For a change, the F1 title race is a close one this year. The battle between Verstappen and Hamilton is something that F1 racing has desperately needed. No one wants to see a driver run away with the title again.

This year, we have a close contest and at times the cars of the two title rivals haven't just been close but have collided and taken both Verstappen and Hamilton out of the race.

For a large part of the season, it's been Red Bull who have been faster than Mercedes. That has produced eight wins for Red Bull and six for Mercedes. The most recent race in Turkey saw Hamilton the fastest in practice but he was given a ten-place grid penalty because his car was on a fourth engine of the season. Verstappen also had a penalty in the previous Russian Grand Prix and that led to Hamilton winning his 100th Grand Prix.

Despite that, his car showed great pace and he managed to finish fifth in the race, even after a poor pit stop, leaving him six points behind Verstappen. The speed shown by Hamilton's Mercedes didn't please Red Bull. Their team principal Christian Horner noted the "significant step" in the straight-line speed of the Mercedes. The battle isn't just on the track as Hamilton made similar claims about Red Bull earlier in the season.

Now the engine problems seem to have been sorted out, we look like having a grandstand finish to the season, and that hasn't happened for a while. November and December (yes, it's a late conclusion this year) sees five more hopefully thrilling races take place with the final one scheduled for Abu Dhabi on December 12.

Betting on F1 is even more exciting when it's not likely to be dominated by one team. Betting on sport in Iowa is becoming more and more popular, especially on F1. There are plenty of markets to bet on and with F1, anything can happen, so it's excitement all the way, reported iowagambler.com.

You can get odds of 8/13 at DraftKings on Max Verstappen winning his first F1 world title. Lewis Hamilton is 6/5 with the same bookies to win another world title. The odds will fluctuate in the coming months and with the improved speed of the Mercedes, it might not be long before the odds show Hamilton as the favorite.

The British driver is used to having it his own way. This year has not been anything like that. Everything has to be right though if he is going to again be world champion. He will undoubtedly have to take risks if he is to keep his title.

That was the case in the recent Turkish Grand Prix where he had to decide when to change the tires on his Mercedes. He overruled the orders of his team, but this is a multi-title winning racing driver who admits to being "a risk taker". There'll have to be plenty of that as he bids to beat Verstappen.

This is the first time since 2013 that Red Bull are in the title race. Verstappen says that winning his first title wouldn't "change his life". The millions of dollars that he can make from the sport will change his life forever regardless of what he says. A thrilling final few races lie ahead of us.