United States Grand Prix Preview: Mercedes to enjoy podium success

After a weekend off racing, the drivers have made the day-long trip around the world from Qatar to Austin, arriving in Texas for this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

With the Austin track proving to be slower and more skill-based, we could see a serious shakeup from the events last time out on the fast circuit in Qatar. Red Bull will look to continue their dominance as Mercedes, McClaren and the new-look Haas seek to chase them down.

We preview the race below.

Vintage Hamilton vs Verstappen battle on the cards

After somewhat of a slip-up in Singapore, Max Verstappen has restored order in the paddock by winning his last two races by a combined margin of over 24 seconds. This has seen him get Red Bull over the line in the Constructors’ Championship, as well as putting his name amongst some of the sport’s greats by securing his third Drivers’ Championship.

One thing for sure is that he won’t now rest on his laurels; he will want to break every record and at 2/9 he will want to make it three in a row in this race.

Having failed to stack up any serious points in the past three races, his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez will be looking over his shoulder in the Drivers’ Standings as the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris continue to close the gap.

Perez is 18/1 to win in Austin, but a podium finish is what he will need to focus on first and the Mexican in 6/4 to finish in the top three this weekend.

It seems an age since we have seen a vintage Lews Hamilton performance but as we creep ever closer to the business end of the season, this is where skill and experience will really start to shine through. At 2/1, we fancy Hamilton to push Verstappen all the way to the line and secure a podium finish.

The seven-time world champion is third in the Drivers’ Championship but just 30 points behind Perez and presents the best value at 10/3 to win the Championship without Verstappen.

McLaren and Haas hunting big points

McLaren have been in fine form as of late and are flying up the Constructors’ Championship in their pursuit to be the unquestionable best of the rest. They have put themselves right in amongst it, opening up a gap of over 100 points to Alpine behind the in the Constructors’.

Lando Norris has been the big talking point securing three consecutive podium finishes, and the young Brit is behind only Verstappen in the podium market at 4/6.

Oscar Piastri has followed in his teammates footsteps with podium finishes in the last two races, but this circuit may not suit the McLaren and his odds of 10/11 to finish in the top three don’t look great value. Better value around McLaren can be found in Piastri to finish top three in the sprint race at 4/5, a format much more suited to the car’s fast pace style.

Haas have certainly not been pulling up any trees this season and have put just 12 points on the board so far, but having unveiled some interesting new improvements to their car in the runup to the race, we could expect to see them further up the leaderboard than usual.

It would be a major surprise of they can replicate McLaren’s upturn in form following the unveiling of their new package, but they cannot be counted out after the announcement. Nico Hulkenberg has put up 75% of the team’s points this season and at 4/1 he has a solid chance of finishing in the points.

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