Content Editor at Free Super Tips, Alex was born in the shadow of Old Trafford and is an avid Man Utd fan. After graduating from university he combined his love of football, writing and betting to join FST and now closely follows goings-on in all of the top European leagues.
The 2024 Formula One season gets underway this week in Bahrain and, after last week’s three-day testing period we are in the best position we can be to know how the teams and drivers are stacking up.
After a season of unprecedented dominance in which they won all-but-one Grands Prix, Red Bull have been installed as incredibly short favourites and three-time World Drivers’ Championship winner Max Verstappen is another huge favourite.
However, with a plethora of markets on offer there is still plenty for the discerning punter to sink their teeth into in our Formula One 2024 season outright predictions, priced up with bet365.
Formula One 2024 season outright predictions
With Red Bull and Max Verstappen priced at 1/6 and 1/7 respectively, there is no value to be found in the outright markets, despite their winning chances being almost a certainty.
The Milton Keynes-based team have pack-leading pace in both qualifying and race trim and showed negligible tyre degradation in their long runs in testing.
This suggests one of two things: Either they were sandbagging and have even more pace under the hood, or their overall tyre degradation is ridiculously low and their strategy options will be almost limitless.
However, backing Ferrari in the alternative markets looks a solid strategy for the 2024 season.
The Prancing Horse were just two-tenths off Red Bull in qualifying simulations and were the clear second-best side, with McLaren around 0.15 seconds off Ferrari’s hot laps and Mercedes around half-a-second off Red Bull.
Race pace simulations suggest Ferrari are third behind Red Bull and Mercedes, but they are just two-hundredths off Mercedes in second so the huge advantage in qualifying should more than make up for a very minor deficit in race pace.
With the gap between Red Bull and the chasing pack seemingly lower than this time last year, Sergio Perez may struggle to get the silver medal after a dreadful second half to 2023.
Charles Leclerc beat his teammate by six points last year and will get the lion’s share of strategy decisions with Sainz on his way out of the door at the end of the season, so backing him to win without Max Verstappen looks excellent.
Ferrari are favourites for the silver medal in the World Constructors’ Championship, too, and they should be backed ahead of Mercedes and McLaren, who were both significantly down on qualifying pace compared to Ferrari.
The newly-branded RB team showed some decent pace, too, and that could give Daniel Ricciardo a stepping stone as he rebuilds his Formula One career.
The car borrows a lot from the 2023 Red Bull Racing car clocked some impressive times, but the main reason for backing Daniel Ricciardo to win a race is the potential for a change at their parent team.
Sergio Perez came under increasing pressure towards the end of last season and a continuation of his poor form would almost certainly prompt a mid-season driver change from the fickle Helmut Marko.
Should this happen, Ricciardo would likely get the nod and become Max Verstappen’s teammate for a second time, and that would see his odds for winning a race shorten significantly.
Build better bets with our free betting tips, predictions and accumulators, every day.
More betting news:
Today’s football tips & accumulators
Betting Academy: See our complete guide to football betting
Free Super Tips is the home of Free Football Tips. Make sure to take a look at our most popular betting tips, such as our Accumulator Tips and Both Teams To Score Tips.
