It did not take long for Kimi Antonelli to overtake Mercedes teammate George Russell as the favorite to win the 2026 Formula 1 world championship.
Antonelli, who had never previously won a race, won five races in a row after Russell won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. No driver has won a world championship after entering a season with zero career wins since Keke Rosberg in 1982.
Things have not exactly improved for Russell since, compounded by the fact that the Silver Arrows are nowhere near as dominant now as they were to start the season. Until this past weekend's Dutch Grand Prix, Formula 1 had seen five different winners in five races. Russell was one of them, but his Austrian Grand Prix win in June is his only win since the season opener.
Russell did move back into second in the standings over Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton this past weekend, albeit on a tiebreaker since Hamilton's Spanish Grand Prix win is his only 2026 win. They trail Antonelli by 59 points. Race wins pay 25, and there are 11 Grands Prix remaining on this year's calendar (plus one more sprint).
There is also a new second-place driver in the F1 world championship odds at DraftKings Sportsbook, and it's not Russell or Hamilton.
It's reigning world champion Lando Norris.
The McLaren driver has now earned back-to-back victories amid an uptick in McLaren's form, and while the two victories are what stand out, he has actually outscored Antonelli by 15 points over the past six Grands Prix, a stretch that also includes two sprints. That stretch is the stretch immediately following the end of Antonelli's five-race win streak.
Norris is still 83 points behind, so it makes sense that Antonelli is still the heavy favorite at -350. But at +800, ahead of Hamilton and Russell at +1200, Norris is far from a longshot.
Perhaps the most impressive part of Norris' current run is the fact that he had never previously won a Grand Prix in a season that did not see McLaren win the constructor championship. While this year's constructor battle is far from over, McLaren sit a whopping 162 points out of the lead, so Norris' 12th and 13th career victories might very well turn out to be his first two of that variety.
He's performing at the highest level of his career right now, and his two-race win streak might very well be the most complete set of two races he's ever put together, even including any stretch throughout his seven-win championship season from a year ago, when McLaren were the clear top team from start to finish.
Full F1 world championship odds can be found at DraftKings Sportsbook and are always subject to change.
Formula 1 has off this weekend, but race 13 of 23 on the 2026 schedule is scheduled to take place on Sunday, September 6. Tune in to Apple TV at 8:55 a.m. ET for live coverage of the Italian Grand Prix from Monza.
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