Motorsport Musings Ramblings of a racing enthusiast…

F1 Betting Tomfoolery: Part II

Here’s a tip for you: next time someone refers to something as being a ‘dark horse’, simply ignore it. It just implies that the subject in question probably has next to no hope what so ever, and if the impossible should unexpectedly happen, well then we have one smug author, who will look like a modern day Nostradamus.

I was suckered into this trap, believing that Sauber looked promising thanks to their pre-season testing form and duly placed a bet on Pedro de la Rosa scoring points in the Bahrain Grand Prix. Yet as soon as Sauber took to the track in Sakhir, it looked like a different team had turned up and they didn’t look even remotely competitive at any stage all weekend.

De la Rosa managed to qualify 14th and ran in the midfield, looking every bit as threatening as dolphin, before eventually retiring with hydraulic problems and flushing my £5.00 down the plughole in the process.

But all was not lost. Praise be to Lewis Hamilton, who managed to follow orders and find a place on the podium, keeping me in the game for another round. Partly thanks to luck of course, as there was zero chance of any overtaking in Bahrain. A swift pitstop saw Hamilton leapfrog Nico Rosberg into fourth, before eventually picking up third from a slowing Sebastien Vettel, who was suffering from loss of engine power, all thanks to a dodgy spark plug.

As an aisde, just what was Ted Kravitz on about in the BBC F1 Forum programme when he had the startling revelation that Vettel’s exhaust was the cause of the problem? Look! We can clearly see the scorch marks where it had burned through the side of his car! No look harder. Much harder. Of course this transpired to be a load of tosh. A spark plug, trundling its way through the innards of the engine and setting alight? Complete guesswork there Theodore, eh?

But I digress. On to this week’s bets...

Where women glow and men plunder

Williams had a bad weekend in Bahrain. Reigning GP2 champion Nico Hulkenberg dropped a couple of places trying to avoid the Kubica/Sutil incident and then lost control of his new toy on the third lap, finishing 14th.

Old hand Rubens Barrichello fared much better and showed that while the Grove-based squad look unlikely to be fighting for any wins this season (five years and counting...), they should be able to score a healthy amount of points. I have a hunch that everyone's favourite privateer team could well emerge top of what looks to be a tight midfield before the F1 circus trundles back into Europe.

With this in mind, I have placed a bet of £4.00 at odds of 3/5 (or 1.60 for simplicity's sake) through Bwin.com on Barrichello to beat his younger team mate in this weekend's Australian Grand Prix. If funds had allowed me, I would have also wagered that he would also score a point or two in, what could well be a topsy-turvy race, as the safety car is likely to make an appearance at some point.

Ah yes, the safety car. The chances of the services of a certain Mr. Bernd Maylander being called upon in Melbourne are usually pretty high. There's a chance that a few front wings will be torn off in Turn 1 and Turn 3 on the first lap, and the low-grip, wall-lined nature of the circuit often leads to high attrition. At odds of 7/5 (1.5), I feel it's too good an opportunity to miss.

This week's bets