The Formula 1 circus heads straight to Hungary after Max Verstappen won the French Grand Prix last weekend, with the race at the Hungaroring the last prior to the mid-year summer break. With the gap at the top of the standings increasing after Charles Leclerc lost another probable Grand Prix victory last week, this race could prove pivotal to the 2022 season. Once again, we expect a tough battle between Red Bull and Ferrari, and another race that proves difficult to predict.
2022 F1 Betting Tips
French Grand Prix Review
As predicted in our preview, the Ferrari set up beautifully for the French Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc taking Pole Position from Max Verstappen by 0.3s. Carlos Sainz confirmed the pace of the Ferrari, often looking the quickest throughout the early part of the weekend.
The race started with Leclerc and Verstappen getting away well, with Hamilton moving ahead of Sergio Perez for third. Verstappen pressured Leclerc for the first 8 or so laps, however Leclerc began to build a nice advantage before Verstappen pitted on lap 16. 2 laps later, in an incident that could well decide the 2022 Drivers Champion, Leclerc flew off into the barriers and retired. This was the third race Leclerc had retired from whilst leading the race, and this will surely prove almost impossible to come back from.
This, unfortunately, took a lot of the intrigue out of the race. With Leclerc out, Verstappen cruised to his 7th victory of the year, and increased his lead in the championship to 63 points.
Mercedes had a fantastic afternoon, with Hamilton (2nd) and Russell (3rd) making it the first double podium for Mercedes this season. Alpine and McLaren also managed double points finishes during the race.
Hungarian Grand Prix Preview
The track at the Hungaroring is not necessarily known for great racing, as it proves one of the most difficult tracks on the calendar to overtake, however the race in 2021 bucked the trend. Raining at the start, several collisions occurred heading into the first corner, sending several big names tumbling down the order, or out of the race completely. One man who managed to escape the carnage was Esteban Ocon. He was helped further after the race was red flagged. At the restart, the track was dry, and all drivers dived into the pits for dry tires, however Hamilton did not. This made the start quite farcical, with only the Mercedes driver on the grid. A crazy race ensued, with Ocon claiming his first career victory after a lengthy battle with Seb Vettel.
Looking to this year’s race, I’m more hopeful than confident for an exciting race, with rain predicted for Saturday and Sunday. If this happens, we could be in for another crazy race weekend.
However, I can’t speculate, and as such I will treat this as a normal race weekend. The Hungaroring sets up about as close to the Monaco Grand Prix as any other track on the calendar. Low to medium speed corners are the norm, and high downforce setups tend to be the preferred choice. It is a track where Pole Position is extremely important, given the lack of overtaking opportunities in dry running.
With this in mind, I again lean towards the Ferrari being the quicker package this weekend. It’s hard to trust the team, and to a lesser extent the drivers, however the track sets up beautifully for their package and as outlined above, we can’t make a bet on speculation, and saying Ferrari will mess up the strategy or Leclerc may make an error is speculation.
So, we go heavy on Ferrari this weekend, whilst also having a small wager on Perez. His number is again crazy, and he showed at Monaco that he enjoys driving in these high-downforce conditions.
Charles Leclerc (Pole Position) - $1.88 @ Betfair (2.5u)
Carlos Sainz (Race Winner) - $8.40 @ Betfair (1u)
Carlos Sainz (Pole Position) - $7.00 @ Betfair (1.5u)
Sergio Perez (Race Winner) - $30 @ Betfair (0.5u)
Ferrari (Double Podium Finish) - $2.50 @ NEDS (1u)
Lando Norris (Top 6 Finish) - $3.30 @ Betfair (0.5u)
Charles Leclerc (Race Winner)
$2.66 (3 Units)
