Austrian Grand Prix: Picks, Predictions, and Odds

The battle for the 2024 F1 championship is becoming fierce with world champion Max Verstappen facing a stronger challenge than he has for some time heading into this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix.

Verstappen leads the championship by 69 points after winning seven of the first 10 races, but McLaren's Lando Norris was a close second at the last two rounds in Canada and Spain after winning the first race of his career in Miami earlier this season.

It's a sprint-race weekend after a short week of preparation following the entertaining race in Barcelona and another close contest is anticipated.

Austrian Grand Prix betting picks and predictions

Lando Norris to win (+300)

It really looks a tough call to say whether Max Verstappen will win Red Bull's home race this Sunday or if Lando Norris will get the better of him this time, but with the world champion having odds of -188 and the McLaren man well into plus-money at +300 the value has to lie with the British driver.

The Red Bull team has found it hard to improve on what has been clearly the best car in the field for the past couple of seasons and the pack have closed in rapidly this year.

Norris looked to have the fastest car on the track for most of the weekend in Barcelona and took pole position for the race.

It was the third round in succession that Verstappen was not on pole having qualified fastest for the first seven races, but Charles Leclerc in Monaco and George Russell in Canada were fastest over one lap before Norris claimed his second career pole last week. That's a sign of how the balance of power in the championship may be changing.

Verstappen has won seven of the 10 races this season but he is yet to rack up three-straight victories having had previous two-race sequences ended by the wins of Carlos Sainz Jr. in Australia and Norris in Miami.

The British driver knows his way around the tight Spielberg circuit well and claimed his first career podium finish there when third in 2020, while his sixth-position finish in Austria in 2019 was the best result of his rookie season in F1.

Norris also finished in the top three at the Red Bull Ring in 2021 and his fourth place in last year's race was a huge result for his team after they made major improvements to a car which had performed poorly in the previous races that season.

The McLaren team has been on an upward trajectory since then and Norris has a genuine chance of challenging for the race win again this weekend.

George Russell to finish third (+600)

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc is the +275 favorite in the market to finish third in the Austrian Grand Prix but George Russell looks to have more value at +600 to stand on the lowest step of the podium after the race.

Norris and Verstappen are likely to be the main protagonists again this weekend but neither of their team-mates - Oscar Piastri at McLaren and Sergio Perez at Red Bull - have quite been able to match their pace in recent races and the opportunity is there for another driver to snatch third place.

Russell could be the driver to step up after Mercedes shook off a slow start to the season to claim podium finishes in each of the last two races.

The 26-year-old led the improvement, taking pole in Montreal and finishing a close third in the race, just four seconds behind Verstappen. In Spain, the Mercedes drivers traded positions with Lewis Hamilton coming third and Russell fourth.

They were both some way clear of the disappointing Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz Jr. in fifth and sixth, and Russell raced well at this track last season, improving from 15th to eighth in the sprint and 11th to seventh in the Grand Prix. 

If he can qualify nearer the front this time he should be more of a contender for a third-place finish than the odds suggest.

Austrian Grand Prix outright odds

Max Verstappen	-188
Lando Norris	+300
Charles Leclerc	+1200
George Russell	+2000
Lewis Hamilton	+2000
Carlos Sainz	+2500

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.