FORMULA ONE was a nine month long procession for Max Verstappen last year – but will it be the same this time round?
The Red Bull ace has been the sport’s dominant force since his first world title in 2021, winning every Drivers’ World Championship since.
While Lewis Hamilton was the man to beat for many years before the Dutchman’s success and will be hoping to make his mark in his final season with Mercedes before he makes his switch to Ferrari next year.
Although Verstappen is the clear favourite to take home a fourth consecutive World Championship with Red Bull this season, F1 is a sport full of unpredictability that could throw up some surprises.
The brain-boxes at BonusCodesBets have let their supercomputer do the predicting for us so we can take a look at how this exciting season might shape up.
The supercomputer has simulated every race this season 1,000 times using code fuelled by stats from previous seasons and real-time data to draw up exactly what they expect to happen this year.
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But first they’ve had a look at what might happen in this weekend’s Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.
The Middle Eastern race gets underway in Jeddah on Saturday afternoon and it looks like Verstappen is going to get a second win under his belt already.
The 26-year-old has an incredible 85.4 per cent chance of winning the GP and according to the computer will only miss out on a podium spot if he is forced out of the race with car issues.
Teammate Sergio Perez is the second most likely driver to win in Jeddah with a 3.2 per cent chance of victory.
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Hamilton has been handed just a 1.8 per cent chance of crossing the finish line first, but could certainly make the podium with a 14.3 per cent chance of finishing second and a 14.4 per cent chance of third place.
As for the rest of the season it could make for hard reading for the Brit who according to the supercomputer will go the entire year without winning a race for the third season in a row.
To make matters worse it’s predicted that the 39 year old will only make the podium twice in the entire season – that’s less than half of the amount he made last year (six).
The algorithm has suggested that a third place finish in Australia and a second place ending in China will be the highlights of Hamilton’s final season in a Mercedes car.
As for Verstappen it looks like more dominance is on the table for the superstar.
He is expected to win a staggering 21 of the 24 races this year finishing second in the three that he doesn’t take first place in.
A 21-win season would break the record for the most race wins in a campaign which was set by Verstappen himself last year with 19.
The whitewash season is predicted to see him earn an incredible 585 points with his closest competitor being Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who is predicted to earn 271 points from the season.
The three races that Verstappen isn’t expected to walk are projected to be won by three different drivers in his place.
McLaren’s Lando Norris is forecast to take first place in the Singapore Grand Prix for his first ever win in F1.
Fellow Brit George Russell is predicted to snatch the Dutch GP title away from Verstappen on the Red Bull driver’s home ground.
While Oscar Piastri may be a surprise package with a first career win for McLaren in Japan next month.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
