreeBet valid for 7 days| FreeBet stake not returned | T&Cs apply #ad
#7 Coral	Extensive range of Formula 1 outright bets Regular promotions Bet £5 get £20 welcome offer	READ Coral REVIEW SEE OFFER	T&Cs APPLY, 18+ ONLY 18+. UK+IRE only. Paypal & some deposit & bet types excl. Min first bet £5 a odds 1/2 or more. Tote and Pool excluded. Must be placed within 14 days of account reg. £20 credited as 2 x £10 free bets. Not valid with CashOut. Free bet valid for 7 days. Free bet stake not returned. 18+ T&Cs Apply. #ad
#8 Paddy Power	Superb number of pre-match and in-play Formula 1 betting lines Weekly generous promotions £20 risk-free welcome bet	READ Paddy Power REVIEW SEE OFFER	T&Cs APPLY, 18+ ONLY New customers only. Place your FIRST bet on any sportsbook market and if it loses we will refund your stake in CASH. Max refund for this offer is £20. Only deposits made using cards or Apple Pay will qualify for this promotion. T&Cs apply. Paddy's Rewards Club: Get a £10 free bet when you place 5x bets of £10+. T&Cs apply. #ad
#9 Ladbrokes	Formula 1 outright markets available very early Welcome offer of bet £5 get £20 24/7 Customer support	READ Ladbrokes REVIEW SEE OFFER	T&Cs APPLY, 18+ ONLY 18+ Eligible UK+IRE players. Paypal & some deposit & bet types excl. Min first £5 bet within 14 days of account reg at min odds 1/2 = 4x £5 free bets. Free bets valid for 7 days, stake not returned. No cash-out, restrictions & T&Cs apply. #ad
#10 Grosvenor	Exciting website design Competitive odds Double the odds welcome offer	READ Grosvenor REVIEW SEE OFFER	T&Cs APPLY, 18+ ONLY Maximum stake is £10. Exclusive to new members. Keep it fun – set your deposit limit. T&Cs apply. 18+. BeGambleAware.org #ad

Betting on Formula 1 – Latest Odds

Below are the latest odds for the Formula 2021 seasons: 

Formula 1 World Driver's Championship 2021

Formula 1 2021 Schedule

The provisional Formula 1 2021 schedule will consist of 23 races – 6 more than we saw in 2020. Races will take place on the tracks of 23 different countries, with the season starting on the 21st of March in Australia, and concluding on the 5th of December in Abu Dhabi. The penultimate race of the season will feature the first-ever World Championship race in Saudi Arabia, on an exciting new track in the country's second-biggest city, Jeddah.

At the time of writing, the omission of the Vietnamese Grand Prix from the schedule means that there is a gap between the Chinese and Spanish Grands Prix. A replacement venue is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

F11 Betting Tips

If you want to start betting seriously on Formula 1, you need to understand the tools that are at your disposal. Add to that, you will need a solid understanding of the sport that goes beyond casual viewership. With the right knowledge of the sport, you should be able to identify value bets and even predict race outcomes with reasonable accuracy. Here are some Formula 1 betting tips to get you started as a serious punter.

Use F1 Stats

Stats are as important in Formula 1 as in any other sport. Even the smallest details can help you to find information which will help you beat the bookies over time. Some great sites for stats include:

• 4mula1 Stats
• StatsF1.com

Of course, these sources will also give you a tonne of news and other soft information, which you can use to augment your data-based strategy.

Be aware of Driver Track Preferences

Knowing how well a driver has performed historically on a given track or conditions will do a lot to help you estimate their chances of winning. Weather, track length, speed and type all favour different drivers.

Know your Engines

Each Formula 1 car performs differently in different circumstances. Just as a driver can perform differently on different tracks, so can cars perform differently. Get to know your car's performance on straight tracks, bends, wet or dry tracks. Of course, this can be hard, especially in the beginning of the season, since constructors usually come with new models and updates every year. But by the middle of the season, you should have enough data. 

Read Race Previews and news

Various sites offer race previews. These are usually written by knowledgeable journalists and racing experts. Race news in general is very important, and it's best to know everything, even the driver’s private lives, as anything can influence the outcome of the race. Some great sites for race news include:

• AutoSport.com
• GPHub.com
• ESPN F1

Mind the Weather

Historically, the weather has often greatly influenced the outcome of a Grand Prix. Unexpected rainfall has caused some of the most dramatic incidents in racing history.

In 1998, for example, the Belgian Grand Prix saw a downpour creating havoc, leading to the first every win for the Jordan team, and a one-two on top of it.

Of course it does not have to be as drastic as that. Even minimal rain can drastically affect a race outcome, while smaller factors such as humidity and temperature can affect any vehicles performance.

Watch the Qualifying Sessions

One of the most determining factors in any race is the starting grid position. The further the a driver is from pole position, the more cars he will have to overtake in order to come close to a podium spot. This steals valuable seconds every round. On certain tracks, such as the Canadian Grand Prix, there are still enough opportunities to overtake. However, on tracks like the Monaco Track, overtaking is virtually impossible. Watching the qualifying sessions will give you a good indication of how a vehicle and driver will perform the following day.

Take Note of Lap Times

Just as qualifying sessions can be important to seeing how a driver and car will perform, the Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2 are a perfect way to observe a driver’s condition and how well his mechanics have tuned the car for the specific race.

Formula 1 Betting Markets

F1 offers punters plenty of markets on which to bet. Bets are divided in outright wagers, like who will win the season and wagers on individual races. Live betting also plays a large role in Formula 1, and, since the races typically last more than an hour, you have plenty of time to select a winner before someone finally waves the checkered flag.

F1 Drivers Championship

The most prestigious award in Formula 1 is obviously the Driver’s Championship. This award goes to the driver who manages to collect the most points over the course of the season. As the season continues, the odds will more clearly favour one driver over the rest. For the best value bet, choose your winner early on in the season.

F1 Constructors' Championship

The second most prestigious prize is the Constructors' Championship. Since each constructor gets to have two cars in the race, the team with the best accumulative score over the season gets an award.

Race Winner

The most popular bet is the race winner. Betting on the race winner before the race starts often has higher odds than during the live race, when it becomes more clear who is winning.

Podium Finish

While the payout for Podium Finish will not be as high as for Race Winner, it is usually a much safer bet. As long as your driver ends in the top 3, you will win your bet.

Driver vs Driver Match Bets

With the popularity of inter-team rivalries, it is becoming very popular to bet on which driver of two will finish highest. In 2020, you can place a bet on options like “Max Verstappen To Finish Above Charles Leclerc In The Drivers Championship”. These types of bets are offered for individual races, as well as the outright results.

Lap 1 Leader

Another bet with plenty of room for volatility is the Lap 1 leader. As any Formula 1 fan knows, the first lap is prone to accidents and plenty of surprises. Look for value in underdog bets here.

Pole Position

Every Saturday before race day, drivers try to set the best single lap in order to set their place on the starting grid. This position is sure to give them a large advantage over the rest of the track.

Fastest Lap

Formula 1 is full of fun odds on which to bet. Any driver can get the fastest lap, though this will not mean they will automatically win or even be able to finish the race. While winning the fastest lap does not come with any points, it is still a matter of prestige between drivers and constructors.

Will A Safety Car Appear?

This betting option lets you bet yes or no on whether you think a safety car will appear.

Formula 1 Season Structure

The Formula 1 2021 season will consist of 23 races, each of which is being contested by 20 drivers. These 20 drivers represent the 10 teams, meaning there are two drivers for each team. This might sound as if each driver has one less rival to deal with, but the truth is that no rival is bigger than the one representing the same team as you.

This might sound odd, but think about it: there are only two seats with each team, so the worst thing you can do is be outperformed by your direct competition. Being on the same team is by no means a guarantee of sportsmanship and camaraderie.

The main goal of the F1 season as a driver is to finish with the most amount of points, but how exactly does this point allocation work?

How Are Points Awarded in F1?

Scoring in F1 might seem complicated at first, but the truth is that it’s pretty easy and straightforward. Out of the 20 starting drivers, the top 10 will earn points. Number 10 gets 1 point, 9 gets 2, 8 gets 4, 7 gets 6, 6 gets 8, 5 gets 10, 4 gets 12, 3^rd gets 15, 2^nd gets 18, and finally, 1^st place earns you a total of 25 points. At the end of the season, the points are tallied and the driver with the most amount of points wins the trophy. The team with the most points takes home the Constructors Championship.

What is DRS And How Does it Work?

There are surprisingly few difficult terms and rules one has to understand when watching Formula 1. For the most part, it is 20 cars racing, with one car finishing as the winner and the next 9 finishing in the points. It’s remarkably simple and entertaining, but there is one exception to the rule: DRS.

DRS stands for Drag Reduction System, and you should absolutely be aware of what this means before watching F1.

Each car has an adjustable rear wing which is normally closed. In certain situations, this can be open, allowing for air to flow through, thus reducing the drag on the car. This is ideal for overtaking as it gives your car more speed, but it can only be used in the following scenario:

The driver has to be chasing a car and be no more than 1 second behind him, and the two cars have to find themselves in a DRS Zone. Only the chasing driver can engage his DRS.

A DRS zone is long and straight, already chosen by the stewards to be a DRS zone. There are typically somewhere between 1 and 3 DRS zones in every race.

Why Are There So Many Types of Tyres?

There are in total 7 tyre compounds available to every team during the racing season. Five of these compounds are for dry weather and they are marked C1 – C5, with C1 being the hardest and C5 being the softest. The remaining two compounds are for wet-weather driving. One has a green stripe indicating it is the Intermediate tyre, and the other one has a blue stripe, indicating that this is the Full Wet tyre.

In a normal, dry-weather race, Pirelli will choose three dry types to be used during the race. Every driver has to use two of the three selected tyres during the race.

A Typical Grand Prix Weekend

Many think of Formula 1 as simply being a race that lasts a couple of hours at the most. This is true, yet also remarkably false at the same time. Yes, the actual race usually takes somewhere between 1 and 2 hours, but in F1, we always talk about the Race Weekend. The race weekend starts on Friday, and it starts with the very first practice.

Practice

In most sports, no one except the players and coaches pay attention to the practice. Practice is something players do every single day behind closed doors; it’s not of interest to the public. F1 is a bit different.

Seeing as no one, not even a professional F1 driver, can get everyday practice in an actual F1 car, every time they lower themselves down into the car becomes a spectacle. The Friday (Thursday in the case of the Monaco Grand Prix) is free practice day and it consists of two practice sessions lasting 1 hour and 30 minutes each. There are no points or positions to fight for – this is simply an opportunity for the drivers to get familiar with the track and the changes made to the car. The final practice takes place on Saturday morning.

Qualifying

After the morning practice, it is time for qualification. This is the first competitive step of the weekend and it always draws a crowd seeing as how results during Saturday’s qualification will determine the starting grid for the race on Sunday.

F1 Qualification takes place in three stages and follows a classic knockout system. The first stage contains all 20 drivers and lasts for 18 minutes. As soon as the time is up, the 5 slowest drivers are eliminated from qualifying. These drivers will fill starting positions 20-16 in the race with the slowest driver starting last.

A short break follows before stage two starts. Stage two lasts for 15 minutes and, as soon as the 15 minutes are up, the 5 slowest drivers will be eliminated, filling up starting positions 15-11.

This leads us to stage 3. Stage 3 is the high point of the Saturday as it sees the fastest drivers compete to start at pole position. If you make it to Q3, you are guaranteed to start “in the points” (meaning that you will start the race no lower than in 10^th position). Q3 only lasts for 12 minutes, meaning the drivers have to be on their game in order to rack up the fastest lap-time.

The Race

Finally, we have the race. The race itself always takes place on the Sunday, and the drivers start in the positions determined by the qualification the day before. All 20 drivers start in the same grid, meaning that even if you start in pole position, a good start is essential. Starting first gives you an advantage, as escaping a potential accident with other cars is easier, but stalling or encountering issues can be race-ending, even for the car starting first.

An F1 race is 305 kilometres long – the only exception being Monaco, which is 260 kilometres. This means that every race has to have as few laps as possible, so long as the 305 kilometres are covered. Every race track is slightly different in length, meaning that the amount of laps will differ from race to race, but the length of the race will be the same. Silverstone has 52 laps, Monza has 53, and Singapore has 61 laps.

The History of F1

The history of Formula 1 dates all the way back to 1950. In fact,thanks in no small part to Bernie Ecclestone, the very first official F1 event was held at Silverstone on 13^th May 1950. Italian driver Giuseppe Farina collected the most amount of points over the 6 competitive races held that season, but the decade would come to be dominated by a different name entirely.

The Beginning

F1 is often considered an English endeavour, at least for those who don’t see it as an entirely Italian thing. Yes, Ferrari has dominated for years and the amount of world-class Italian drivers is nothing short of staggering, but one cannot doubt the impact Bernie Eccleston, Frank Williams, Jack Brabham, and the entire McLaren team have had on the history of F1.

It might then come as a small shock to discover that the first real superstar of F1 racing was indeed Argentinian. Because whilst Farina hoisted the very first F1 driver’s title, it was Juan Manuel Fangio in a strange combination of Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati and Mercedes who would go on to dominate the 1950s, winning the driver’s title on no less than 5 occasions between 1950 and 1960.

Between 1960 and 1980, Formula 1 had many big-name champions and the title changed hands regularly. The one consistency, however, was the relative British domination. Gone was the years of Fangio and the time was nigh for racing greats such as Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill, Jack Brabham and Niki Lauda.

Glory Days

Nelson Piquet emerged early in the 1980s as one of the best in the business, but it was eventually Alain Prost who would steal all the headlines. The Frenchman dominated for years in his McLaren and in truth, he looked unbeatable. He lifted the driver’s title in both ’85 and ’86, and his streak looked set to continue after a one-year interruption caused by Piquet. Then the world learned to pronounce the name ‘Ayrton Senna'.

Senna vs Prost

The dual between Senna and Prost was out of this world. In fact, no F1 fan can as much as think about these two legends without getting a little misty-eyed and, in all honesty, quite a lot more than just a wee bit sad and melancholic.

It started amazingly. Prost was the undisputed king, only being outdone very occasionally by the aging Nelson Piquet before Senna emerged seemingly out of nowhere to win the title three times in four years between 1988 and 1991. An intense rivalry developed between Senna and Prost, who even had to deal with the horrible reality of being teammates at one stage. These guys hated each other and would do anything to win. Sabotage, drama and an extreme will to beat the other man was the order of the day.

Then Imola 1994 happened. Senna’s car was going fine down the straight in San Marino the first second, then suddenly, before anyone could blink, the Brazilian’s car was upside down, smashed into the railings. The most intense genius to ever lower himself into an F1 car was gone at the tragically young of 34, and the Brazilian stripes on the helmet, a feature Senna remains iconic for to this very day, would never be seen again.

Schumi

1994 was an unbelievably sad moment in sports history. Senna was one of kind; surely his like would never be seen again. Prost would retire, Nelson Piquet had already done so, and many people thought that racing was dead. Sure, a young guy named Michael Schumacher somehow won the title in his magnificently coloured Benetton, but no one really cared about that in 1994.

Then he did it again in 1995. In a Benetton. ’96 and ’97 saw wins for Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve (both in Williams), whilst Mika Hakkinen dominated the end of the century and took home two driver’s championships in a row in ’98 and ’99. Then came the turn of the century and with it, the dawn of the true king of F1, the man known simply as Schumi.

The Rain Master was out of this world. He dominated completely and wrote himself into history by capturing an unbelievable and unprecedented 5 driver’s championships in a row, taking his total up to 7, a number that stands as a record even to this day.

The Hamilton Era

But it might not stand for much longer. After Schumacher aged and left Ferrari, it was Fernando Alonso’s turn. He won 2 titles in a row for McLaren, but that is where it stopped. Alonso and Raikkonen were both good, but the 2010s would be dominated by a rivalry almost equalling that of Prost and Senna.

Lewis Hamilton kicked it all off by winning his first championship at the young age of 23, then a new record. Two years later, Sebastian Vettel would equal Hamilton by also taking home his first championship at the age of 23, and he would then go on to dominate the sport, taking home the next four driver’s championships.

Then Lewis answered. ’14,’15, ’16, ’17, ’18, '19  and 2020 all belonged to Mercedes with Hamilton winning the title in every year except 2016. This took his total up to 6 driver’s titles and it devastated Ferrari. Before the start of the 2020 season, Lewis Hamilton has a golden opportunity to tie Michael Schumacher for the most amount of driver’s titles ever collected by the same driver.

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel really did the unthinkable when he lifted the title four years in a row with Red Bull. After all, as team principal Christian Horner frequently reminds us, Red Bull is an energy drink manufacturer; they should not really have any business winning any racing championships. But that is exactly what they did with the young Vettel at the helm.

Four championships in a row made it seem as if Red Bull was the next big thing. Then Vettel left for Ferrari and neither Red Bull nor Vettel has won any kind of championship since. Was Vettel that good? Has Red Bull gotten bad? Has Vettel aged after the move to Ferrari, or are Mercedes just miles apart?

The answer to these questions is something none of us really possess – we can only speculate. Red Bull tried again when they presented a promising lineup of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, two young men both brought through internally, but so far, this (un)dynamic duo have caused more calamity than celebration. It all led to Ricciardo being shipped off to Renault before the start of the 2019 season.

List of Past F1 Winners

The history of F1 is storied and unparalleled in racing. It spans the world, it is popular pretty much everywhere, and there are only 20 seats. The crème-de-la-crème of racing can only be found in F1 and F1 history is full of characters, races, winners and losers beyond what can be considered normal. This is where legends are truly made and this is made evident by these magnificent champions.

Most Constructor Championships

Most race wins by Constructors

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ThePuntersPage Final Say

While Formula 1 is an exciting sport, it can be profitable for a smart punter. Of course, there is no way to guarantee profit for each individual bet you place. However, if you consistently identify real value bets, you will be able to win more than you lose. Choose the right bookies to get the best odds, which is value in its own right.