Posted on: December 9, 2024, 03:05h.
Last updated on: December 9, 2024, 03:16h.
Lewis Hamilton closed the chapter on his 12 years with Mercedes yesterday, a team that he won six F1 titles with, as he readies his move to Ferrari for the 2025 season.
His time with Mercedes was the most successful run between a driver and team in F1 history.
McLaren Wraps Up Team Title
There’s been plenty written out there about how difficult the move has been for Hamilton. No question the decision, announced in February, impacted the team’s performance this F1 season, with four wins (4th in the constructor standings).
Nonetheless, according to Associated Press, the soon-to-be 40-year-old’s final race behind the wheel of a Mercedes car ended on a heartfelt note:
“We dreamed alone but together, we believed,” Hamilton told race engineer Peter Bonnington and team principal Toto Wolff over the radio.
“Thank you for all the courage, the determination and the passion for seeing me and supporting me. What started out as a leap of faith turned into a journey into the history books.”
Meanwhile, the F1 season wrapped up over the weekend with McLaren taking the constructors’ championship, as Lando Norris took the checkered flag at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, his fourth win of the season. That was the team’s first constructors’ championship since 1998.
F1 Futures are out for 2025 – Norris is the betting favorite to take the drivers’ title at +180 at DraftKings, followed by this year’s champ, Max Verstappen, of Red Bull Racing at +225, Charles Leclerc of Ferrari at +450, then Hamilton at +600.
UFC 310 results: Pantoja dominates
Betting favorite Alexandre Pantoja (29-5-0) didn’t disappoint in the flyweight title fight at UFC 310 in Las Vegas Saturday, beating Kai Asakura in a second-round submission. After the fight as per tradition he called out his next challenger – but he didn’t name top challengers Brandon Royval, who he’s beaten twice, including a unanimous decision a year ago, or Brandon Moreno, whom he’s beaten twice as well.
Instead, post-fight he called out for Demetrious Johnson, the ex-UFC flyweight champ who retired earlier this year. Johnson is considered one of the best MMA fighters of all time, finishing his career at 25-4-1, dominating the UFC flyweight division between 2012-2017.
Pantoja is now tied with Johnson for most UFC wins at flyweight, at 13.
Johnson said on X later that he was offered $2 million to fight but turned it down, not at all interested in coming back. But stranger things have happened.
Meanwhile UFC 311 Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, CA, is next up with two title bouts – led by Islam Makhachev defending his title versus No. 1 ranked Arman Tsarukyan in an epic lightweight division fight. Makhachev is the UFC’s No 1 pound-for-pound fighter currently according to ESPN rankings, last beating Dustin Poirier by submission last June. Merab Dvalishvili will be defending his bantamweight title against No. 2 ranked Umar Nurmagomedov.
Early odds at BetMGM have Makhachev the favourite at -278, Tsarukyan at +220, with Nurmagomedov the favourite at -250, Dvalishvili at +200.
Allen’s MVP Odds Shift With Dazzling Performance Against Rams
Yes, they lost the game to the L.A. Rams 44-42, the highest scoring game of the NFL season, but Buffalo Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen put another stamp on his NFL MVP file with a six-TD performance (three though the air, three rushing, the first player in NFL history to do that, including four in the second half, 22-for-37, 342 yards passing, no interceptions). With the loss, the Bills weren’t able to extend their winning streak to eight games, while they already have clinched the AFC East division.
According to PointsBet Canada, with the Bills a popular betting option because of the team’s close proximity to bettors in Ontario, Allen’s MVP odds moved from -200 to -400 after yesterday’s game.
“Most bets are on Allen. Most handle is Lamar (Jackson). Biggest liability is Saquon (Barkley),” said a trader there.
Allen is -400 currently at DraftKings.
Josh Allen has been excellent all season long, but really separated himself yesterday with six total touchdowns and over 400 yards of offense. Saquon Barkley (+450) is also having an historic season and is still alive in the race, but this has become a quarterback award, and we think it’s Josh Allen’s to lose at this point,” said Johnny Avello, Director of Sports Operations, DraftKings.
