Matt Selz
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Happy Father’s Day weekend! We get F1 racing back on the schedule with this Sunday’s Canadian GP in Montreal. The Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve is on the man made Ille du Notre Dame and is one of the trickier layouts of the season. There’s been of a ton of chatter about surging teams heading into the Canadian GP but the lines and the on-track action will be the determinant of that, but what can we look forward to from this track on Sunday?
What betting strategies are we using this Sunday? Does the layout of the Montreal track favor certain teams over others? Ultimately, will Red Bull run away with this one like they have much of the year so far? Keep reading for all of those answers and our top bets for the F1 Canadian GP.
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Layout of Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve
It’s a semi-permanent track that is the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve around an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence Riverway. The 14 corners around 2.7-mile (4.3-km) layout are tight for the most part including a 180-degree hairpin that is one of the slowest corners on the F1 schedule. There are overtaking opportunities on the track and DRS down the front straight. One trouble spot on the course has always been Turn 14 also known as the Wall of Champions as it’s been hit multiple times by every major World Champion previously. It’s a high downforce circuit which does bring teams like Aston Martin and Mercedes and even Alpine into play given their typical setups and how they’ve typically run on this style of track since the start of 2022.
Betting Strategies for Canadian Grand Prix
Bank on Red Bull and take a shot on things going wrong. The restarts here can be crazy and chaotic given the right racing lines for a lap or two until the field thins back out. The 70-lap race gives plenty of chances for strategy to help or hurt the teams and for drivers to miss corners or shifts. Generally speaking though, we want to look at the teams that are coming in looking the best recently like Red Bull, Mercedes, Aston Martin, and a bit of Ferrari as well.
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Outright Winner Predictions for F1 Canada GP
All odds listed are from DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing
Max Verstappen (-330)
Why not? Is there a reason not to bet this at this point? He looks unbeatable on the track. Verstappen can win from anywhere on the grid so even bad qualifying efforts or unlucky ones haven’t stopped him.
Sergio Perez (+500)
This track is a pseudo street layout and Perez is a bit the king of street tracks. Red Bulls have been dominant this year and are the only team to win a race this year. Granted, Perez’s pace hasn’t been as good as Verstappen’s most races but with a two-plus race lead in the title fight it’s possible they let Checo have one for once. He’ll likely need to out-qualify his teammate to have a shot though.
Lewis Hamilton (+1000)
The Mercedes duo really showed up with speed last race and they’ve played well at this style of track over the last year or so. Hamilton has been very excited and amped up by the progress the Silver Arrows have made with their big improvements to the car. If this race plays out between Mercedes strategy and Hamilton’s race craft he could be a legitimate threat for the top spot on the podium on Sunday.
Lance Stroll (+25000)
This is simply a long shot for fun type bet. Please don’t put more than a few bucks on this wager. He’s racing in his hometown of Montreal and has a consistently good car under him. The Aston Martin duo has been threats for podiums most weeks this year. If all hell breaks loose and somehow doesn’t effect Stroll, he could have pace to land a win at his home track.
Best Prop Bets for Canadian GP
Max Verstappen Fastest Lap (+110)
Even when he’s coasting to wins he still finds pace to set the fastest lap. At the Spain GP he was well ahead and saving tires and still nabbed the Championship point for fastest lap just as a prodding of sorts to the field. Why can’t he go out and do it once more?
Number of Classified Finishers: Over 18.5 (+250)
This year in F1 there’s been more drivers finishing races than ever before. In fact, we were one non-finish at Monaco away from making history for most races in a row without a DNF. So getting nice odds and still having a shot for a driver to not classify is nice. If you feel like betting a specific number of cars to not classify, you can find a +250 line on exactly 18 cars to classify at the end of Sunday’s race which gives a tad more wiggle room for free.
Fastest lap and win the race: Max Verstappen (+115)
He did this out of spite last race right? Literally ignored his engineer and said, nope I’m taking fastest lap while having a 24-second lead. The fact that we’re getting even better plus odds for him to pull off a double he’s done numerous times is also exciting. I mean really his fastest lap bet is above and this is better odds.
Double Podium Finish: Mercedes (+450)
They pulled off this exact feat last race in Spain and given the new updates to the car and the style of track for Montreal, it should be achievable again. Even when Mercedes was struggling with the new car they were always threats that higher downforce, lower speed tracks and that is what Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve is. So let’s bet on the Silver Arrows replicating a strong weekend again at this plus-money price while we’re at it.
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