---
title: "Lucky Gambler Wins Big After Betting $0.24 on a Gasly, Sainz, Stroll Podium at F1 Italian Grand Prix"
description: "Those are 166,990:1 odds."
date: "2020-09-08"
modified: "2020-09-08"
authors:
  - name: "James Gilboy"
    job_title: "Contributing Writer"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/james-gilboy"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/36263/lucky-gambler-wins-big-after-betting-on-a-gasly-sainz-stroll-podium-at-f1-italian-grand-prix"
categories:
  - "F1"
  - "News"
  - "Racing"
---

# Lucky Gambler Wins Big After Betting $0.24 on a Gasly, Sainz, Stroll Podium at F1 Italian Grand Prix

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2020/09/SI202009060438_news.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Betting on sports is a great way for most people to prove they aren't clairvoyant and drain their bank accounts. But sometimes, ultra long-shot bets pay off, as they did for a Finnish gambler who dropped just a few cents on an unthinkable podium order for Formula 1's Italian Grand Prix this past weekend and walked away with tens of thousands of dollars.

Per Scandinavia's [*Yle*](<https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fsvenska.yle.fi%2Fartikel%2F2020%2F09%2F07%2Fsatsade-20-cent-vann-drygt-33-000-euro-pa-svartippade-pallplaceringar>), the unnamed Tampere, Finland gambler put $0.24 on a podium consisting of Pierre Gasly, [Carlos Sainz](<https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/33461/formula-1-carlos-sainz-heads-to-ferrari-daniel-ricciardo-to-mclaren>), and Lance Stroll. Not a likely finishing order for a trio of drivers who qualified tenth, third, and eighth respectively, and had to outrace [the all-conquering Mercedes-AMG team](<https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/32313/mercedes-amg-f1s-controversial-dual-axis-steering-ok-for-now-axed-for-2021>). Betting odds for this order were thus rated at 166,990:1 by Finland's state-owned gambling monopoly Veikkaus, but the pieces for this order slowly fell into place.

https://twitter.com/_/status/1302872983980048384

Valtteri Bottas lost positions at the start, twin safety cars disrupted the running order, and a heavy penalty knocked Lewis Hamilton out of the lead, promoting Gasly—who timed his pit stop impeccably—to a race lead he clung to for dear life.

In the end, Gasly finished a mere 0.415 seconds ahead of Sainz, notching up F1's closest race finish in a decade, his first career win, and the second in his team's history; the other coming from a similarly unusual Italian Grand Prix in 2008 courtesy of Sebastian Vettel's first-ever win. And while Gasly left the track with a trophy, a full inbox, and the respect of the F1 community, the Finn who bet on his victory came away about $39,390 richer.

Veikkaus reportedly states that this winning bet had the highest odds of any successful gamble in close to a decade, with only the equally chaotic [2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix](<https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/11833/formula-ones-wild-and-crazy-azerbaijan-grand-prix>) coming close. That race's Daniel Ricciardo-Valtteri Bottas-Lance Stroll podium was rated at 63,467:1 odds, and the trio of gamblers who put 20-cent bets on this exact result were rewarded with roughly $15,000 apiece.

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## Author
James is a former staff writer for The Drive. He has changed the conversation around electrification, debunked misinformation online, and become a prominent hunter of what he calls "automotive cryptids."

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/jamesgilboy>)