F1 Odds, Predictions & Picks: 3 Early Bets for Monaco Grand Prix (Sunday, May 26)

Check out the latest F1 odds and Monaco Grand Prix predictions and picks for the race this Sunday, May 26.

After the thrilling final laps of the Imola Grand Prix, F1 now heads to Monaco for one of the most iconic races in the world: the F1 Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday (9 a.m. ET, ABC & ESPN+).

Here are the F1 odds for the F1 outright winner, as of Thursday and via FanDuel:

• Max Verstappen: -135
• Charles Leclerc: +480
• Lando Norris: +550
• Oscar Piastri: +1100
• Carlos Sainz Jr.: +1500
• Sergio Perez: +1600
• Fernando Alonso: +6500
• Lewis Hamilton: +6500
• George Russell: +6500
• Lance Stroll: +11000
• Daniel Ricciardo: +21000
• Yuki Tsunoda: +21000
• Pierre Gasly: +24000
• Esteban Ocon: +24000
• Valtteri Botas:  +42000
• Zhou Guanyu: +42000
• Nico Hulkenberg: +42000
• Alexander Albon: +42000
• Logan Sargeant +42000
• Kevin Magnussen: +42000

The F1 Monaco Grand Prix is the pinnacle of high-class racing culture with celebrities and yachts abound.

However, racing at Monaco has left a lot to be desired in recent years as the tight street circuit is not conducive to passing, thus making this race a bit of a processional. This makes qualifying that much more important; you will want to start on the front row if you want a hope of winning.

Monaco is a slow track where downforce is important and having a lot of drag won’t hurt you. This is good news for teams like Mercedes, McLaren, and in the mid-pack, Alpine, as these teams have been plagued by high drag all season long.

Let's jump into some F1 bets that I'm placing before qualifying on Saturday (10 a.m. ET, ESPN2 & ESPN+).

Bet on the F1 Monaco Grand Prix this weekend with our FanDuel promo code!

F1 Odds: Monaco Grand Prix Picks & Predictions 

Buy-Low Opportunity on Verstappen

This is the least sure that I have been about Max Verstappen winning a race in the last couple of years, and the odds currently reflect this. However, he still does have the best car on the grid and is an extremely talented driver, even if his gap to the rest of the field is shrinking.

These last two races have narrowed these odds and made it to where Verstappen is not as heavy of a favorite as usual. But let’s not forget that he led the whole race at Imola and much of Miami before sustaining damage. Max is still the rightful favorite in this field and deserves to be priced as such.

While momentum is on the side of McLaren right now, I’ll back Verstappen at these generous prices. With the pole being so heavily correlated to the outcome, my favorite bet on this is Verstappen at +170 to be the fastest qualifier and win the race.

The Pick: Max Verstappen Pole Position and Race Winner (+170 at FanDuel) | Bet to +150

Mercedes’ Recent Improvements

After I had written them off for the season, Mercedes has actually shown improved pace over the last couple of races.

Lewis Hamilton’s race pace at Miami was seventh, which was his best of the entire season to that point. He then replicated this at Imola while narrowing the gap between Carlos Sainz and Ferrari on the same strategy. George Russell had success as well, putting up the fifth-best race pace at Imola.

This is a heavy price to lay, but there is quite a difference between books. I like taking George Russell to score a points finish at -370 at FanDuel. I’m not confident in Mercedes beating any of the top three teams, but I think they should comfortably be the fourth-best team on the grid this weekend.

Russell has also been more consistent than Hamilton this season, so I believe betting on him at a similar price to Hamilton is a bit more favorable.

Other books have this top-10 bet at -550 and -600, so I think that if you can get the -370 price at FanDuel, then there's still some value despite the incredibly short odds.

The Pick: George Russell Points Finish (-370 at FanDuel) | Bet to -400

Alpine's Recovery

The beginning to this season was a nightmare for Alpine, but they have recently trended in the right direction. They scored their first points of the season at Miami but didn’t make any noise in Imola.

Alpine has the car with the most drag on the grid, so Monaco will be a track that suits them much better than Imola did. In qualifying at Imola, they reached a top speed of only 327 km/h while the next closest team was at 330.

Despite these limitations, Pierre Gasly still ranked 12th in race pace last weekend. Esteban Ocon also scored a podium finish in this race just a season ago.

This bet is based entirely on car fit for me. Haas has been far superior to Alpine this season, but their vehicles are built with differing strengths. Haas has built a low-drag rocketship that has a weakness in slow corners, which likely will not fare well in Monaco.

The Pick: Esteban Ocon over Nico Hulkenburg (-120 at BetMGM) | Bet to -130