Max Verstappen once more favored in PointsBet odds for Brazilian GP

By Nov 13, 2021, 10:29 AM EST
PointsBet Odds Brazilian GP
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Max Verstappen is once again the heavy odds favorite at PointsBet Sportsbook to win in Formula One in Sunday’s Brazilian GP after taking the honors in 2019 and leading late in 2018 before contact with a lapped car handed the victory to Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen finished second in that race. The 2020 Brazilian GP was canceled due to challenges faced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Verstappen was also heavily favored last week and the consensus is that Red Bull Racing has an edge at high altitude tracks like Mexico City and Sao Paulo. If successful, this will be Verstappen’s 10th win of the season. The most he has earned previously was three in 2019. Verstappen shows odds of -155, which means the only way to make money on this bet is to get someone to take the opposite side.

Last week Hamilton trailed Verstappen by nearly 500 points. This week, he is a little closer with a line of +245. Hamilton won the 2018 edition of the Brazilian GP when Verstappen was involved in an incident with Esteban Ocon as he tried to lap the slower driver. That was one of 11 races won that season, a feat he matched in both 2019 and 2020. So far this year he has five wins with four races remaining. Hamilton also won the Brazilian GP in 2016.

Hamilton’s chances of winning on Sunday became more challenging after he incurred a five-spot grid penalty for changing an engine.

One way to view American Odds is to move the decimal point two positions to the left. That will let a bettor know what they will make on a $1 bet, so the return on investment this week for Hamilton is $2.45. For bettors more comfortable with fractional odds, a bet of +300 is the same as 3/1.

Valtteri Bottas is ranked third at +1000. His first win of the season came three races ago in Turkey and extended his winning streak to three consecutive years. He has not earned a top-five in two races since with a sixth at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas and a 15th last week in Mexico City.

Ranked fourth is Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez at +1500. Last week Perez became the first Mexican driver to stand on the podium in Mexico City when he finished third behind Verstappen and Hamilton. That was his third consecutive podium.

The perceived strength of Bottas over Perez is one reason that PointsBet has Mercedes favored over Red Bull in the constructors’ championship while they favor Verstappen over Hamilton in driver points. Currently Mercedes boasts -121 odds to Red Bull’s -110 as Verstappen is listed at -455 to win over Hamilton at +300.

No other driver is listed at better than 60/1 – and in fact, three drivers have lines of +6000. Those drivers are Carlos Sainz, Jr., Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc.

In last week’s Mexican GP, those three drivers all challenged for a top-five with Gasly finishing fourth, Leclerc fifth and Sainz sixth.

PointsBet is our Official Sports Betting Partner, and we may receive compensation if you place a bet on PointsBet for the first time after clicking our links.

For more betting coverage, check out NBC Sports Edge.

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By Jun 8, 2023, 9:05 AM EDT
Ryan Hunter-Reay Carpenter
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Ryan Hunter-Reay was named to replace Conor Daly in Ed Carpenter Racing’s No. 20 Dallara-Chevrolet, starting in the NTT IndyCar Series event next week at Road America.

Hunter-Reay is the 2012 series champion and 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner. He finished 11th for Dreyer & Reinbold last month in the 107th Indy 500, his first start since the 2021 season finale. He drove full time for Andretti Autosport from 2010-21.

“We need to improve our competitiveness and I wanted to add a fresh perspective from a driver like Ryan who has a massive amount of experience and success as well as a reputation as a team leader. I am excited to welcome Ryan to the team,” team owner Ed Carpenter said in a team release. “We have worked together in the past as teammates and he tested for ECR at Barber Motorsports Park in October 2021, where he made an immediate impact as we were able to qualify one of our cars on the pole following that test. I am confident that his experience and technical abilities will be an asset to ECR as we move forward toward our goals as a team.”

Hunter-Reay has 18 IndyCar victories, most recently in 2018. He also is a winner in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, having been a part of winning entries in the 2020 Twelve Hours of Sebring and 2018 Petit Le Mans. Last year, he was an endurance driver for Cadillac Racing while being on standby for Chip Ganassi Racing.

He replaces Daly, whose departure was announced a day earlier in what the driver and team said was a mutual decision.

“I was surprised when I got the call from Ed,” Hunter-Reay said in a team release. “He described how frustrated he was that his team has not been able to realize its potential despite their efforts, investments, as well as technical and personnel changes over the past few years and asked for my help. Ed and I are very close friends and have been for a long time. I’ve worked with the team in the past and they are a very talented group with high expectations and a committed partner in BITNILE.COM.

“This will certainly be a challenge for me as well. It’s a tough situation jumping in a car in the middle of the season without any testing in what I believe to be the most competitive series in the world. Certainly, part of my motivation in saying ‘yes’ to Ed is the great challenge ahead. The last time I turned right driving an NTT IndyCar Series car was in October of 2021 with this team at Barber. However, I remain very confident in both my driving and technical abilities and believe by working with the talented people at ECR and Team Chevy, while representing BITNILE.COM, we will make progress. I am going to do everything I can do to help the team achieve its long-term objectives.”

Said Milton “Todd” Ault, the chairman of sponsor BitNile.com: “It is great for BitNile.com to be aligned with an Indy 500 Winner and an NTT IndyCar Series champion. I have followed Ryan’s career for years and I am confident he will challenge the entire ECR team to perform at higher levels. I wish everyone luck at Road America.”