Formula One 2024 World Championship Odds: Our two best bets for the new season

The new Formula 1 season roars into life this weekend with Max Verstappen a strong favourite to drive his rivals round the bend once again in the all-conquering Red Bull.

There have been no significant rule changes from last year and all the drivers who ended the 2023 season return with the same teams, so there is little obvious reason to expect a dramatically different result at the end of this bumper 24-race campaign.

However, the teams have been keen to point out that they have produced all-new machines with which to lay down their challenge, so let's look through the clues to where the value lies ahead of the upcoming season.

Norris to confirm his promise

There are 11 Grand Prix winners among the 20 drivers starting the 2024 season and McLaren's Lando Norris looks the most likely to add his name to the list.

The Briton was very unlucky not to win the 2021 Russian Grand Prix and recorded six second-place finishes last year - the most of any driver.

That fact is made all the more impressive considering McLaren were totally uncompetitive until they introduced a major upgrade in Austria, the ninth race of the season.

That contributed to a deceptively low fourth-place finish in the constructors' championship, which should help them this year as the more successful teams face stricter limits on the amount of development work they are allowed to carry out.

The rules stability should help McLaren to make a stronger start to the season than they have in the last couple of years, and Norris has proved he is capable of getting the best out of whatever machinery he is given.

The Bristolian battler is worth a bet to emerge as Verstappen's closest challenger this season.

Ferrari can gain revenge for narrow defea

While Red Bull swept all before them last season, Mercedes and Ferrari squabbled over second place in the constructors' list, with the Silver Arrows nicking it by three points at the final race of the year.

In a season where Aston Martin and McLaren also took turns as Red Bull's closest challengers, consistency counted for plenty and the Mercedes pairing of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell proved more solid than the Scuderia's Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

However, the Ferrari was a demonstrably faster car as their seven pole positions across the season testify and, while only one of those was converted into a race victory, it puts them in a stronger position going into the new campaign.

Ferrari know their machine is fast - faster even than the Red Bull when the stars align. They just need to figure out how to make it retain its pace for a full race distance and at a wider variety of tracks.

There was already evidence they were making progress towards the end of last year, and they seemingly have less work to do than Mercedes, who have decided to try a completely different approach rather than make tweaks to their 2023 machine.

Take the Scuderia to outperform Mercedes and convince seven-time world champion Hamilton he has made the right decision to switch to Ferrari for 2025.

Drivers’ Championship 2024 Odds

It probably won’t come as too much of a shock to see Max Verstappen at the summit of the Drivers' Championship’ winner betting as we head into the new season. The dominant Dutchman is the best driver in the best car, he’s won the last editions and is as short as 1/7 to make it a hat-trick in 2024.

Some distance back in the betting you’ll find Charles Ferrari’s Leclerc at 14/1 and seven-time winner Lewis Hamilton at 16/1, while Lando Norris’ odds have been cut to around the 14/1 mark with many bookmakers’, although Betfred have him available at 18/1.

Further afield you’ll find Sergio Perez and George Russell at 33/1, and Carlos Sainz out at 40/1.