Australian Grand Prix betting tips and F1 predictions: Lewis Hamilton can confirm Mercedes' gains

Where to watch the Australian Grand Prix

Sky Sports F1, 6am Sunday

Best bets

Lewis Hamilton podium finish
1pt 6-5 general

Alex Albon points finish
2pts Evs general

Betting offers

• Paddy Power are giving away free bets to new and existing customers and all you need is an account. Sign up here
• Sky Bet are offering new customers multiple free bets when they sign up. Click here for free bets, money-back specials and BuildABet free bets
• Betfair have lots of offers and money back offers. Sign up for a new account here
• To get free bets from Ladbrokes today, simply sign up to a new account here
• Don't have a Coral account? They have an offer for new customers here
• New William Hill customers can claim free bets and benefit from their daily offers including Scratch Of The Day by clicking here

Australian Grand Prix predictions

After a disappointing start to the season, Mercedes have made considerable gains and while they are still some way off challenging for wins, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton look well in contention for the podium in tomorrow morning's Australian Grand Prix.

The first two races of the season saw Red Bull record dominant 1-2 finishes, with a resurgent Fernando Alonso chasing them home in third, but that trio seem highly unlikely to have the podium to themselves in Melbourne.

Sergio Perez developed an engine issue which saw the Red Bull driver go off the track four times in final practice. The same issue - the engine continuing to deliver power after he had lifted off the throttle - saw the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix winner go straight into the gravel at the third turn of his first qualifying lap, and Perez will start from the back as a consequence.

Team-mate and championship leader Max Verstappen claimed a comfortable pole position and reliability looks his only threat to a second win in the first three races.

However, the Mercedes cars of Russell and Hamilton managed to sneak ahead of Alonso's Aston Martin on the grid, and those three look set for a fantastic scrap.

Alonso overtook both Mercedes cars on his way to finishing third in Bahrain, but the Mercedes showed noticeably better race pace in Saudi Arabia last time and may well have made another step forward since then.

Hamilton marked his F1 debut with a podium finish in Melbourne 16 years ago and he looks a decent bet to repeat that in what could boil down to a shootout with his team-mate from that day, Alonso.

Williams went into the season with modest hopes having looked slowest of the field in testing, but Alex Albon gave the team a boost by scoring a point in Bahrain.

The Thai-British driver was in contention to add to his score last time out in Jeddah before suffering a frightening brake failure, but he could quickly gain compensation for that after an eye-catching effort in qualifying in Melbourne.

Albon lines up a fully deserved eighth after a lap where he was fastest of anyone through the middle portion of the circuit. The Williams has generally looked even stronger on race pace than in qualifying this year and the former Red Bull racer could easily pick up more points on Sunday.

Sign up to emails from Racing Post Sport and get all the latest news and tips

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport