Eric Uribe
The best and most exciting Formula 1 season in years races on in Mexico City. Heading into the competition — which is the fifth-to-last in the F1 season — Max Verstappen favored to win F1 Mexican GP. Of course, Lewis Hamilton is right behind him as the second frontrunner. Below you’ll find more F1 betting odds on which driver will win the upcoming race:
| Driver |  |  |
| Max Verstappen | -175 | -175 |
| Lewis Hamilton | +200 | +200 |
| Sergio Perez | +1400 | +1400 |
| Valterri Bottas | +1600 | +1600 |
| Lando Norris | +4000 | +4000 |
We’re not even going to entertain any other bets to win outright aside from Hamilton or Verstappen. We mean, why would we consider 13 of the 17 races this year have been won by either Max or Lewis? Plus, as we’ll explain next, both drivers have had their share of success racing whilst in Mexico.
2021 F1 Mexican Grand Prix Preview
The United States Grand Prix went down to the wire, but in the end, Verstappen held off Hamilton for the victory. Less than two seconds separated the two drivers from first and second place. With the big-time victory, Verstappen has now extended his lead atop the drivers’ standings to 12 points. That’s a relatively “safe” lead with only five races remaining on the calendar.
We say “safe” because the rest of the schedule is a bit of a wildcard. You see, two remaining races — the Qatar Grand Prix (third to last) and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (second to last) — are brand-spanking new. With that newness, no one really knows what to expect out of the track. So in theory, both Verstappen and Hamilton want to make their marks on the world title picture in a race like the Mexican GP, with which they are both familiar with. Very familiar with, in fact.
The Mexican GP has been part of the F1 rotation since 2015 (minus last year when it was canceled due to the pandemic). Each race in that span has been won either by Mercedes and Red Bull. Both Hamilton and Verstappen have two first-place finishes a piece in Mexico City (Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg has the only other victory).
We have to call out Verstappen’s two prior victories. This is slightly more because before 2021, he’d only won 10 races ever in seven seasons over his career (whereas Hamilton has multiple wins at just about every F1 track anyway). So the fact that 20 percent of his pre-2021 victories happened in Mexico City alludes to a special advantage he has there, which we’ll get to shortly.
For those that want to watch the action unfold live, here’s what you need to know about watching the upcoming race:
- What day is the Mexican Grand Prix this year? Sunday, November 7
- What time does the Mexican GP start? 2 pm EST (enjoy these reasonable TV start times now because F1 will finish the year back in the Middle East)
- What channel is the Mexican GP on? ABC on TV and WatchESPN for streaming
Best Bet To Win 2021 F1 Mexican Grand Prix
We saw it at the United States Grand Prix, the difference between Hamilton and Verstappen is tiny (hence the two-second separation in finishing time). Both Red Bull and Mercedes’ engines are blazing fast, with each raising eyebrows about its legality at different points in the year. Verstappen and Hamilton have exchanged leads in the standings multiple times. These two drivers are as even as you can get at this point.
That’s why when deciding on who to bet on, you have to find any sort of edge that can manifest itself come race time. For the upcoming Mexican Grand Prix, we think we’ve found the difference-maker — the elevation of Mexico City and its effect on the car. It WILL make a difference come race day.
Of course, Mexico City is famous for its high elevation (7,350 feet or 2,200 meters), and with it, the less dense air associated with it. It’s been proven time and time again, Red Bull’s smaller turbo-charger performs well in thin air without sacrificing power and energy recovery. We’re not exactly scientists here and can scientifically explain why, but the proof is in the pudding: Verstappen’s history of success here, long before 2021.
Therefore, we’re laying the hammer on Verstappen to win straight up. And when we say “laying the hammer”, we’re being serious. The aforementioned air density advantage is substantial enough to warrant a large bet on Verstappen. While every bettor has a different definition of “large”, we’d suggest making the wager a higher sum than usual. We won’t say the same at races like Saudi or Qatar which are complete unknowns, but we will in Mexico since it has recent history to back our betting thesis.
How To Bet Formula 1 In 2021
As we’ve mentioned, this wild F1 season is coming down to the wire. Not only has it been fun to watch the Hamilton-Verstappen back-and-forth, but it’s presented us with several betting opportunities to make money off and we’re not about to take our “foot off the pedal” in the final stretch of the year. If you feel the same, you can bet on every F1 race remaining at one of the betting sites below.
Moreover, these bets could be “on the house” if you leverage a sign-up bonus. These bonuses can score you hundreds to thousands of dollars in free play — which you can in turn use to make bets on, whether it’s on F1 or another sport like the NFL. The table below has full details on what bonuses you can currently take advantage of!
