F1 2024 season predictions including a 9/1 Charles Leclerc bet

F1 2024 Season Predictions:

Drivers’ Championship – Max Verstappen
Constructors’ Championship – Red Bull
Betting Without Max Verstappen – Charles Leclerc
Overall H2H (Valtteri Bottas v Guanyu Zhou) – Guanyu Zhou

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change

It’s lights out and away we go, well nearly, as the 2024 Formula 1 season is less than three weeks away!

The 2023 campaign was probably one of the least exciting in recent memory as Max Verstappen blitzed his 19 rivals to claim the title is spectacular fashion, but, whisper it quietly, this year promises to be epic.

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The chasing pack should be closer to Red Bull, Lewis Hamilton sees out the final months of his Mercedes contract before moving to Ferrari, while plenty of drivers are fighting to secure their futures.

I’ve run the rule over Paddy Power’s F1 odds and picked out a number of predictions for the 2024 season. Let’s get to it!

Drivers’ Championship – Max Verstappen

Who else? After grabbing his first title in controversial circumstances in 2021, Max Verstappen has spent the last two seasons routing his rivals.

The Dutchman finished 290 points clear of team-mate Sergio Perez, who comfortably finished second, in the 2023 season and has the sort of mentality to repeat that feat – or even better it – instead of resting on his laurels.

Constructors’ Championship – Red Bull

Red Bull won all bar one of last season’s races and have created two championship cars since the major rules changes ahead of the 2022 campaign.

The uncertainty surrounding team principal Christian Horner is unlikely to affect the team on the track and the RB20 should prove to be another all-conquering machine.

Betting Without Max Verstappen – Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc finished second in the 2022 Drivers’ Championship and looks overpriced in our Betting Without Max Verstappen betting market.

Leclerc bagged the third-most points in the second half of last season as Ferrari finally got their act together and the Monegasque would probably have scored more than Lando Norris had he not been disqualified from the United States Grand Prix and got to the start line for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The impending arrival of Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari should motivate Leclerc to prove he is the top dog and, despite the team making loads of strange strategy calls in recent years, they should prioritise him over outgoing team-mate Carlos Sainz.

The pressure will be on Red Bull number two Sergio Perez to retain his seat and the Mexican will need to be more consistent considering the pack were closing the gap in the second half of last season.

Lewis Hamilton pulled off a minor miracle to finish third in last season’s Drivers’ Championship but Mercedes seem a bit lost, while McLaren will need the MCL38 to be a bit less track-and-weather dependent if Lando Norris is to stick it up to Verstappen for the whole year.

Overall H2H (Valtteri Bottas v Guanyu Zhou) – Guanyu Zhou

It is difficult to see the Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber (formerly Alfa Romeo) finishing higher than ninth in the Constructors’ Championship so Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou are likely to be scrapping for minor points at the odd race.

The upcoming campaign will be their third as team-mates and there is a clear trend between the pair. Bottas finished 43 points ahead of Zhou in 2022 but that was cut to four last term as the Finn struggled to repeat the success of his maiden year with the team.

There is likely to be little between the two drivers so it is worth chancing Zhou at a much bigger price as he has shown gradual signs of improvement since his arrival in the series in 2022.

Audi’s impending arrival under the Sauber banner in 2026 provides an interesting backdrop as the German car manufacturer will have their own thoughts about future driver lineups.