With the Formula 1 races reaching their final stretch for the season, there is a sense of excitement and nervous energy. And this weekend’s event, the Las Vegas Grand Prix, could be a deciding factor in the title race. Red Bull star Max Verstappen just needs a win to secure his fourth F1 crown, while McLaren’s Lando Norris would want to take this title race to the last event in Abu Dhabi.

Given the intense rivalry between the two drivers, it would be wise to take either of them as your preferred pick. For those willing to cash out on a big betting deal, the odds certainly are stacked in favor of Verstappen. However, Canadian rapper Drake has decided to make a bold prediction that got the Ferrari fans anxious and worried about their star driver.

Drake is hoping for a Charles Leclerc victory in Las Vegas

If you follow Drake and his sports betting, you’d know that his predictions are nothing short of a curse. Many sports fans believe that a team or the sports personality that Drake backs usually ends up losing. It’s not just a theory but a somewhat proven hoodoo if you look back at his past bets.

In 2022, he wagered $1 million and backed France to beat Messi’s Argentina in regular time in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Final. Despite Kylian Mbappé’s heroic efforts, that was a million down the drain. This year, he threw another $565,000 on Tyson Fury to defeat Oleksandr Usyk, but Usyk ended Fury’s unbeaten streak. Wait, there’s more. Drake recently lost an additional $350,000 hoping for a Mike Tyson win against YouTube sensation Jake Paul. And yet again, his outcome was the same.

So you see, Drake’s sports betting is nothing shy of a curse that often leads to the downfall of teams and athletes. Now it is hard to know if Drake has some sort of briefing or follows all these sports regularly. However, his next move to rally behind Charles Leclerc certainly got the Ferrari fans sweating, as they knew what the likely outcome would be.

With the Las Vegas Grand Prix lined up, the rapper has now decided to bet $ 250k on the Ferrari star. He can triple his money if Leclerc pulls off a spoiler win, but chances of that are bleak given he’s on Drake’s curse list now. As it turns out, this isn’t the first time that ‘Drizzy’ has placed a bet on Leclerc. He lost $250k in 2025 after hoping for the Ferrari star to win in the Spanish Grand Prix, but the engine on Leclerc’s Ferrari gave up on him despite starting from the pole position.

However, after the qualifying sessions, the dynamics have completely flipped, and who knows, Drake’s prediction might actually come true this once.

New odds for the Las Vegas Grand Prix after qualifying

Before the qualifying rounds, all the hype was around the Dutch driver and his battle with Lando Norris. However, that seems to have simmered down as the Ferrari drivers are now touted to be the favorites to win the race in Vegas. Although George Russell from Mercedes is on the pole, Carlos Sainz, with the odds of (2-to-1) on Bet MGM, is leading the charge for now. Meanwhile, his teammate Charles Leclerc, who is placed 4th on the grid, is right behind with odds (9-to-4).

The Red Bull star, who starts the race 5th on the starting lineup, is next and is not far behind with (5-to-1) odds to win the race. Given that Verstappen has only won 1 of his last 11 races, you see his odds of winning the race going down with a sub-par qualifying run. While the Red Bull car was seen as the class of the field in the early going of the season, that isn’t the case anymore.

This is also why the championship is even coming down to the last few races this season. Over the last three years, Verstappen had utterly dominated the sport, winning three consecutive titles, and it peaked in 2023 with the Dutchman winning 19 races in the season! Yes, you read that right. He won 19 out of the 24 races, an F1 record, surpassing the previous record of 15 held by… Verstappen himself. The previous year.

This dominance saw a shadow cast on it this season as Max’s Red Bull just hasn’t been as fast as it used to be. The rising Mclaren star, Lando Norris, has been on the charge, pushing Max right to the end and making it a title fight. However, Max proved that it was always about the driver and not the ride and continued to widen his points gap with Norris whenever the Brit slipped up. Verstappen now just needs to finish ahead of Norris to secure his fourth straight World Drivers Championship. However, the constructors’ championship is a much tighter race.

Both Ferrari and McLaren have bucked up and performed better than their rival camp. Oscar Piastri and Norris lead the way for McLaren, while Leclerc and Sainz for Ferrari. Who would’ve thought Red Bull would be trailing Ferrari in the constructor’s championship standing? This almost felt impossible in June, but here we are. However, with two more races to go after this weekend, there could be big changes in both the drivers and constructor’s championship races. Any neutral race fan watching the Vegas race would be hoping for a wildcard win and possibly see the title race stretch right until Abu Dhabi. Do you think Charles Leclerc can break the Drake curse?