A bumper 24-race Formula 1 world championship is upon us, with Dutch dynamo Max Verstappen aiming for a fourth consecutive world championship triumph and he is a hot favourite to do so.
This will be the third season under the current set of rules, under which aerodynamics - and particularly generating grip from the airflow underneath the car - has been the deciding factor.
While Mercedes dominated previous seasons when engines were the most important aspect, Red Bull, helped by the presence of design genius Adrian Newey, have carried all before them for the past two years.
Last season saw Verstappen break a host of records on his way to the title, winning all but three of the 22 races.
The law of averages suggests this season is unlikely to be as dominant, but even if his advantage is reduced it is hard to see anyone overhauling Verstappen, and his skinny odds look justified.
Had it not been for Red Bull, there would have been a superb battle for supremacy last year, with Aston Martin, Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren all taking turns at being best of the rest.
While all the teams came up with quite different designs for 2023, the cars have evolved, incorporating more of Red Bull's design ideas. That is understandable and should hopefully see the pack edge closer to the pacesetters.
- Charles Leclerc to win without Max Verstappen
- Ferrari to beat Mercedes
- George Russell to beat Fernando Alonso
WATCH IN THE ZONE WITH JOHNNY HERBERT
Drivers' Championship
Verstappen dominated last year, scoring more than double the number of points of his closest championship challenger, his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.
It would be unprecedented to see that kind of advantage overturned without significant rule changes, of which there have been none. But luckily, most bookmakers are offering betting without the favourite.
Perez heads the list, but the Mexican can be taken on.
While he won two of the first four races of last season, his form deserted him somewhat after that and he gained only five podiums from the last 17 races. He also endured a run of five straight races without reaching the top-ten qualifying shootout.
Perez ended up taking second place in the championship by a fairly comfortable 51 points, but he was under pressure from Lewis Hamilton late in the season. The Mercedes driver enjoyed a solid campaign, but he won't remember it as one of his best.
Lando Norris claimed six second-place finishes during the second half of last season as McLaren found dramatic improvement and the Briton could well be the one to give Verstappen most to do this term.
But at bigger odds, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc looks worth an interest.
The Monegasque was championship runner-up in 2022, despite poor reliability and his team making some bizarre strategy calls.
Last year was a frustrating one for Leclerc, who started from pole position five times but failed to record a victory.
But that at least showed there was inherent pace in the car, even if delivering it over a full race distance proved a challenge, and Leclerc finished the season strongly.
He qualified on the front row at each of the last five races and came home second in both Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi.
The team are entering their second season under Frederic Vasseur, who calmed some of the chaos of previous years and there have been positive noises about the new SF24 machine.
LECLERC TO WIN WITHOUT VERSTAPPEN
Constructors' Championship Match Bets
Ferrari were beaten to second place in the constructors' championship by three points last year, but they could be poised to gain revenge in 2024.
While Ferrari have refined last year's design for their new car, Mercedes have abandoned their original concept and effectively started from scratch.
Star driver Hamilton shocked the team in pre-season by announcing a move to Ferrari for 2025 and it remains to be seen how much of a destabilising effect that will have, as the seven-time world champion will surely look to take some key technical staff with him to Maranello.
Of course, a team who collected eight consecutive constructors' titles cannot be written off lightly.
They will surely be somewhere in the mix, but it may take time to settle into the season as they hone their new design and Ferrari just look to have more positives about them heading into the campaign.
Drivers' Championship Match Bets
After serving a three-year apprenticeship with Williams, George Russell finally got his hands on the hitherto all-conquering Mercedes in 2022, only to discover it had turned into a pumpkin overnight.
The young Norfolk racer delivered an impressive season, though, scoring the team's only victory in Brazil that year and outscoring his seven-time world champion team-mate Hamilton.
Things didn't go quite as smoothly last year. In Australia, at the third race of the season, Russell burst into the lead at the start and quickly built an advantage, only for an ill-timed safety car to destroy his strategy and then his engine failed shortly afterwards anyway.
That was to set a precedent for the season, as every time he looked to be set for a strong result something went wrong.
Russell ended the year 59 points behind Hamilton, but in truth they were much more closely matched than that and Russell deserved a much higher tally.
He can be backed in a match bet against veteran Fernando Alonso, who could end up as his team-mate in 2025.
The two-time world champion enjoyed a renaissance with Aston Martin last year, picking up six podium finishes in the first eight races.
The team took a wrong turn with the development of the car after that and Alonso ended up being overhauled in the standings by Hamilton.
It's hard to see Aston Martin make the same blazing start to the season this time around and, while Mercedes may start on the back foot, Russell can be fancied to outscore Alonso over the course of the 24 races.
GEORGE RUSSELL TO BEAT FERNADO ALONSO
