With sports betting raging online these days, we a GRANDPRIX247 decided to join in the boom and see what betting on Formula 1 is all about, with the proviso: bet responsibly.
On our site we know Formula 1 is booming because of the number of emails from betting companies sharing odds and tips for us to use; we even have a regular F1 betting preview and banner advertisers; all in good faith as putting a wager on race weekends is even punted by the official F1 site.
To test if F1 betting responsibly and smartly can actually enhance the fun factor of following the sport we singled out two volunteer punters – Kevin Melro and Luis Velasco – tasked for the project with $100 to get their campaigns going.
The five rules for our GP247 F1 betting project are very simple:
- With the $100, over the course of the 2022 F1 season, try and make as much money as you can with a free to chose online betting company; he with the most $$$ at the end of the season is champion;
- No restrictions to betting (apart from the $100 limit for the season) or how to bet, maximising the options, bonuses and odds offered by betting companies is up to each individual;
- Should either punter need a bail-out, they will have an extra $100 to dip into as a safety net, but that amount will be deducted from the final score;
- Each punter must provide a preview (such as this one below) before each race explaining strategy and plan for each Grand Prix weekend and, then after the race, a stocktake of how the weekend went
- At that point, we will tally the scores and compare the loot.
- First and foremost, bet responsibly and may the best punter win!
Ahead of the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, and the myriad of betting opportunities offered for the occasion, Kevin and Luis were tapped up for their respective F1 betting strategies and thoughts ahead of the new 2022 season.
Kevin: Welcome back to the party everybody! It’s the Friday of a Grand Prix weekend!
“While most other major racing series have already gotten underway, we’re hitting the pause button to not only speculate on the coming weekend but to also place our bets as the racing returns under the immaculate lights of Bahrain International Circuit for Round 1 of this much anticipated F1 season.
“As many of you may or may not know, I’ve spent years building calculators investing hundreds of hours translating FIA raw data into a workable format to chase trends, document comparisons and graph data.
“I’ve also invested an embarrassing amount of time trying to correlate my work and betting along the way by building calculators specifically looking for an edge.
“Admittedly, I have never found a strategy that mitigates enough risk to convince myself to engage in even casual sports betting, never mind being able to turn a profit #epicfail.
“Given past experiences and the magnitude of the unknown heading into this year’s season, I’ll be easing into the F1 betting with light wagers before I can establish a comfort level of risk. Most of my bets this year won’t be about swinging for the fences, but rather founded in minimizing risk instead.
“Who really cares anyway? Heading into race one, I have researched the trends from hybrid era testing, drank the Kool-Aid, and it’s damn near impossible for me to hide my Red Bull blue stained teeth.
“In the absence of a proper session this year, the only gut feeling I have to fall back on is that youth shall prevail! I suspect the group comprised of Carlos Sainz and younger have an immediate advantage initially in terms of physical conditioning, an edge you might say.
“First-time winners at round one of MotoGP, IndyCar, and Nascar races in 2022…hmmm, spooky.
“$100 has been loaded into my account, although I’ve yet to place a bet, having already missed extremely good initial odds on Max Verstappen, I’m hoping for a post FP1 swing in odds as the Melro vs Velasco head-to-head showdown begins.
“Wish me luck or point and laugh, in either case this is about having a little bit of fun, folks,” concluded Melro, clearly playing his ‘cards’ close to his chest ahead of Bahrain.
Luis: As someone who’s never bet on sports before, my main goal this season will be to try not lose all the money
“That said, if I get lucky enough, maybe even beat Kevin in terms of profit. To be honest, I don’t fancy my chances, but I’m hoping my feel for F1 will help me make the money last throughout the season.
“In order to try and achieve this, I’ve come up with the following method on how to spend the 100$ my dad has put up for each of us, in hopes that I won’t blow it all by the end of the Bahrain GP.
“For starters, Betway offers two kinds of bets for F1:
- Long-term bets, that involve you betting on the performances of a driver/team over the course of the season
- Short-term bets, which are based on the performances of drivers during practice, qualifying and the race of the upcoming Grand Prix.
“I’ve decided to put away $30 for season bets. While season bets are a bit boring due to the fact that you only know if you’ve won by the end of the season. I feel like it would be wrong to not bet on the world drivers’ and constructors’ champion at the least. So I’m putting $30 on the side for that.
“Another interesting bet option is the head-to-head battle between teammates. This could be an interesting bet for the season…
“I’m going to start off by putting $50 on all sorts of F1 bets for the Bahrain Grand Prix and see where that gets me. This involves betting on the race winner, driver on pole, drivers to finish in the top six etc. The money spent on future races will depend on how much money I’ve made/lost up until then.
“That leaves me with $20 to fall back on in case anything goes wrong. I will try and keep it at 20 unspent dollars each race, but that might change depending on how much money I actually have left in the bank,” concluded Luis.
So there we have it. The score is $100 even to Kevin and Luis, let’s see what the kitty shows after Bahrain!