Formula One has limited betting markets but offers excitement and more importantly “value”.
Most top on-line betting companies offer markets on F1 and other motor racing events such as the World Rally Championship (WRC) and Motorbike racing.
The most interesting betting markets available are for each individual F1 race and there are often many fantastic “Special” bets offered by different bookmakers.
A lot of money can be made if you choose to do make multiple bets on each race. For example – consider if you gamble on ten drivers to finish in the points – and they all do!
The Season
The F1 race season runs for most of the year from the last weekend in March to the first weekend in November.
Races are always held on Sundays and currently around 20 races are held from countries all over the world.
The first race of the season is held in Bahrain and the last race is held in UAE.(2023)
F1 races are usually every two weeks however during the season some races are held one week after the last race or sometimes three weeks after the last race.
Races usually last between 90 minutes and two hours – this does though depend on the weather conditions and on the number of accidents that might happen.
The Race Weekend
A race “weekend” consists of 3 days – Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Friday – Free Practice
Friday is simply called “Practice” day and is separated into two sessions. “Free practice 1” and “Free practice 2”.
During these practice sessions the drivers and engineers use the time to test tire wear, fuel loads, balance and aerodynamic changes and other small changes to their cars.
They also use the data collected to plan their race strategy.
There are not usually markets offered by online bookmakers for the Free Practice sessions however some bookmakers such as William Hill do offer the bet of Free Practice 1 or 2 “Fastest Driver”.
Saturday - Qualifying
Saturday is the Qualifying Day.
There is a practice session in the morning (there are no markets offered for the morning Free Practice session) and then qualifying in the afternoon.
This is when the position of the car on the final “grid” for the race on Sunday is decided.
Each driver tries to get the fastest time possible over one lap in three different sessions – Q1, Q2 and Q3.
The driver with the fastest lap time after Q3 starts the race in “Pole Position” or “Pole” (1st).
Q1: Lasts for 18 minutes, at the end, the five slowest drivers are finished.
Q2: Lap times are reset, it lasts for 15 minutes, at the end the five slowest cars are finished.
Q3: Lap times are reset again, it lasts for 12 minutes, at the end the top ten positions for the race on Sunday are decided.
There are a few markets offered by on-line bookmakers for qualifying, these cover all three qualifying sessions and the final overall qualifying grid.
Sunday – Race Day
Sunday is race day. The top ten finishers all score points (1st = 20 points / 10th = 1 point).
This is where you will find the most markets and the Special bets offered.
It is also where you will find some interesting “value” bets. You can also place bets across qualifying and the race to make your own doubles (parlays) to increase your returns!
If you want to know about F1 betting more, check out our betting guide below.
