The F1 Times gambling contest between Ryan Wood (Editor) and Daniel Chalmers (Feature Editor) heads to the 15th round at Suzuka for the Japanese GP.
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 practise 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 last time.
Ryan Wood
Bet 1 – Sebastian Vettel to win the Singapore GP – £2.00 at 8/1 – Won £18.00
Bet 2 – Michael Schumacher to win the Singapore GP – £1.50
Bet 3 – Nico Rosberg to win the Singapore GP – £1.50 at 50/1
Daniel Chalmers
Bet 1 – Michael Schumacher to win the Singapore GP – £1 each way at 40/1
Bet 2 – Nico Rosberg to win the Singapore GP – £1 each way at 40/1
Bet 3 – Mark Webber to win the Singapore GP – £1.00 at 14/1
Ryan and Daniel went down a very similar route with money being thrown at Mercedes, with the rest on a Red Bull driver.
The hope was that Mercedes’ upgrades would bring a sudden improvement but they didn’t. However with the odds so high it was worth a try.
However both Ryan and Daniel were right in that Red Bull would be stronger in Singapore than they were in previous races. However Ryan picked the right Red Bull and won £18.00. Although he does have the gearbox in Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren to thank for his win.
After fourteen races £70 has been spent by both men. Ryan now has £58.74 worth of profit, whilst Daniel has £36.40 worth of losses. Therefore there is a difference of £95.14 between the two gamblers.
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Ryan Wood |
Daniel Chalmers |
Next we head to Suzuka and one of F1’s legendary circuits. This along with Spa is one of those tracks that is loved by all the drivers. With so many similar looking modern venues these days coming to one of F1’s few remaining classic venues is a treat.
It’s one of the few circuits left in F1 where the drivers can make a real difference to their lap time.
With its figure of eight layout it’s a real roller coaster ride, just like the one you can see in the iconic backdrop of the circuit. Sebastian Vettel sums it up perfectly when he says he doesn’t want to pit at Suzuka because it’s so much fun to drive.
Suzuka is full of fast corners include the Esses, the Dunlop curve, the Degners and Spoon curve. Although 130R is easy flat these days the corner is still a huge adrenaline rush for the drivers. Few F1 tracks have a list of legendary corners like Suzuka has.
You need a car with great aerodynamics and lots of downforce. It is also one of the toughest tracks on the tyres so tyre degradation is going to be a huge talking point this weekend, and ensure strategy decisions will be key.
Reasonably warm temperatures are also predicted so that will make the situation tougher still. Round 15 Japan
Ryan Wood
Bet 1 – Pastor Maldonado to qualify on pole – £2.00 at 33/1
Williams have quite a large upgrade for the Japanese GP which includes a revised exhaust layout, similar to that of McLaren and Sauber.
This should, if it can be utilised straight away, give them a performance boost. Maldonado is no slouch and we’ve seen him on the front-row twice this season already. It’s an outside shot, but at 33/1, it’s worth a couple of quid.
Bet 2 – Lewis Hamilton to win the Japanese GP – £3.00 at 2/1
Had he not suffered a gearbox issue in Singapore, he would have won, which would have given him three wins in four races.
This circuit should suit McLaren with its high-speed corners – an area the MP4-27 has proven itself to be strong. Why Hamilton? Well he heads to the weekend in quite a relaxed move having finally sorted out his future.
Yes, it might be a little awkward in the garage after rejecting McLaren’s offer, but nonetheless he’ll feel pretty pressure-free. Oh, and Jenson Button has a gearbox penalty… so that rules him out… probably.
Daniel Chalmers
Bet 1 – Kimi Raikkonen to win the Japanese GP – £2.00 at 9/1
Lotus hasn’t had a great couple of races but I fancy them to be stronger in Suzuka. The E20 works at its best in high-speed corners, which require plenty of aerodynamic grip. Looking at the weather forecast it should be warm enough for them to make a good impression.
Also Raikkonen always thrives at driver circuits (Monaco, Spa and Suzuka). There is no doubt that come qualifying and the race he will be right on it. Nobody can forget his drive from 17th on the grid to win the 2005 Japanese GP.
Bets 2 and 3 – Sergio Perez to finish on the podium – £2.00 at 6/1 and Kamui Kobayashi to finish on the podium – £1.00 at 12/1
I think this could be one of those weekends where Sauber are right in the mix. Their car works well in fast corners so Suzuka should really suit them.
Furthermore this is a weekend where tyre degradation is likely to be very severe. Therefore I think they will be able to use their trump card of looking after the tyres very effectively here.
The issue was whether to go for Perez or Kobayashi so I have gone for both of them. As it is his home GP I can see Kamui putting on a really good performance for the crowd, and also to potentially save his career which is in danger at the moment.
