The third straight weekend of Formula 1 has the teams headed to the famous Monza track in Italy for the 2022 Italian Grand Prix. Championship leader Max Verstappen will be looking for his 5th straight victory and 11th of the season, as he continues to walk away with the driver’s title. The past two years have thrown up some crazy results at Monza, so let’s hope for another unexpected result this season.
Ben Bridge provides his bets bets for the Italian Grand Prix below!
2022 Formula 1 Betting Tips
Dutch Grand Prix Review
Verstappen snuck home on Saturday to take pole position from Charles Leclerc by 0.021 seconds, which given the difficult nature of overtaking at Zandvoort was a major accomplishment.
The start was rather uneventful, with everyone maintaining position at the front. Crucially, the Mercedes’ pair of Hamilton and Russell started on medium tyres, with the other front runners on soft tyres.
Lap 15 saw the commencement of pit stops, with Perez and Sainz stopping. Sainz had a shocking stop, dropping him well down the order. This started a lengthy list of issues for Sainz, ultimately seeing him finish 8th.
Leclerc (18) and Verstappen (19) pitted, leaving the Mercedes pair 1st and 2nd, running longer on the medium tyre. Hamilton pitted on lap 30, bolting hard tyres to his Mercedes and planning a 1-stop strategy. He then proceeded to slowly catch Verstappen on fresher tyres, and the race looked on.
On lap 47, Tsunoda stopped on track which triggered a virtual safety car. This was brilliant timing for Verstappen, who was able to pit and emerge still in first, as both Mercedes also pitted for fresh rubber. Then, on lap 55 Valteri Bottas stopped on track, and the safety car made an appearance. Basically, everyone stopped for fresh soft tyres, with the exception of Hamilton, who stayed out. Ultimately, he was a sitting duck when the race resumed, with Verstappen waltzing to victory from Russell and Leclerc.
Italian Grand Prix Preview
I won’t be making the usual 10-unit portfolio this weekend. The reasons being the fact Verstappen, easily the most likely winner this weekend, simply isn’t enough value ($1.36). The other reason is the fact the last two years, we’ve had some massive priced runners winning the Italian Grand Prix (Gasly 2020, Ricciardo 2021). So, this week we go a little left field, with smaller outlays on bets.
All things being equal, this is surely another race for Verstappen to increase his lead at the top of the Drivers Championship. The Red Bull has easily proved the best car along the straights, and with the Italian Grand Prix enjoying some of the longest straights on the calendar, surely Red Bull will be the team to beat.
Unfortunately, given his price, it’s not worth betting on Max this weekend. And so, we begin our look at some outlier bets. Alpine has appeared genuinely fast in low downforce settings, and whilst in a normal race they won’t have the pace of the top 3 teams, with a little bit of luck Alonso and/or Ocon could definitely put that car onto the podium.
I also like the Williams of Alex Albon to make waves. Albon was brilliant two weeks ago in Belgium, outlining the Williams is a much quicker car in low downforce trim. A points finish is definitely on the cards for Albon this weekend, and don’t be surprised to see him in the top 6 with some carnage in the upper midfield.
Finally, given the way Ferrari have performed on race day this year, I’m loathed to make a bet on a Ferrari driver winning this race, however given it is the Italian Grand Prix, maybe, just maybe, the racing Gods will shine down on the Prancing Horse and allow them the win they and their fans would adore.
Also Backing:
Fernando Alonso (Top 3 finish) - $17 @ Bet365 (0.5u)
Alex Albon (Top 10 finish) - $2.50 @ Bet365 (1u)
Sergio Perez (Top 3 finish) - $2.20 @ Ladbrokes (1u)
Seb Vettel (Top 10 finish) - $2.50 @ Palmerbet (1u)
Charles Leclerc (Race Winner)
$7.50 (1.5 Units)
