Brazilian Grand Prix Early Betting Odds and Preview

Lewis Hamilton has clinched the 2019 Drivers Championship but there are still two races left to finish before we call it a season.

The 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix is the second to the last race of the 2019 Formula One World Championship and it will be held on November 17, 2019. The race is set to take place over 71 laps around the 4,309 km Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Interlagos, Sao Paulo in Brazil. This year’s race marks the 48th installment of the race and the 47th time that the race has been a world championship event.

The Brazilian Grand Prix

The race track at Interlagos was built in 1940 but it only began hosting a round of the Formula One World Championships in 1973. It was first called Interlagos but was renamed after Carlos Pace, a local of Sao Paulo who won his only F1 race at the track in 1975.

From 1978-1989, the Brazilian Grand Prix relocated to the Jacarepagua Circuit in Rio de Janeiro due to safety reasons. It returned to Interlagos in 1990 and is under contract to be raced there until 2022.

Michael Schumacher is the winningest driver in Interlagos with a total of four victories although it’s Alain Prost who has won the most Brazilian Grand Prix races with six. Ferrari is the most successful team at Interlagos with nine wins. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel has three wins at Interlagos, the last of which came in 2017. Lewis Hamilton is the defending race champion and he has won two out of the last three installments of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Hamilton already clinched the 2019 world title last weekend in the United States. But the Mercedes ace is still the top F1 betting favorite to win in Brazil on November 17th. Vettel is 5th in the odds board behind Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, and Valtteri Bottas.

Here are the odds to win the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix. These odds were taken from SpinSports.com as of 11/05/19:

Who Are the Favorites?

Lewis Hamilton clinched his 6th Drivers championship with a strong second-place finish at the 2019 U.S. Grand Prix. The 34-year old Briton moved within one title from tying Michael Schumacher’s record of seven world titles. He has won the last three Drivers championships and has clinched the current one with still two races to spare. Hamilton has won 10 out of the 19 races this season and has finished in the podium in all but two races this year. In what has been a dominant season, Hamilton has finished outside the Top 5 in only one race this year. When it comes to the Brazilian Grand Prix, Hamilton has won two out of the last three and has finished in the Top 2 in four out of the last five races in Brazil. Last year, Hamilton bested Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen to take the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen is Red Bull’s ace driver and the runner-up in the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix. The 22-year old Belgian-Dutch driver is the son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen. He has won two races this season and has finished in the podium in seven races this year. Verstappen has finished in the Top 5 in all but two of the 19 races completed this season. He has finished in the Top 5 in his last three starts in Brazil. Verstappen is currently 4th in the Drivers standings and after finishing in that position last season, he can improve to third if he closes out strong.

Charles Leclerc is the Monegasque rookie driver of Ferrari. He is the 2016 GP3 Series champion and 2017 FIA Formula 2 world champion. The 22-year old Ferrari Academy product has won two races in his maiden season, taking back to back checkered flags in Belgium and Italy earlier this year. Leclerc has nine podium finishes this season and he has finished in 16 out of the 19 races so far this year. In the last seven races, Leclerc has finished outside the Top 4 only in Japan.

Valtteri Bottas gave Lewis Hamilton all he could handle this year. Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate has won a total of four races this season, his most ever in a single year. The 30-year old Finnish driver has finished in the podium in 15 out of the 19 races this season, including 10 Top 2 finishes. Heading to last weekend’s U.S. Grand Prix, Bottas was the only driver who had the mathematical possibility of catching up with Hamilton. He did his share bt winning the race but could not stop his teammate from finishing second and clinching his sixth world title on U.S. soil. Bottas was 5th in this race last year.

Sebastian Vettel was supposed to give Lewi Hamilton his biggest challenge this season but instead, the four-time Formula One champion has disappointed. Vettel has won just one race so far this year, his fewest since 2014. He has finished in the podium in nine out of the 19 completed races so far and he has placed inside the Top 5 in all but two of the races. Vettel is having his best stretch of the season as he has three Top 2 finishes in his last five races. He has won the Brazilian Grand Prix three times, the last of which was in 2017.

Who Wins?

Lewis Hamilton has already booked his 6th world title but that doesn’t mean that the Mercedes Benz ace is just going to coast the rest of the way. Hamilton didn’t need a big performance the last time out but instead of just clinching the title in the United States, he drove to win the U.S. Grand Prix and even led the race until the last six laps. I mean this has been a dominant season for Lewis Hamilton and there is no better way to assert that than finishing strong in the last two races of the year.

Hamilton won 11 races in 2014 and also 11 last year. With still two races to go this season, he has a shot at winning a personal best 12 races in a single season. With the title already in the bag, maybe Hamilton is looking to better his personal best. This has been a terrific season for Lewis Hamilton and there is no doubt he will want to finish strong like he did last season.

I think Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel are the other worthy picks here because Verstappen may be looking at finishing in the Top 3 in the standings while Vettel may want to end a disappointing season on a high note. The German has won thrice in Brazil, the most by a current driver so don’t count him out yet. I think this race will go down to Hamilton and Vettel and the old rivals are going to show off here. I like Hamilton to win though but if you want the better value, take a chance with Vettel.

PREDICTION: LEWIS HAMILTON