What a race it was in Singapore with Carlos Sainz taking P1 despite some issues with his tires. Ferrari, along with Sainz at the helm, certainly made all the right decisions to capitalise on their pole position from Saturday.
Going into this weekend’s race at Suzuka, Japan, fans wonder, can Ferrari keep the momentum going and claim their 2nd victory of the 2023 F1 season? Or will Red Bull bounce back and sort their aerodynamic issues they had in Singapore? There is everything to play for and the 2023 season just got a lot more interesting with the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and even Mercedes finally being able to seriously challenge Red Bull at certain tracks. Continue reading for more as we analyse the odds from the UK bookmaker William Hill!
※ Current Odds Date & Time: September 20th, 5:00 A.M. (EST)
The odds for this weekend’s race are somewhat unexpected. Max Verstappen, priced at only 1.33, is still the ultimate favourite to take victory at Suzuka. However, it is interesting to see the rest of the grid priced so high. For example Sainz. Despite putting in a flawless performance during the entire weekend in Singapore, the price on him is 17.00. Much higher than the likes of Lando Norris.
While McLaren powered by the Mercedes engine certainly has potential, Ferrari currently sits as the favourite to take the crown of “best of the rest”, if we set aside Red Bull for the moment. What is interesting also is the price on Charles Leclerc. Throughout the season, Charles had better odds than Sainz for winning a GP. This is no longer the case. His inconsistency and unreliability seem to have pushed the oddsmakers to rethink who is Ferrari’s top driver now. And by the looks of it, Sainz is the bigger favourite.
The Circuit
The Suzuka International Racing Course is one of the iconic tracks in Formula 1 dating all the way back to 1987 when it hosted its first ever grand prix. The track is characterised by high speed “S” turns and declines making it one of the unique driving experiences and challenging ones at that!. And what most fans love, it has a crossover.
Onto the stats now. The track is 5.807 km long, numbering 53 laps with 18 corners, only 1 DRS zone and a crossover. The current lap record is held by the 7-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton with a time of 1:30:983 set in 2019.
What to Expect?
Going into the race weekend at Suzuka, we can say for certain that the Red Bull team is the ultimate favourite to take victory here. Or more precisely, Max Verstappen. Despite their aerodynamics issues in Singapore, Suzuka is an entirely different environment and track type. For one, it is not a street circuit and the temperatures are very different. That said, Red Bull does seem to love these kinds of tracks and will do everything they can to claim their Constructors Championship title at this race.
When it comes to the rest of the grid, we can expect a tight battle between Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin and Mercedes. The development of the aforementioned teams has reached the same point with both Ferrari and Mercedes coming to grips with their aerodynamic settings. This means that these teams are finally able to fine tune their car to suit the track they are driving on and give them better chances at beating the competition.
The race starts on the 24th of September at 6:00 a.m. UK time.
