Editor’s Note: This article on Lewis Hamilton is posted in collaboration with an outside sponsorship client. The opinions and information contained within do not necessarily represent Frontstretch and its staff.Â
British driver Lewis Hamilton, who was recently named as the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year for 2020, is now a 2/5 favorite with the bookies to win the 2021 Formula One Driver’s Championship.
If Hamilton was to succeed, he’d become the first driver to claim eight F1 titles after the Mercedes man became the first man since Michael Schumacher to win seven after his successful run last year.
That feat would make him the sport’s best driver of all-time in terms of F1 Driver’s Championships and one of the most successful British sportsmen in history.
Although 2020 wasn’t a memorable year for many people, it was for Hamilton, who had a fantastic year behind the wheel. He went on to win 11 of the 16 races that he drove in, with that record including a five-race winning streak which got underway in Germany before ending with a win in Bahrain.
It was equally as successful for team Mercedes, who will be hoping to keep hold of Hamilton despite rumors of a potential move to Ferrari.
Mercedes have already signed him to drive for them in the 2021 campaign, which secures Hamilton’s short-term future. The move will also leave Mercedes feeling confident about winning another Constructors’ Championship. Their odds are around 2/9 heading into the 2021 season.
The Title Contenders
Although the betting odds suggest that Hamilton could be a runway winner of the championship again in 2021, we are in unprecedented times at the moment and that could open the door for Max Verstappen, who will be hoping to be hot on Hamilton’s wheels.
The Belgian-born driver is 5/1 with the bookies, and is well worth keeping an eye on in the betting as the races progress, as any Formula One betting offers like price boosts on him would be well worth backing.
Verstappen, the second favorite in the 2021 Driver’s Championship odds, slipped to third in the driver’s championship table last season. However, he did enjoy a duo of Grand Prix successes at Silverstone and in the last race of the season at Abu Dhabi.
That will have Verstappen confident starting the new season as he finished the last, with his Red Bull team also confident they’ll make a strong bid at the Constructors’ title as well.
Red Bull topped the pile in 2010 and 2013, but have struggled to challenge in the years since then and are as big as 10/3 for success to finally come their way once again at the end of the 2021 campaign.
If Verstappen can’t get close to Lewis Hamilton, then it might be another Mercedes driver in Valtteri Bottas who can make some inroads. He is 11/2 for the title, and might be slightly overlooked in the betting, as he made Hamilton work hard for large parts of last season and eventually finished second in the driver’s standings after two Grand Prix wins of his own.
For Bottas, those victories arrived in the Austrian Grand Prix on the opening race of the calendar and then at the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi. With Hamilton still the main man at Mercedes, It’s unlikely that Bottas will have a chance to get as competitive as he might like. But if Hamilton doesn’t take the chances he’ll need to win the championship, then Bottas will be the one to side with in the ante-post betting for the 2021 Formula One season.
The Outsiders
Sergio Perez is far from an unknown quantity to Formula One supporters, but has been driving better than ever in 2020 and will be hoping for a big push this year with his new team. The experienced 30-year-old will drive for Red Bull in 2021 and Hamilton has already admitted he will be a force to be reckoned with.
In the 2020 standings, the Mexican was fourth running for Racing Point but won the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir. Now paired with Red Bull, Perez will be hopeful that a better car can spring him into contention.
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My dog in a Merc would be the Odds-On Favorite For a F1 Title…………please he is by far the worst F1 Champ the world has ever seen
Wow what a shocker. Honestly, I don’t know how anyone can watch F1 anymore. I don’t mind having a dominant driver in a series in any given year, but having the same guy be that dominant for that long pretty much ruins it for me.