2022 Formula 1 betting preview: Lewis Hamilton is favored over Max Verstappen

Maybe 2022 is the year that Lewis Hamilton gets a record-breaking eighth Formula 1 world championship.

The Mercedes driver was a few laps away from an eighth title after dominating the 2021 season finale at Abu Dhabi. But controversial officiating by now-former race director Michael Masi put Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on Hamilton’s back bumper ahead of a one-lap restart and Verstappen passed Hamilton on fresh tires to get his first world title.

Verstappen will enter 2022 with the No. 1 on his car in honor of being the reigning world champion. He is not the No. 1 favorite for the title, however. Hamilton enters the 2022 season as the favorite for the championship at +140 at BetMGM.

Verstappen is at +300 to win back-to-back titles and ahead of new Mercedes driver George Russell and Ferrari’s Charles LeClerc at +500.

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The 2022 F1 cars are substantially different than they were in 2021. F1 mandated numerous changes to cars to cut downforce, and the tires are also significantly different than they were in 2021. Conventional wisdom says the changes won’t affect Mercedes as much as they will Red Bull as Red Bull ran a higher rake car in 2021. Cars with higher rakes a year ago could have a tougher time transitioning to the downforce cuts.

That wisdom is reflected in the betting odds for the constructor’s title. Mercedes is at -165 to win a ninth consecutive team title. Red Bull is at +300 to get its first constructor’s title since 2013. No team other than Red Bull or Mercedes has won a constructor’s title since now-defunct Brawn Racing won it in 2009.

Things to know ahead of 2022

• The schedule currently sits at 22 races after the cancellation of the Russian Grand Prix because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. F1 is set to return to Australia, Canada, Japan, and Singapore after not racing in those countries for the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The only new race on the calendar is in Miami on May 8. The second United States race will be run on a temporary street course surrounding Hard Rock Stadium.

• The Saudi Arabia Grand Prix moves from the penultimate race of the 2021 season to the second race of the 2022 season. F1 heads to Saudi Arabia on March 27 after the season-opening race in Bahrain on March 20.

• Russell replaces Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes as Bottas heads to Alfa Romeo to replace the retired Kimi Raikkonen. Russell’s seat at Williams was taken by former Red Bull driver Alex Albon. Guanyu Zhou will be Bottas’ teammate at Alfa Romeo as that team is the only one on the grid with two new drivers in 2022.

• Haas announced Wednesday that former driver Kevin Magnussen would replace Nikita Mazepin in 2022 and beyond. Haas dropped Mazepin and team sponsor Uralkali on Saturday because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Magnussen drove for Haas from 2017-20 and is currently not listed on the board at BetMGM among the title odds. That's OK. He's not going to win the title anyway.

Other bets to consider

• Hamilton is -155 to beat Verstappen in the driver’s standings. Verstappen is +110 to finish ahead of Hamilton.

• Verstappen is -700 to finish ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez while Hamilton is -250 to finish ahead of Russell in the standings.

• The closest teammate battle appears to be at Ferrari. Carlos Sainz is +100 to finish ahead of Leclerc in the standings while Leclerc is -140 to be the top Ferrari driver.

Driver's title odds

• Lewis Hamilton (+140)

• Max Verstappen (+300)

• George Russell (+500)

• Charles Leclerc (+500)

• Carlos Sainz (+1000)

• Lando Norris (+1400)

• Fernando Alonso (+4000)

• Daniel Ricciardo (+4000)

• Sergio Perez (+5000)

• Esteban Ocon (+8000)

• Sebastian Vettel (+10000)

• Pierre Gasly (+15000)

• Lance Stroll (+15000)

• Valtteri Bottas (+20000)

• Yuki Tsunoda (+40000)

• Alex Albon (+40000)

• Nicholas Latifi (+50000)

• Mick Schumacher (+75000)

• Guanyu Zhou (+75000)

Constructor’s title odds

• Mercedes (-165)

• Red Bull (+300)

• Ferrari (+300)

• McLaren (+1400)

• Alpine (+5000)

• Aston Martin (+10000)

• Alpha Tauri (+15000)

• Williams (+25000)

• Haas (+25000)

• Alfa Romeo (+35000)