The F1 Times gambling contest between Ryan Wood (Editor) and Daniel Chalmers (Feature Editor) heads to the third round in China.
To remind you of the rules, both men have a budget of £5 to spend on a maximum of 3 different bets relating to the upcoming event. The deadline for these bets to be placed is before the start of the first Friday practice session.
At the end of the season the winner will be the person who has made the most profit, or made the lowest loss.
Here are the results from the last time.
Ryan Wood
Bet 1 – Pastor Maldonado to finish in the top 6 at 9-1 – £2.00 stake
Bet 2 – Lewis Hamilton to do the triple, pole, win and fastest lap at 8-1 – £2.00 stake
Bet 3 – Heikki Kovalainen to finish in the points at 20-1 – £1.00 stake
Daniel Chalmers
Bet 1 – Nico Rosberg to take pole position at 12-1 – £2.00 stake
Bet 2 – Kimi Raikkonen to win the race at 25-1 – £1.00 each way
Bet 3 – Daniel Ricciardo to finish in the top 6 at 14-1 – £1.00 stake
Neither Ryan nor Daniel won any money from the second round of betting in Malaysia.
As it stands Ryan has £13.00 worth of profit and Daniel has £10 worth of losses.
Ryan Wood |
Daniel Chalmers |
Why not join in? If you fancy a go, why not join PaddyPower – with loads of Formula 1 markets from fastest laps and one lap wonders to the number of retirements or top 6 finishers – you’ll easily find something to bet on. Join now and get a free £20 bet when you make your first £10 bet – and for ease of play, you can even use PayPal to make deposits.
Round 3 China
Ryan Wood
Bet 1 – Three retirements on lap 1 – £1.00 at 14/1
It’s becoming a little difficult to get good odds on likely results, so I’m choosing some more obscure bets which I hope will pay off. Three retirements on lap 1 is entirely plausible in China, the long, tight first turn always creates some drama as 24 cars pile in at 100mph.
Bet 2 – Hamilton to win and set fastest lap – £2.00 at 6/1
A safe bet, I thought. That was until Hamilton was handed a 5-place grid penalty for the race. I mistakenly placed my bets on Wednesday which will teach me! However, he won from third last year in the second quickest car, now he’s got the quickest, maybe he can do it?
I don’t think he will to be honest. He’s started on pole in the previous two race and failed to turn that into a win, so how can he do it from sixth at the very best? He could still get the fastest lap though if he can find some clear air, but that’s irrelevant if he doesn’t win the race.
Bet 3 – Raikkonen to finish on the podium – £2.00 at 4/1
Can Raikkonen get on the podium? I hope so, he’s driving well. If Lotus can finally have a clean race, no penalties (Australia) and a dry race (Malaysia), then he’s got a shot of the top step let alone 2nd or 3rd. 4/1 I didn’t think were great odds, but worth £2.00.
Daniel Chalmers
Bet 1 – Romain Grosjean to be the fastest qualifier at 33/1 – £1 each way
Grosjean may not have any points yet this season but it’s clear from qualifying that he is not lacking speed. In Melbourne he qualified a brilliant third just a few tenths behind the McLarens, and his one lap pace was very solid again in Sepang.
It’s very clear that Lotus have a quick car even though for various reasons they haven’t been able to show the full extent of their pace yet. In China they will be bringing upgrades. It’s so close at the front that if they can out-develop their rivals by just a tenth or two it could be enough to ensure that Lotus can fight for pole and the win on merit.
Out of the top four teams Romain’s odds for pole position were the most attractive. Even if he can just get himself in the top three like he did in Melbourne, it would still be a solid return with my each way bet.
Bet 2 – Kimi Raikkonen to win the race at 14/1 – £1 each way
After doing my feature article saying that Lotus are title contenders, I am sticking to my guns and betting on the team in my second bet too.
When you look at the lap charts Kimi’s race pace in Melbourne and Sepang was very strong. If he can have a trouble free qualifying and no grid penalty then I believe he has a genuine chance of challenging for race victory. Certainly a podium is very realistic, and even if he can manage just that I will win a few bob with my each way bet.
The fact that one of the big favourites for race victory Lewis Hamilton will take a five place grid drop, could well help clear the way for Kimi.
Bet 3 – Mark Webber to get the fastest lap of the race at 13/2 – £1 stake
Although the Red Bull is lacking in single lap pace at the moment there is no doubt that it does have strong race pace, which is actually reasonably close to the pace of McLaren.
Webber does have a decent record for setting the fastest lap of the race. Last year he managed to set the fastest lap of the race seven times. So far this season he set the third quickest lap of the race in Melbourne, and the second quickest lap of the race in Sepang.
This year he seems much happier with the car than he did at any point last year, and the gulf between himself and Vettel that existed in 2011 has disappeared.