Formula 1 racing continues this weekend as the series moves to the Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Last week featured the second straight race at Red Bull Ring in Austria, as the newly created Styrian Grand Prix was held to help the drivers get enough races in for a meaningful championship season. As was expected, Mercedes has made a strong start in the Constructors’ Championship, as Valtteri Bottas won the Austrian Grand Prix and Lewis Hamilton pushed to a win in the Styrian after a time penalty pushed him from second down to fourth in the season opener. Ferrari managed to get second place out of Charles Leclerc in the first race, but he crashed into teammate Sebastian Vettel in the first lap of the Styrian Grand Prix, ending both drivers’ days. This week, though, the tighter confines of the Hungaroring will make it harder for Mercedes to prevail on power alone. Check out the Formula 1 betting odds as well as our thoughts on the teams.
Formula 1: Hungarian Grand Prix Preview (July 19)
Driver Odds
- Lewis Hamilton 4/6
- Valtteri Bottas 3/1
- Max Verstappen 4/1
- Alexander Albon, Sergio Perez 33/1
- Carlos Sainz 40/1
- Lando Norris 50/1
- Sebastian Vettel, Charles Leclerc 66/1
- Lance Stroll 100/1
- Daniel Ricciardo 150/1
- Esteban Ocon 275/1
- Pierre Gasly, Kimi Raikkonen 1000/1
- Antonio Giovinazzi, Daniil Kvyat 1500/1
- George Russell, Kevin Magnussen, Romain Grosjean 2000/1
- Nicholas Latifi 2500/1
Has Ferrari slid back to the group of teams in the middle, falling off the pace of Mercedes and Red Bull? Yes, Charles Leclerc got that runner-up at the first Red Bull Ring event, but feuding between himself and Sebastian Vettel, who is on his way out of Ferrari’s team after this season, will only grow after Leclerc clocked Vettel from behind in the opening lap.
Red Bull benefits from Ferrari’s problems, of course, but while Max Verstappen was able to climb onto the third place position on the podium after the Styrian Grand Prix, he admitted afterward that his car simply did not have the power to keep up with Hamilton or Bottas.
Mercedes could struggle at the Hungaroring — or they could simply show their driving prowess once again. Hamilton has shown that he can win even on courses that do not reward the Mercedes’ raw power, so it will be interesting to see if Verstappen and Alexander Albon can assert themselves to a greater degree than they did at either race in Austria.
McLaren is making waves, now as Lando Norris got his first podium finish ever in the Austrian Grand Prix, and then he followed that up with some fancy driving down the stretch of the Styrian Grand Prix to grab fifth place.
Racing Point brought its “pink Mercedes” — basically, a knockoff of the cars Mercedes ran in 2019. Renault has protested the legality of the car, a question that will be addressed ahead of the race at the Hungaroring. Renault also added Fernando Alonso to replace Daniel Ricciardo for the 2021 season (as he will head to McLaren), but their cars this year are having problems with a cooling system that caused Ricciardo to retire in the first race and Esteban Ocon to retire in the second. Hungary could feature even hotter temperatures, which could cause Renault more problems this week.
