Max Verstappen no longer clear betting favorite in F1 race on Strip

Max Verstappen can clinch his fourth consecutive Formula One world championship in the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

But the Dutch driver is no longer the dominant force he was earlier this year, when he won seven of the first 10 F1 races, which gave him 41 wins in a span of 54 starts.

Verstappen has won only one of the past 11 races, and that was last time out in the rain in Brazil. He won the inaugural Las Vegas F1 event last year as an odds-on favorite, but he’s the +275 second choice at the Westgate SuperBook to win Saturday night’s race on the Strip.

Lando Norris is the +225 favorite, and Charles Leclerc is the 3-1 third choice, followed by Carlos Sainz at 6-1 and Oscar Piastri at 12-1.

“Just looking at the odds, I’d almost throw out Verstappen because I think he’s being overvalued because he won here last year and he won (Nov. 3) with a miracle win,” SuperBook oddsmaker Ed Salmons said. “You can almost look at Leclerc, Norris, Piastri and Sainz, and your winner will come from one of those four. They’ve been the fastest teams the whole summer.”

Leclerc and Sainz drive for Ferrari (the +160 favorite to be the team of the winning car), while Norris and Piastri drive for McLaren (+180). Verstappen drives for Red Bull (+240).

“It’s a technology sport. It’s just such a sport of money and speed and whoever has it,” Salmons said. “This (Red Bull) team has been so far ahead of everyone in F1, and all of a sudden this year they finally got caught and they got passed.

“Usually, it’s just hard to go back to where you were. It takes awhile. It took these other teams years to get past Verstappen’s team.”

Verstappen, the co-favorite at Caesars Sportsbook and Station Sports, was as high as a -500 favorite to win each Grand Prix during his early-season run, but had dropped to a 10-1 underdog in each race before winning in Brazil. Norris, a British driver who has won two of the past seven races, has been the favorite in most events since the summer.

Boosted by his big early lead, Verstappen is a -5,000 favorite to win the world title. He can clinch it Saturday if he finishes ahead of Norris, a 20-1 long shot to claim the crown.

Record race handles

Last year’s F1 race on the Strip shattered the record betting handle, or amount of money wagered, on any auto race at Caesars Sportsbook, which took more than $1 million in bets.

It also set record handles for an F1 race at the SuperBook, Station Sports and BetMGM — which took a $200,000 wager on Verstappen at -200.

It’s too early tell if Saturday’s race will surpass last year’s numbers.

“The throttle is not fully pressed yet in terms of handle on this year’s race compared to last year’s event,” Caesars vice president of trading Craig Mucklow said. “Although we have had the race open all year, the push for publicity in Vegas is not as strong as last year’s hype.

“That said, there is good interest, and even better, we have a three-car race this year with Lando Norris’ recent improvement in form added to the mix as opposed to only Verstappen and Leclerc last year.”

The books won on last year’s race, as bettors largely backed the longer shots.

“Last year, we were clearly Verstappen fans,” Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. “This year, between Norris, Verstappen and Leclerc, we’ll be rooting for some of the top guys, as guests showed last year they were looking for more value with the higher odds.”

Esposito said major sporting events in Las Vegas always generate a larger handle than they would elsewhere.

“It just screams that Vegas is the sports capital,” he said. “It it’s UFC, boxing, NASCAR, F1 or the major sports, everyone wants a piece of it. My guess is we’re going to have a huge handle this week.”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.