Motorsport fans and bettors enjoyed the recent Formula 1 weekend at Silverstone. This time, the season heads to Spielberg for the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix for the 11th race of the calendar.

Red Bull enters the picture with a hold on the Driver and Constructor Standings. The team looks forward to racing in their home turf with plenty of momentum. Max Verstappen remains the race favorite, despite falling out of podium contention with a damaged car last week. Sergio Perez, on the other hand, boasts solid pace. He dropped to P17 due to a nose change and worked his way back up to a P2 finish.

Top Storylines Ahead Of 2022 Austrian Grand Prix

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— Formula 1 (@F1) July 7, 2022

READ MORE: 2022 Austrian Grand Prix F1 Odds, Preview, and Predictions

Verstappen at his strongest track

The defending champion faced a raging British crowd at Silverstone last week. But this time around, advantage is on his side at his strongest track. This is a familiar hunting ground for the Belgian-Dutch driver. In nine races at the circuit, Verstappen scored four wins and a total of six podiums. In 2021, Verstappen strengthened his championship chances by winning both races at Austria from pole position.

Despite Ferrari taking the spotlight at Silverstone in the previous race, Max heads into the week full of confidence that he can bring home maximum points at his strongest venue. The 24-year-old is the favorite to win the race at -110 odds.

A desperate Charles Leclerc

With a strong start to the 2022 season, including two victories in three races, Leclerc had an encounter with poor strategy and bad luck and has since fallen back to third in the driver standings. Nevertheless, he remains the second-best pick behind Max Verstappen. Leclerc enters the 2022 Austrian GP with +264 odds to win the race.

The 24-year-old settled for a P4 finish at Silverstone. It can largely be charged to a bad pit call towards the end of the race. Still, Leclerc is the second-best pick in Austria. He finished eight last year, while finishing runner-up in 2019 and 2020.

An upward trend for Mercedes

Each race sees significant progress from Mercedes. Although Russell snapped his consistent finish within the top five, Hamilton looks to find his groove with the new car. This was especially seen in Silverstone, where Lewis Hamilton attacked front-runners Charles Leclerc and Checo, which indicates a return to the title fight.

Hamilton pulled off a double overtake late into the race, followed by a sequence of heart-stopping overtakes by Leclerc and Perez. The Red Bull driver eventually secured P2 with better pace. However, Hamilton did well to hold off the other Scuderia and a P3 finish.

At the moment, the seven-time World Champion finds himself closer to the favorites at +1100. We expect a motivated Hamilton racing the Red Bull Ring this weekend.

The second sprint race of the season

Three circuits feature the recently-introduced Sprint Race qualifying in 2021. Silverstone, Monza, and Interlagos hosted the alternative format then. This season, Austria plays the second venue for the Sprint Race, with the first at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

The format puts the three practice sessions together on Friday. This is the only time the drivers can tweak and fine-tune their setup for Saturday’s qualifying. With this configuration happening before the race, the usual qualifying determines the grid position for the F1 Sprint on Saturday, which decides the grid on Sunday’s race. The fast layout of the Red Bull Ring is expected to deliver an exciting Sprint race.

Internal battle at McLaren

Everyone has their eyes on the front of the field, but Lando Norris slowly creeps his way into seventh place in the Drivers’ championship. A recent P6 finish widened the gap between him and teammate Daniel Ricciardo. It seems like the ex-Red Bull and Renault driver has difficulty getting out of a slump. That said, Norris arrives in Austria knowing he can pull further away.

Norris registered good results at the Red Bull Ring. After scoring a memorable first podium finish in the opening race of the 2020 season in Austria, the 22-year-old man from Bristol scored his fourth podium finish during the Austrian GP here last year. His familiarity with the track makes him a good sleeper pick at +12500 odds.

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