Vettel Vulnerable in Malaysian Grand Prix Betting

The F1 circuit reaches Malaysia this weekend with the Red Bull team heavy favourites to repeat their achievement of 12 months ago when their two drivers, world champion, Sebastian Vettel and team mate, Mark Webber came home first and second.

Certainly there are questions that the Red Bull team will have to answer; particularly because the Sepang circuit and its long straights may not suit their aero package and also that the race will probably be run with outside temperatures of around the 40c mark and in intense humidity, which will affect the tyres.

It is almost certain therefore that Christian Horner, the Red Bull team boss, will incorporate the KERS system in both cars to aid the speed on the straight and will pay extra attention to the choice of tyres used, particularly as the extra weight of the KERS will add more pressure on them. That said Vettel in particular looked as if he needed no boost in Australia a fortnight ago, driving the quickest almost throughout the race which of course he went on to win; however he will know that Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren was a shade quicker than Vettel until the first round of pit-stops. McLaren have had a fortnight to improve on that performance which will make practice, that starts on Saturday that much more exciting.

Horner has been quoted that he believes that the McLaren cars will be a lot closer to them than most think, which is certainly the feeling of the McLaren team. Lewis finished second last week and had his team mate, Jenson Button exercised a little more patience and subtlety during his battle with Felipe Massa of Ferrari, he could have easily pulled off a podium finish himself. In the event he earned himself a penalty and finished in only sixth place in a race that he had won in 2009 when driving for Brawn.

The third place in the end went to hugely talented Russian, Vitaly Petrov in his Renault, who looks like he is about to take ‘giant strides’ in the sport now that Robert Kubica is sidelined. No-one really expected to see a Renault making such an early impression, Petrov only qualified in sixth, but he proved that the Renault car has much more about it than the so called experts imagine. It would come as no surprise this week to see him very competitive once again.

The outcome of this race could be decided by so many factors that it makes one conclude that, whilst Vettel and Red Bull justify favouritism in the latest Malaysian Grand Prix odds, the course, the weather, the humidity, and the tyres will all have an effect on the outcome, which makes betting on world champion, Vettel at around 13/10 uncertain. A better bet would be take the favourite on, with either Hamilton at 5/1 or even Button who is as long as 20/1 with some Bookmakers.

It is fair to believe that Vettel should start on pole, for which he is a heavy odds on favourite, but with McLaren expected to improve their speed too, the 9/2 against Hamilton might be worthy of consideration.

Ferrari can get off to winning start to 2011 F1 Season

The 2011 Forumla 1 season finally gets under way this weekend following the cancellation of Bahrain Grand Prix a couple of weeks back. The Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne takes centre stage for the start of the new season and with both the Drivers Championship and Constructors Championship up for grabs, everyone starts with a clean slate and optimism will be high across all teams and drivers but which combination will get off to the best possible start and emerge victorious Down Under?

The obvious candidate of course is the reigning F1 World Champion, Sebastian Vettel, now officially the number one driver for Red Bull, whose cars it would appear are as good as ever, certainly looking the best of all teams in pre-season practices.

Vettel is without doubt full of confidence but Melbourne has not been one of his better circuits having failed to finish in his two races there so far for Red Bull. He qualified in pole position last year, but his race ended on the 25^th lap with brakes problems. In 2009 he qualified in third place but had to retire following a collision when in third place on the 56^th lap.

Vettel’s team mate at Red Bull Mark Webber will no doubt have the crowd on his side, but whether that will be enough for him to win the race is open doubt as like Vettel, the Melbourne circuit has not been the kindest to him. He was ninth last year after qualifying second and in 2009 he finished twelfth after qualifying in tenth place. In fact Webber’s best finish on home soil was his fifth places he achieved in 2002, when driving for Minardi and in 2005 when he was with Williams.

Of the current crop of drivers, Jenson Button has the best record winning the race for the last two years. Firstly in 2009 when driving for Brawn and then 12 months ago when driving a superb race for his new team of McLaren. It is anticipated that this year that tyres will be a key area and it is well known on the circuit that Button is probably just about the best driver when it comes to opting for tyre changes. Add that to his great ability to preserve tread, he would seem to be in with a big shout to win for a third consecutive time, provided that the McLaren car is up to it.

McLaren in fact have been behind the rest of the leading lights in pre-season and are still tinkering with their exhaust system amongst other things. Lewis Hamilton, team mate of Button and winner of this race in 2009 is however quite bullish about his team’s chances but realises that to win they have it all to do against the Red Bull’s and Ferrari’s. As it stands currently Hamilton can be backed in the Drivers Championship odds at around 10/1 with Button much better value at 16/1, however punters would probably be best advised to leave the McLaren team alone for this opening Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso whose only win in Australia came in 2006 when he drove for Renault is in the antepost market as the 11/4 second favourite. However, now in his second season with Ferrari, the Spaniard and the team can be expected to make significant moves this year in their bid to wrest the title off Red Bull. It is why Alonso would be a good bet to win in Australia this year. He too has had plenty of good pre-season practice sessions and confidence is very high in the team.

The Mercedes team can also be expected to improve on last year and it would surprise no-one to see their two drivers, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg to be in amongst the leaders both in qualifying and the race itself. They are both around the same 12/1 price and represent good value to at least make the podium at the end of the race.

Next on the schedule is the Malaysian Grand Prix on April 10th, before the tour heads to China, Turkey and Spain and by the time the Monaco Grand Prix betting comes around on the 29th May, one of the feature races of the season I clearer picture will known of who the best teams are likely to be for the remainder of the campaign.

Melbourne Grand Prix Prediction:

1^st F Alonso – Ferrari

2^nd S Vettel – Red Bull

3^rd N Rosberg - Mercedes