Carlos Sainz became only the fourth F1 driver to win a Grand Prix this season after winning the 52-lap British Grand Prix at the Silverstone Circuit in England. Sainz cleared Red Bull driver Sergio Perez by 3.799 seconds, while Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished in third.
Sainz, an eight-year veteran, recorded his first career race victory at the British GP, but is he an F1 betting picks for the upcoming Austrian Grand Prix? He sits in fourth place at 127 points.
Charles Leclerc, Sainz’s Ferrari teammate, is in third place in the Drivers’ Standings with 138 points. Perez is in second at 147 and Max Verstappen, who has been dominant so far this season, is in first with 181 points.
The Austrian Grand Prix, held this Sunday on Red Bull home turf at the Red Bull Ring in Styria, Austria, presents another chance for Ferrari to gain some ground on Red Bull’s first-place drivers.
Grosser Preis Von Österreich Betting Picks
Max Verstappen -120
Verstappen is the F1 odds favorite to win the Austrian Grand Prix and with good reason. He has won six of 10 GPs this year, including three in a row. After a DNF in his first start at the Bahrain GP, Verstappen won the Saudi Arabia GP on March 27.
He recorded another DNF at the Australian GP, allowing Charles Leclerc to take the early season lead in the Drivers’ Standings, but Verstappen has been dynamite ever since.
Verstappen finished seventh in the British GP and will be hoping to get back on track and reach the podium, although he owes his poor performance last weekend to a piece of carbon fibre on the track.
“Once I got into the lead after Carlos made a mistake, like a few corners later in Turn 5 there was a piece of carbon,” Verstappen said. “But by the time I was there it was on the racing line, I couldn’t drastically move left or right, so I tried to just hit it head on, but instead it just went into my floor and just destroyed everything.”
Verstappen also won last year’s Austrian GP
Charles Leclerc +250
Leclerc is the only other driver to win more than one race this season, having won the Bahrain and Australian GPs. However, he has only reached the podium once this season and hasn’t been on a podium in his last five races.
Leclerc finished fifth at the Canadian GP and fourth at the British GP, so hopefully for his sake he’s trending in the right direction. He has had some success at the Austrian GP in the past, finishing second in 2020 and 2019.
Carlos Sainz +900
Sainz is a sneaky good F1 odds pick for the Austrian GP, despite the fact he only just recorded his first victory in eight years. The Ferrari driver has been improving at a steady pace and seems poised to have the best season of his career in his 150th start.
“I cannot describe it, it’s the best feeling you can have as a racing driver to win for Ferrari at such a great place like Silverstone,” Sainz said after his British GP victory. “It’s a very happy day in my life.”
Sainz has reached the podium in three of his last five starts and is close to overtaking Leclerc as Ferrari’s lead driver.
Grosser Preis Von Österreich Betting Trends
- Lewis Hamilton has reached the podium in back-to-back races after missing for the last seven races
- Carlos Sainz has reached the podium in six of 10 races
- Max Verstappen missed the podium for the first time in seven races at the British GP
- Charles Leclerc has had the pole position in six races
- Verstappen won the 2021 Austrian GP
Grosser Preis Von Österreich Betting Pick and Prediction
Verstappen (-120) has been a staple on the podium this season and has bounced back when he’s missed. It’s tempting to ride the momentum with Sainz (+900), but the smart pick is Verstappen, especially considering he won last year at the Red Bull Ring.
Potential longshot winners include Hamilton (+1000) and George Russell (+1600). The Mercedes drivers have been having better results as of late and could make things interesting in Austria.
That said, this race is Verstappen’s to lose.
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