Lando Norris enters the Belgian Grand Prix (9 a.m. ET, ESPN) as the No. 2 favorite following his back-to-back second-place finishes.
Norris is +1000 to win on Sunday at BetMGM after McLaren’s sudden turnaround thanks to midseason updates to its car. He hadn’t finished any better than sixth and had just three top 10s in the first eight races of the season before finishing fourth in Austria after qualifying there.
He then qualified second for the British Grand Prix and got off the line first to lead the first four laps of the race before Max Verstappen passed him on the way to the win.
Norris started third in the Hungarian Grand Prix and got to second on the opening lap as polesitter Lewis Hamilton lost places on the start. He ran significantly behind Verstappen for the entire race but had enough pace to easily stay ahead of both Hamilton and third-place finisher Sergio Perez.
Spa could be another track that ends up suiting the updated McLaren car with its high-speed corners and long straights. Yet Norris is just 10-1 to win the race because of Verstappen’s dominance. The likely 2023 champion enters Spa at -350 to get his eighth win in a row.
You should bet on that happening as well. Verstappen has been nearly untouchable this season and looks set to enter the summer break with 10 wins over the first 12 races of the season to go along with two second-place finishes. It’s a run of dominance that we haven’t seen in years and looks unlikely to end before the entire F1 garage takes a month off.
After a bad week at the Hungarian Grand Prix, we’re looking to get back on track in Belgium. Here are a few of our favorite bets for the weekend.
Fernando Alonso to finish top 10 (-350)
Max Verstappen to post the race’s fastest lap (-155)
Max Verstappen and Lando Norris to both finish top three (+100)
All four Mercedes and Red Bull drivers to finish in the top six (+125)
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This is a tantalizing bet at plus odds. Mercedes is convinced it had the second-fastest car in Hungary behind the Red Bull. At worst, Mercedes should enter the weekend as the third-fastest team and should have more race pace than both Aston Martin and Ferrari.