F1 Betting Sites: Legal Formula 1 Sportsbooks

Betting on the F1 Championship

The F1 Championship is a yearly tour in which teams of racing drivers go head to head on a series of circuits, known as the Grand Prix. Drivers can rack up points for their performances at these individual circuits, and at the end of the season, the driver with the most points wins the Drivers’ Championship. There is also a constructors’ championship, as the racing car builders also pick up points during Grands Prix (the spelling for multiple Grand Prix is Grands Prix), and those points add to their score in the constructors’ championship.

Pretty simple in theory really, but what makes the F1 Championship so globally popular is that these circuits are located all over the world. Each season different circuits are picked by the Federation Internationale de l’Autombile, or FIA. Some circuits appear regularly, and date back to when the F1 Championship began in 1950. Each circuit has its own characteristics, posing different challenges for the drivers. Here are a few of our favorite Grand Prix circuits:

F1 Betting Types

F1 betting does not have as many options as other sports, but our recommended sportsbooks still give you lots of exciting ways to bet on races.

F1 betting works the same way as other types of sports betting. You make a prediction about the outcome of a race or an event within the race, and if your prediction is correct, you win! The amount you win is based on the size of your bet and the odds the sportsbook provides. Here are the most common F1 bet types:

• Race Winner – You can’t get more beginner friendly than this bet. Simply predict which driver is going to win a particular race, and if you are right, you win! For example, you might bet on Charles Leclerc to win the Monaco GP.
• Pole Position – This is similar to a race winner wager, but instead, you need to correctly predict the winner of qualifying. If your favorite driver earns pole position, you can earn a fat payday!
• Podium Finish – In this bet, you win if your chosen drive finishes the GP in the top 3. It doesn’t matter if they come 1st, 2nd, or 3rd! For example, if you bet on Carlos Sainz Jr to make a podium finish at the 2023 Bahrain GP, you would have just lost as the Spanish driver finished 4th!
• Fastest Lap – Predict which driver will record the fastest lap throughout the entire race. It doesn’t matter if it happens on the first or last lap of the grand prix!
• Head-to-Head Betting – With this wager, you convert a race into a 1v1 battle. You can bet on Driver A or B, and if your driver finishes the race higher than the other driver, you win! For example, you could bet on Gary Russell to beat Lewis Hamilton in the next Grand Prix. It doesn’t matter where Russell finishes; as long as he beats Hamilton, your bet pays out.
• First Driver to Retire – You need to predict which driver will quit the race first. It can be for any reason, such as car difficulties or a nasty crash.
• Driver’s Championship – This bet is all about predicting which driver will win the whole F1 competition. For example, you could bet on Max Verstappen to lift the F1 trophy in the upcoming F1 Championship.
• Safety Car Period – This is a Yes/No bet where you need to guess whether a safety car will be used at any point during an F1 GP. Safety cars are typically deployed following a crash or bad weather.
• Winning Margin – You already know who is going to win the race? Then chase higher odds by predicting how many seconds the driver will win by.

F1 betting sites give you the freedom to bet on virtually every aspect of a race. With so many choices, you will always find wagers worth taking!

Best F1 Bets for Beginners

If you are just starting F1 betting, don’t get too fancy. Stick to simple bets that still give you a great chance to win. We recommend these F1 bet types:

• Race Winner – You can’t get more beginner friendly than this bet. You have probably made this wager with your buddies, even if the stakes were a beer! With a race winner wager, stick to the heavy favorites and avoid wasting money on fairytale underdogs, their cars aren’t fast enough!
• Pole Position – Can’t wait for race day? Then bet on qualifying with this fun wager. Remember that the big car makers like Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull dominate qualifying.
• Podium Finish – This type of F1 bet is great if you want to reduce your risk. Even if a heavy pre-race favorite has a bad day, they are unlikely to drop out of the top 3. A great way to increase your win percentage is to bet on the pole position driver to make the top 3. However, note this bet offers lower odds than a race-winner wager.

Betting Options for F1 Experts

As you quickly become an expert on F1 betting (our article will get you halfway there), you can start experimenting with more exotic and complex bets, as well as start utilizing betting systems. Here are some F1 bets which are great for betting experts:

• Driver’s Championship – This bet is essentially a combination of race-winner wagers. You need to predict how a driver will perform over the entire season rather than just individual races. Every F1 season, realistically there are only 3 to 4 drivers that could win the championship, so avoid underdogs like the plague!
• Fastest Lap – This bet can be a bit tricky because it isn’t always the race winner who records the fastest lap. Sometimes a driver in the middle of the pack will have the lap of his life or slam on the accelerator trying to overtake a rival.
• Winning Margin – This bet is best left to the experts because you not only have to predict the winning driver but their winning margin, which decreases your win percentage. To improve your odds, you need to look at historical races and see how many seconds your selected driver usually wins by.

F1 Live Betting

Keep betting right up until the final lap, thanks to F1 live betting! Here are some wager types best suited for F1 live betting:

• Head-to-Head Betting – Spend a few laps closely watching two drivers, identify which of the drivers is in form, and then bet on them to beat their rival! This bet is extremely exciting and profitable if you can successfully predict a driver in, for example, 3rd position to leapfrog the race leader!
• First Driver to Retire – Do you notice something wrong with a driver’s car? Is that smoke coming out of their engine? Quickly lock in your first driver to retire bet!
• Safety Car Period – Are drivers being reckless around that bend? Has the weather changed for the worse? Then it is likely a safety car will enter the race. By watching the race live before making this bet, you can increase your odds of winning.