The American Grand Prix takes place on Sunday October 24. It promises to be an exciting race and one that could see a change in the leadership of this season's F1 title race.

It's a much closer battle at the top this year in both the drivers' and constructors' championships. Red Bull's Max Verstappen goes into the American Grand Prix with a lead of six points over defending champion Lewis Hamilton. It's going a bit better for Mercedes in the Constructors' championship, with a 36 point gap between them and Red Bull.

The first American Grand Prix took place back in 1908. At that time, it was known as the American Grand Prize. It eventually became part of the F1 championship and since 2012 has been held at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Next year will see two events in the USA with another Grand Prix next May in Miami.

All the action may be taking place in Texas this year, but those of you in Illinois can watch the race live and bet on it too. Bookies have plenty of odds available for the American Grand Prix and lots of markets to try and win some dollars from. You could bet on a driver finishing in the top six or the first car to retire. Both being bets you can make without having to predict who will win the race.

At present, FanDuel (now far more than somewhere to play fantasy sports games) have Lewis Hamilton (right) at 8/11 to win the American Grand Prix. Just like is going to be the case in Sunday's race, Max Verstappen isn't far away at 5/4. They dominate the market with the next in the odds being Valtteri Bottas (teammate of Lewis Hamilton) at 16/1, reports illinoisgambler.com.

Lewis Hamilton loves taking part in the American Grand Prix. He's won the race more times than any other driver. The British driver would very much love to get a record seventh win this weekend and strengthen his F1 title hopes.

One would certainly come in handy for Hamilton. Although, he and Verstappen are way clear at the top of the drivers' championship, there have been four different winners in the last six races. Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) have also won races.

Championship leader Max Verstappen (right)has gone three races without a win. Technical guru Adrian Newey is back from injury to strengthen the Red Bull team. Over at Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton has had just one win in his last six. The last three races have seen Verstappen earn just one more point than his rival. Anything could happen this weekend, perhaps another collision between the cars of Hamilton and Verstappen. That would make placing a bet on any driver other than the top two to win the American Grand Prix, possibly very profitable indeed.

The past couple of races have seen both of the top two receiving grid penalties. That was due to the number of engine changes being made. With that out of the way we have an even more thrilling American Grand Prix ahead of us.

Mercedes had been struggling to compete with the pace of the Red Bulls. Now they seem to be ahead of them and that can only bode well for Mercedes in both championships.