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Learn How to Bet on the Australian Grand Prix

The Australian Grand Prix is scheduled to take place on Sunday April 2nd, 2023 with qualifying occurring the Saturday before. Formula 1 has this race as the third of its season in 2023, providing bettors with a sample of the field prior to placing their wagers.

Melbourne, Victoria will be hosting the event at the Albert Park Circuit as they have since 1996 aside from a couple of years missed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The circuit in 2022 provided many early storylines that helped shape the new F1 season with a shakeup at the top of both the constructors' and drivers’ standings from previous years.

Betting on F1 will focus around the 10 constructors (the race car producers) and the 20 individuals who drive them. Early in 2022 at the time of the Australian Grand Prix, there was an emergence of Charles Leclerc who drives for Ferrari as a new favorite in the driver's championship over the newly minted 2021 champion Max Verstappen for Red Bull. Charles Leclerc had won 2 of the opening 3 races in the F1 season to put pressure on the defending champion Verstappen as well as putting Ferrari in the lead of the Constructors Championship. Similar to other team sports you will have options to bet on both the teams as well as the drivers.

With that groundwork in mind, there are a variety of ways to bet on the Australian Grand Prix.

Popular Australian Grand Prix Bets

Race Winner

This is a very straightforward bet, pick the driver you think will win the race. You may decide to select a favorite such as Max Verstappen or the home country underdog in Daniel Ricciardo. Whatever you decide, they must outright finish first.

Podium Finish

The top three drivers will stand on the podium and as long as your pick is there, you win. Paying attention to drivers that have been strong through the start of the season or who regularly finish near the top will be the best bets. Another route is to pick a driver with a strong record winning in Australia like Sebastian Vettel who has claimed first place three times at Albert Park.

Team of Winning Driver

To give you better chances of a win, select the Constructor that will finish first. Each constructor has two drivers in the field racing their car giving you an increased chance of selecting the winner. Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are strong drivers for a top constructor in Mercedes. In this case, if either Hamilton or Russell get the checkered flag, you cash in.

Fastest Lap in Qualifying

As mentioned earlier, Saturday holds an event with betting options available: Qualifying. This is a race where drivers are competing for the fastest lap time with a certain window available to do so. Knowing which cars will perform the best on the conditions in Australia will help determine who to stake your bet on. You can also bet on which driver will have the fastest lap in the race itself.

Head to Head

In this type of bet you choose which of a pair of drivers will perform better in the race. For example, Carlos Sainz Jr. is a -150 favorite to finish ahead of Lando Norris at +130. These wagers will have smaller payouts, such as in the example, as they have higher likelihood to win with you only betting on a duel between two drivers.

Prop Bets

In addition to all the types of wagering in F1, prop bets will provide another level of fun to watching live. These bets can range from betting on if a driver will finish in the points, which are awarded to the top ten drivers, or whether a safety car will deploy during the race. These bets will rely more on luck than your knowledge of the sport but also add another layer of entertainment beyond the usual suspects.

Live bets

Beyond setting up your bets prior to the race, during the approximately 2 hour spectacle, you can wager live as the field develops. One of the most popular live bets is when driver's take their pit stops or how many stops they intend to make during a race. This can range from 1 to 3 stops, depending on what occurs during the Grand Prix.