It's been six races since Max Verstappen won a Formula 1 grand prix and with eight races remaining in the 2024 F1 season, there's suddenly a glimmer of hope for a contentious title race on two fronts. McLaren's Lando Norris has trimmed Verstappen's lead to 62 points and both McLaren and Ferrari are lurking in the constructors' championship as they head to the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday. The lights go out at 7 a.m. ET on Sunday and Norris is the +135 favorite in the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc won two weeks ago in Italy and he's also priced ahead of Verstappen, with Leclerc at +450 while Verstappen is at +550. Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. (+1000) and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton (+1400) round out the top five in this week's F1 odds.

SportsLine's proven computer projection model simulated the Azerbaijan GP 2024 10,000 times and come up with a surprising leaderboard.

Developed by daily Fantasy pro and SportsLine predictive data engineer Mike McClure, this proprietary Formula 1 prediction model takes into account a slew of factors including track history and recent results.

The model has been scorching hot when it comes to picking Formula 1 race events dating back to 2021. It nailed both of Charles Leclerc's wins in 2022, and at the 2021 Mexican Grand Prix, the model was strongly backing Verstappen as its top pick. The result: Verstappen dominated the field and ran away with a surprising victory. 

It followed that up by calling Verstappen's win at the Rolex Emilia Romagna GP in April and nailed Verstappen to win in Belgium, the Netherlands, Japan, the United States, Mexico and Abu Dhabi. It also called all 19 of Verstappen's wins during the 2023 season and nailed each of his seven wins in 2024 while also nailing Norris as a +200 in the Netherlands! Anyone who followed the model's lead on those plays has seen HUGE returns!

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix was first held in 2017 and the Baku City Circuit is a 20-turn, 3.73-mile street course that winds through the capital and commercial hub of the country. Red Bull Racing has won the last three Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but it's actually been Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez (+2800) who has done the heavy lifting with two of the three wins. Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo and Lewis Hamilton are all past winners of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as well and all five winners in the history of this race will be in the field on Sunday.

Now, the model has dialed in on the 2024 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix and just released its coveted picks and leaderboard projections. 

We can tell you the model is predicting a stunning top-10 finish for Alex Albon of Williams that would pay out +100. The 28-year-old Thai and British driver has already had a rollercoaster career, starting with Red Bull Honda before quickly earning a promotion to Red Bull's top team in his rookie season.

However, two years later he had been demoted all the way to test driver and then he made the switch to Williams in 2022. He only managed two points finishes and wound up 19th in the F1 standings that year but he came back with seven points runs the following year and improved to 13th. Albon is only 17th in the standings right now but he's shown improving pace and is coming off a ninth-place finish at Monza two weeks ago.

The model has also made its win prediction and is also targeting one significant underdog to make a charge up the leaderboard! Anyone who backs this driver could hit it BIG. You ABSOLUTELY need to see who he is before locking in any Formula 1 Azerbaijan GP picks of your own.

So who wins the 2024 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and which SERIOUS longshot could be in contention? ... Join SportsLine right now to see the full projected Azerbaijan GP leaderboard, all from the model that nailed all 26 of Verstappen's wins since last season and called Norris' win in the Dutch Grand Prix, and find out!