Best Canadian Bets for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Stroll has Potential
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The Azerbaijan Grand Prix holds good memories for Canadian Formula 1 driver, Lance Stroll.
In 2017 at 18-years old, he became the second-youngest driver in history to finish on the podium and nearly took second if it wasn’t for a last-second pass by Valterri Bottas. With the top three finish, he became the only teenager besides Max Verstappen to earn an F1 podium.
“I can’t quite realize what just happened,” Stroll said after the race. “I’m sort of lost for words. I couldn’t believe coming into the weekend that I would be standing on the podium.
“P3 is amazing though; a dream come true. You dream of being on an F1 podium growing up, work towards it your whole life and then you feel the moment.”
The moment legitimized Stroll as a driver and quelled some of the doubts about his ability. He’s also gone on to continue having success in Baku. In 2018 he finished in the points, taking eighth and followed that up with a ninth-place finish in 2019. A crash in 2021 meant he would finish outside the points for the first time in Baku in his F1 career.
Stroll Best Bet
There might be some value in backing one of the Canadian drivers on merit this week. It could be worth betting on Stroll for a top 10 points finish this week. He has 3.70 odds at Mr. Play to finish in the top 10.
In addition to his history, where he’s finished in the top 10 each time he has completed the race here, the Aston Martin showed some improvement during free practice one on Friday. Stroll was 12th-fastest during the first practice session, which is the reason for optimism, given Aston Martin’s tendency for finishing at the bottom of the time charts in the majority of sessions this season.
Mr. Play also has Stoll as the favourite at 10.0 to be the first driver to make a pit stop and third at 11.60 to be the first driver retirement.
Back Latifi to Crash
Nicholas Latifi may have finished in Monaco, but the only bet worth making on him remains that he isn’t classified for Sunday’s race. Latifi currently has the best odds not to finish at Mr. Play at 8.70.
To his credit, he’s only failed to finish a race once this year, and that was at the street circuit in Jeddah. He wrecked out twice that weekend, spinning out in qualifying and the race for one of the more embarrassing weekends of his career.
Similar to Jeddah, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is a high-speed street circuit means there are tight walls around the track that punish any sort of mistake.
Latifi finished last year in Baku, but he was over 42 seconds off the pace. There’s no path to him finishing in the points on merit, but maybe he will go so slow that everyone in front of him can crash out and he can sneak his way there. I don' recommend betting on it.
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