Throughout this season Ryan Wood (Editor) and Daniel Chalmers (Features Editor) are going to partake in a F1 gambling contest.
Before every race weekend the two of them will have a budget of £5.00 to spend on a maximum of 3 different bets relating to the upcoming event. All bets must be placed before the first practice session on Friday.
That means (presuming all 20 races go ahead) they will gamble £100 of their own money each over the course of the season.
At the end of the season the winner will be the person who has made the most profit, or made the lowest loss.
Before every race on a Friday you can see what bets they’ve placed and why, as well as reviewing the result from the previous race.
Round 1: Australia
Ryan Wood
Bet 1: Jenson Button to win the race at 11/2 – £2 stake
With it being the first race of the season, it’s really difficult to choose a winner without knowing where each team or driver lies. This is a stab in the dark going on testing times. Whilst I’ve chosen Jenson Button as the race winner, I do however believe Sebastian Vettel will likely win.
However, with the aim being to make a decent return (not likely to happen), choosing Vettel wouldn’t have offered up much of a profit, so I took a punt on Button.
Bet 2: Lewis Hamilton to qualify on pole at 4/1 -£2 stake
I’ve chosen Lewis Hamilton for pole position on Saturday. He’s super quick over one lap and McLaren seem to have a decent car. Remember he was 2nd to Vettel in 2011. Odds of 4/1 and a return of £10 (including my bet) isn’t too shoddy!
Bet 3:Nico Rosberg to qualify on the front row at 6/1 – £1 stake
Finally, the real stab in the dark and a bit of a brave one, Nico Rosberg for a front-row start, ideally second to Hamilton if I’m to get a good start in the betting competition with my colleague Daniel. Mercedes have great top-speed with their F-duct system which can be used throughout qualifying, so I’m expecting something special from the German duo. Pole of second might just be out of reach though.
Daniel Chalmers
Bet 1: Lewis Hamilton to win the race at 5-1 – £2 stake
Throughout testing McLaren have looked quite close to Red Bull, and I think they will be able to give the Milton Keynes squad a huge fight this weekend.
Although Jenson’s odds to win were higher I fancy Lewis to come out of the blocks with a great performance. He will want to go out there this weekend, and prove to everyone that the real Lewis is back.
Furthermore Albert Park has tended to be a good circuit for Lewis. He finished third on his F1 debut in 2007. He dominated the 2008 race and drove brilliantly in 2009 despite a dreadful car and the lie-gate saga, which he got himself involved in after the race. He also finished a very strong second to Sebastian Vettel at last year’s race.
Melbourne isn’t one of the tracks where we should see high tyre degradation, so in theory Lewis should be able to unleash his speed in the race. Jenson’s ease on the tyres trump card shouldn’t be that decisive here.
Bet 2: Romain Grosjean to finish on the podium at 14-1 – £2 stake
In testing Lotus have looked extremely quick. In my reckoning they are the third best team behind the leading pair of Red Bull and McLaren.
There is also a chance that they might be close enough to the front two teams to pose a real threat for the podium. Also it would only need a mistake or a problem for any of the McLaren or Red Bull drivers to give Lotus an even better chance of a podium.
Let’s remember the team managed to get a podium at last year’s Australian GP with Vitaly Petrov, and I think they have looked better in testing this year than they did last year.
Grosjean has looked very good in testing and I think he could pose a real threat to Kimi throughout the season. He has always been a very talented and quick driver, and I think he could make a dream start this weekend (and therefore give me a dream start too!).
Bet 3: Heikki Kovalainen to finish in the points at 10-1 – £1 stake
Caterham have shown some real signs of promise in pre-season testing. They are now within reach of the midfield.
They will be looking to challenge for points on a regular basis in 2012. The season opener has to be one of their best chances to score. The first race of a season is often a race of attrition as you see a few teams suffer reliability glitches, and some drivers will be a little rusty after a long period of not racing.
Furthermore with so many inexperienced drivers in the midfield, and a first corner that’s had so many incidents at the start over the years, we could see a few retirements in the early laps which could help Heikki.
