Lando Norris Looks to Close the Betting Gap to be F1 Champion

For the past 3 seasons, everyone has been chasing after Max Verstappen, who came into this season as the three-time defending champion and started this season by winning 7 of the first 10 Grand Prix events.

However, Lando Norris has also had a strong season with 2 wins of his own, including a win at the most recent Grand Prix in the Netherlands. Most top betting apps have Max Verstappen and Lando Norris as the top favorites to win the 2024 Formula 1 Championship.

Since his first championship in 2021, Max Verstappen has been close to unstoppable. With 51 wins since the start of the 2021 season, it has been Max Verstappen’s championship to lose.

The 2024 schedule started strong for Max with 7 wins in the first 10 races, but he has failed to win in the past 5 Grand Prix. This is his longest winless streak since the start of the 2021 season.

The slight ‘cold spell’ from Max has allowed Lando Norris to close the gap in the points standings and make a push for the first Formula 1 championship of his career.

Currently on FanDuel Sportsbook, Max is the betting favorite at -330 to win his fourth consecutive championship. He’ll have to continue racing well and finish strong to hold off a surging Lando Norris.

As McLaren’s top driver, Lando Norris is having the best season of his young career in 2024. He has already surpassed his career-best point total from last year and set himself up for a chance at the championship.

After claiming his maiden win in Miami earlier this season, he took home his second career win at the most recent Grand Prix in the Netherlands. Still only 24 years old, Norris is making a push to be considered one of the top racers in Formula 1.

He is currently +250 to win the 2024 Championship and is the closest competitor to Max by a wide margin. Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri currently has the 3rd best odds to win but is well behind the top two with very long odds of +11000 to win the title.

Lando is 70 points off the lead and could close the gap if he continues to race well and Max Verstappen stumbles down the final stretch.

The Driver’s Championship isn’t the only race that will be close during the final 9 events of the season. Currently, Max’s Team Red Bull is 30 points ahead of Norris’s Team McLaren in the race for the Constructor’s Championship.

However, oddsmakers are giving the betting edge to Team McLaren with -340 to win while Team Red Bull is at +250. It makes sense that the two top-ranked teams also have the two top-ranked drivers but with the Constructors Championship, the 2nd drivers on the team make a big difference.

Right now, Max’s teammate, Checo Perez is currently 7th in the driver standings while Norris’ teammate, Oscar Piastri sits in 4th place. How Perez and Piastri close out the season will play a big role in the race for the Constructors Championship.

Formula 1 is an adrenaline-filled, nail-biting sport and could become even more intense as the season winds down.

With the driver points standings as close as they’ve been in a few seasons, we might be in for the best race to the championship since 2021 when Max Verstappen narrowly beat out superstar Lewis Hamilton to claim his first F1 Championship.