“Silly Season” Updates and Red Bull Getting Faster: Formula 1 Betting News
Formula 1 After a European triple-header dominated by soon-to-be two-time World Champion Max Verstappen, Formula 1 takes a hiatus before returning for a “fly-away” return to racing under the Marina Bay lights for Singapore Grand Prix. The Singapore Grand Prix takes place from September 30 – October 2, 2022, giving teams a few weeks to prepare for the high-downforce, tight, and twisty street course and the sprint to the end of the season.
As a preview of the Singapore Grand Prix, here is one of the most outstanding single-lap performances of all time, by one of the greatest of all time, in one of the greatest race cars of all time: Lewis Hamilton’s pole position lap in the Mercedes W-09 during Qualifying three of the 2018 Singapore Grand Prix.
As always, there is news to be had in the world of Formula 1. This week, we’ll review the constantly evolving drivers market with an eye toward 2023 while giving you more reasons to still bet on Max Verstappen to win everything and break records, despite the terrible payouts from Verstappen’s overwhelming favorite status for the rest of the Formula 1 season. At the same time, we’ll tell you why you shouldn’t be picking Sergio Perez to
The Driver’s Market (a.k.a. Silly Season) Continues to be Unpredictable
In our last update on the Formula 1 driver’s market, paddock rumors had Alpine securing Pierre Gasly’s release from his Red Bull/Alpha Tauri contract to fill the Alpine seat vacated by Fernando Alonso and rejected by Oscar Piastri. Gasly’s release was contingent on the FIA granting IndyCar’s Colton Herta a super license, even though Herta does not have the required points. The FIA will not make an exception for Herta, requiring the multiple-time IndyCar race winner to compete in a lower-ranked regional competition – which he will dominate – to earn the necessary super license points.
The problem for Herta, Red Bull, Alpha Tauri, and Alpine is that the earliest Herta can be granted a super license will be February 2023 – weeks before the opening of the 2023 Formula 1 season. “Silly Season” (the driver’s market) has extended further into the Formula 1 season than in previous years, primarily because of the Apline, McLaren, and Piastri contract dispute. With Piastri confirmed to team with Lando Norris in 2023, Alpine is still looking for a second driver.
Alpine junior driver Jack Doohan has been connected to the Alpine seat, as has former Renault Grand Prix and current Aston Martin reserve driver Nico Hulkenburg. Notably, there are no rumors connecting Daniel Ricciardo or Mick Schumacher’s names to the open Alpine seat. Haas appears to be following Ferrari on and off track, likely replacing Schumacher with Ferrari driver academy and former Alfa Romero driver Antonio Giovinazzi, while Ricciardo and Hulkenburg remain possibilities for Haas.
However, a new challenger emerged for the open Alpine and Williams seats during the Italian Grand Prix weekend.
Enter Nick de Vries
After a stunning, points-scoring debut at Monza, substituting for Alex Albon at Williams, former Formula 2 and Formula E world champion Nick de Vries presented Alpine and Williams with the best possible job application imaginable. De Vries is the current Mercedes reserve driver and has numerous contracts already in place for 2023, despite being a contender for a seat at Williams. Undoubtedly, each of these contracts has a Formula 1 opt-out clause, as do most driver contracts.
Alpine has jumped onto the competition for Nick de Vries, scheduling a testing session for de Vries in a 2021 Alpine Formula 1 car at the Hungaroring in the coming weeks. If Alpine can’t get Gasly from Alpha Tauri, they are certainly reviewing as many candidates as possible before finally settling on a second driver. And we likely won’t get the answer to this for some time.
The All-Conquering RB-18 is About to get Lighter and Faster… in the Hands of One Driver Anyway
Yes, the Red Bull RB-18 continues to get faster and experience increasingly higher performance levels in the hands of Max Verstappen. Verstappen will likely break Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel’s record for wins in a season at 13 (Verstappen has 11 wins with six races to go). Why? Because the RB-18 is going to get faster for the Singapore Grand Prix.
You may wonder how this is possible, considering Verstappen and the RB-18 have been nearly flawless and atop the grid. The RB-18 is a low-drag, high-downforce masterwork from Red Bull Chief Technology Officer Adrian Newey but entered the 2022 season over the regulations weight limit. In fact, only Alfa Romero was the only team underweight to start the season. Red Bull has been losing weight in the car in the right places to reach increased performance levels. This weight loss includes the long-rumored, lightweight chassis upgrade that has always been rumored to debut at the Singapore Grand Prix.
This is a major upgrade and will make Red Bull faster. Max Verstappen is going to have more performance to dominate with. Unbelievable, right? However, this doesn’t mean we suggest picking both Red Bull drivers in your betting picks for the Singapore Grand Prix or the rest of the season.
Sergio Perez’s performance has dropped as the RB-18 has reached peak performance. For the Red Bull RB-18 to be the fastest on the grid, the car’s development has moved away from Perez’s driving style and toward a more “pointy” front-end: something Perez cannot handle that Verstappen masterfully utilizes to extract the most from the RB-18.
All this to say, pick Verstappen and the RB-18 to win everything, and only pick Perez for a top 6 finish in your betting picks for the rest of the Formula 1 season.
