Best Formula 1 Betting Sites | 2018

Before you get your pitchforks, these are in our opinion, the best Formula 1 sportsbooks for several reasons. First, they’re all safe and reliable. Second, they offer all Formula 1 betting markets that are available online. And lastly, they offer attractive new customer bonuses! Now, Formula 1 betting is a bit different than regular sports betting, but that’s a topic for a different occasion. Do not worry, we’re going to cover that later on as well.

F1 Ladbrokes – A Great Combination

Now, these 3 deserve your special attention. If you’re of the punters that has the experience and the betting portfolio, stop right here. Ladbrokes UK has to say a word or two about Formula One betting. However, you get to hear them a few days before any big F1 GP. If you’re still new to Ladbrokes, don’t forget to grab that welcome bonus deal. Then again, we’re sorry breaking it out to you, but you can’t combine it with any F1 special promotion.

Betfair Formula 1 Betting Offer

Next in line is yet another giant UK betting site, more commonly known for its exceptional betting exchange. Nevertheless, it’s also among the top 3 choices of passionate F1 fans when it comes to betting. And why shouldn’t they bet at Betfair? There’s an alluring welcome deal, and the F1 betting markets are just the icing on top. As far as special F1 promotions go, the price might not right. At the end of the day, the choice of betting markets is what can make a difference, not the promotions.

Paddy Power is Big on F1 Grand Prixs

In general, Paddy Power is the go-to bookie if you take yourself for a bonus or promo hunter. They never fail to deliver. Probably the only reason why it sits on the 3rd place this time around, is because we find it difficult to navigate their odds. It’s just that. In other words, if you’re not in a hurry, and if you’re at the top of your “race”, it’s as good as both of the aforementioned bookies, but you should be getting more exciting promotions.

Now that we’re done with WHERE to BET on F1 GP, it’s time to take a look at HOW to BET on F1 GPs!

How to Bet on Formula One?

Since you’re already reading this, we’re going to assume you have no idea how F1 betting works. Additionally, we’re going to avoid advanced betting markets like quinellas exactas, but we are going to cover them in the individual F1 race pages.

First, we’re going to touch upon the F1 betting markets, meaning what can you bet on. Do not worry, even if you’ve never placed a bet on racing, be that Horse Racing, or any motor racing, by the end of this page, you will be able to place an F1 bet with confidence.

Formula 1 Betting Markets

If you’re an experience sports bettor, yet you haven’t placed a single bet on any racing event, you’re going to learn a bunch of new stuff. For starters, forget about all of the betting markets you know about, at least for the time being.

Unlike with football for instance, the bets you’re going to place are outright bets. Like other forms of betting, the odds change and they reflect the current state of the drivers, the teams and the constructors. Any news, any information that’s relevant to the upcoming Grand Prix will have an impact on the odds. This is why sometimes it’s recommended to place an early outright bet on Formula 1 races. At times, these changes can make a difference of up to 30%. Nevertheless, in most cases these will be minor fixes, in the range of 0.10 to 0.25. We’re going to cover facts like this later on. To get back to the point, Formula One betting markets, here they go.

F1 Race Bets – Outright Betting - Race Winner Driver

The most popular F1 betting market, and the new punter favourite, outright bet on the Race Winner, or in particular the Driver that will finish the race first. This kind of bet is not related to the overall standings. It’s easy to understand, the odds are OK-ish, and it’s enough to make any F1 race 10 times more exciting. After all, it’s your money on the line!

Formula One is one of those sports where two or at most 3 individuals dominate. No wonder they get the Legend treatment. This makes the odds grow rapidly if you want to back a driver other than the two leading ones. This is an extract from 888sport’s F1 France GP betting offer for 2018. It shows the top 5 drivers and their respective odds. The purpose of this extract is to show how the F1 race betting odds look like.

That huge bump from 7/4 to 11/2 is big! This is how most of the odds for Driver Race Winner bets will look like. Do you think there’s going to be a big surprise? Well, online betting sites do incentivize risky bets by offering significantly greater odds. Just don’t go all in with them. It rarely happens. There’s a good reason why only the top two odds look “normal” in the eyes of inexperienced F1 punters.

F1 Race Bets – Outright Betting – Race Winner Team

Now, since there is more than one driver in a team, we can also bet on which team will be the race winner. How does this works? Well, if the one of the car’s of the team you’ve backed finishes the race first, your bet’s a winner. In nature, they look good to risk averse punters.

Bwin, for instance, offers odds for Mercedes to win and Any Other Team. This is subject to change, but it best reflects the current state of the Formula 1 competitions.

Here’s an example how the F1 Team Race Winner odds look like:

The duality in F1 is obvious, and it’s been like this in the past 20 years, with minor fluctuations. Not only these two have the best cars, but they also make sure they have the best F1 drivers around.

Although new punters don’t even consider this type of bet, in reality, it’s easier to deal with.

F1 Race Bets –  Head to Head – Team and Driver

We hinted earlier about it, and here’s a more detailed explanation, and our unbiased take on this kind of bets. Head to head bets come off as oversimplistic, and at times, they make this impression that it’s so easy to get them right, and make an accurate prediction.

Basically, you bet which of the two selected drivers will finish the race faster. It’s not rocket science, and to be fair, it’s probably the most exciting bet out of all. There are races that are over in the first few laps. With this bet on your bet slip, you guarantee yourself thrills for the entire duration of the race.

For the sake of consistency, here are 4 examples of head to head bets (drivers) and how the odds look like:

*** These F1 head-to-head betting odds are just an example, extracted from Bwin’s offer for France GP 2018.

We recommend head-to-head bets to passionate F1 fans who don’t have a clear favorite. Instead, they just have the passion for F1 and betting at the same time.

F1 Drivers Championship Winner (Seasonal Bet)

The best and easiest way for us to explain you this F1 betting market is to to compare with an outright football bet on the winner of the league. For example, the Premier League. So, for instance, you predict that Sebastian Vettel is going to have a great season, and he has a good chance to secure his position as the winner of F1 Championship. Also, you’ve found a bookie with attractive odds. If the price is right, go for it!

However, we recommend punters to go for odds shopping before they seal the deal, because it’s a season long bet after all. Since at the time of writing of this page there weren’t any odds, we weren’t able to provide an extract as an example, like we did for the previous Formula 1 betting markets.

Formula One Constructors Championship Winner (Seasonal Bet)

The Teams or the Contrusctors also deserve some attention. After all, they’re the guys behind the curtain, and they should take most of the credit. If it wasn’t for them, we weren’t going to be able to enjoy Formula 1. There are F1 Constructor Odds as well, like there are for F1 Drivers. The fundamental principle is the same. However, instead of whose car has the most points, the points of the both drivers are added together. The Team/Constructor with the most points is the winner, as simple as that.

F1 Fastest Lap Bet

So far, we talked about standard F1 betting markets, meaning you can find them available at all online bookmakers. However, there are a few F1 special betting markets, that are not the bread and butter. As a matter of fact, most of them are coin-toss bets. Being the driver with the safest lap is an achievement on its on. The commentators will repeat this information times and times again during the race. It’s not just about prestige, because the pole position depends on it.

Nevertheless, on race day, the fastest lap usually indicates which driver has among the top 3. Ergo, most of the “fastest lap f1 bets” will match with the Race Winner Driver bet. Note, we said “usually”, not always.

Is There Going to be a Safety Car on the Track?

It’s in the category of Special Bets, and that’s just what it is. Accidents do happen, but will any happen in the upcoming F1 race? Look for the this special at online betting sites, whether there’s going to be a safety car on the road, for whatever reason. Brief  tip for you, when the weather is poor, the chances of a safety car appearing on the track are so high. If you don’t have any idea which driver to back, nor you’re into head-to-head bets, feel free to go for this special.

F1 Exacta and Quinella Bets - F1 Top 3 Finish Bet – Podium Bet

Do you think you have what it takes to predict the drivers who will finish the race first? You don’t need to go to the very extremes, but you will have to get the first two drivers right. This type of bet is known as quinella, and it’s most popular in horse racing. However, online betting sites have picked it up and, although rare, some bookies have gone the distance to prepare odds.

Quinella bets call for predicting the first two spots, and the order is irrelevant. Exacta on the other hand, requires punters to get the first two spots in the exact order, ergo the name Exacta. This type of bets is extremely difficult to master, but it’s also the most rewarding. If you have years of F1 betting experience, have some fun with them. Podium bets can be Quinella or Exactas.

Formula 1 Betting Guide & Advice

Although all drivers have to cover the same track, not all do it as good. Experienced F1 punters are keen on picking up the drivers’ strongest features, but of their weakest flaws as well. Here are a few things that are indicators of the drivers’ race performance in the upcoming race. Note, these indicators are not definite, they’re relative. Then again, they also affect one another.

• Weather Conditions – Not all drivers deal with poor weather conditions the same. The choice of tyres and a sudden rain can start a real mayhem on the race track. In most cases, experienced drivers deal with poor weather conditions much better. However, like we said, this is just a starting point. If you have additional information on this matter in particular, it’s of huge advantage!
• RECENT Past Performance – Past events, or to be precise, past track record is a strong indicator of what CAN happen in the NEAR future. Additionally, if it’s not the past 2-3 races you're taking into consideration, pay attention to the track specific record.
  Moreover, prior to the race day, the drivers use every opportunity they can get to test their skills on the track. It’s essential that you know how the driver fared against his opponents. The practice before the race is the most relevant source of useful information.
• Grid Position – The beauty of Formula 1 is that all tracks are different, and they have their unique individual trademarks. Take for instance the Monaco GP, Monte Carlo. It’s narrow, windy and there’s not much room for heroic overtaking. The driver with the pole position has the upper hand, regardless of your standpoint. Then again, not all tracks have the aforementioned features. Grid position is extremely important to bookies. It’s one of the key things that influence how attractive the odds will be.
• Pole Position – Who has the pole position? Is that the favourite? Is that a driver who’s not that popular? Why is this the case? What has happened in recent times? Can the pole position driver manage to maintain his pace and finish the race first, like most of us expect?
• Team/Constructors Changes – Although rare, it’s worth noting that you should check the news before you make a bold bet, especially if you haven’t bet on Formula One for a long period of time. The drivers’ teams are just as important as the drivers themselves. It’s their responsibility to ensure that everything goes as planned.
• Shop Around for the Best F1 Odds – At the end of the day, having better odds to choose from can make the entire F1 betting experience much more pleasant. Instead of having to take on risky bets, you can go for most “probable” outcomes. The thing is, online betting sites have become so good at figuring out what will happen, that it’s basically redundant to invest hours of your time in finding the best Formula One betting odds. To make matters worse for you, their reaction time is stunning. As soon as the news goes live on the web, it’s already too late for you to take advantage.

Which Online Betting Site has the Best F1 Odds?

Instead of looking for the best F1 betting odds, we recommend looking for the bookies with the best promotions, and ones that offer a variety of Formula One betting markets. The difference in odds is almost insignificant, especially if you’re placing a Single bet. On the other hand, punters who have prepared a range of head to head bets, they should apply a different approach in selecting their bookie. The underlying “advice” is to stick to one bookie. The bookie’s algorithm will flag you for more frequent, and more attractive betting promotions.

Our top pick for Formula 1 betting is Ladbrokes! It brings tons of promotions, and a decent chunk of them are targeting Formula One fans. Now, they are subject to change so feel free to visit Ladbrokes and have a good look around. Here’s the welcome offer in case you’re ready to start betting right away!

What are the Most Popular F1 Races?

1. British Grand Prix (Silverstone)
2. Canadian Grand Prix (Circuit Gilles Villeneuve)
3. Mexican Grand Prix (Autodromo Hermanos Roriguez)
4. Belgian GP (Spa-Francorchamps)
5. United States GP (Circuit of the Americas)
6. Monaco GP (Monte Carlo)
7. Hungarian GP (Hungaroring)
8. Singapore GP (Marina Bay Street Circuit)
9. Australian GP (Albert Park)
10. Abu Dhabi GP (Yas Marina Circuit)