Formula One 
/ James Frankland / 21 May 2011 / Leave a Comment Mark Webber starts in pole but can he hold of his team-mate?
"At one of his favourite tracks, Webber is set fair for his first win of the season."
Qualifying at Catalunya is over and there's a surprise at the front of the grid. James Frankland explains what this means for the Betfair markets and selects his best Spanish GP bets.
Mark Webber turned the tables on Sebastian Vettel by beating the World Champion to taken pole position for tomorrow's Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. The Australian driver has been comfortable at the circuit throughout free practice and maintained his advantage during qualifying, pipping Vettel by two tenths of a second.
The nearest non-Red Bull car, Lewis Hamilton's McLaren-Mercedes, was nearly a full second slower than Webber and with the Barcelona circuit akin to a playground for Adrian Newey's aerodynamically-superior RB7s, it's hard to see any other result than the fourth win out of five for the Milton Keynes-based squad.
Webber came into this race knowing that he had to strike back at Vettel to keep himself in contention for the title. He faced the same situation last year, then 32 points behind, this year 38, and at one of his favourite tracks is set fair for his first win of the season. Vettel qualified second without the use of his KERS system and it remains to be seen if he will be able to use it in the race. If not, he'll lose one of the main tools with which to overhaul Webber.
The rest of the field would seem to be contesting third place, the battle to be 'best of the rest'. Hamilton currently occupies that position although his old rival Fernando Alonso was just three thousandths of a second behind and lines up fourth. The battle between them will be fascinating and with the Red Bulls likely to walk off into the distance, the market for a podium finish with Alonso is worth a look at [2.14]. He's racing in front of his home crowd, so don't expect him to settle for fourth place come race day.
You may also want to look at the Total Classified Drivers market for some value. Recently we've seen a high number of cars finishing races - 23 of 24 in China and 22 last time out in Turkey - so the reliability is clearly there at present. The current market for more than 19.5 cars finishing is at [2.14] at a track where the teams test extensively.
Williams' performance took a big step forward in Barcelona in the hands of rookie driver Pastor Maldonado. The Venezuelan qualified ninth, a marked improvement on recent races. The team have yet to score any points this season but their talented youngster could be about to end the drought. He's available at [2.00] for a points finish.
Also worth considering in this market is Nick Heidfeld in the Renault. A spectacular fire in Saturday's practice session caused him to miss qualifying and forcing him to start 24th and last. However, in the last two races we've seen drivers charge through from the back, Webber finishing third from 18th in China, and Kamui Kobayashi taking tenth having started 23rd last time out in Turkey. Heidfeld's car can be quick, so perhaps mark him down for some points also.
Recommended Bets
Mark Webber to win @ [2.32]
Pastor Maldonado to score points @ [2.00]
Over 19.5 cars to be classified @ [2.16]
The markets are convinced that the world champion is set for another victory at the Circuit de Catalunya on Sunday but does Ralph Ellis agree?...
It's difficult to look beyond Sebastain Vettel when you consider that no driver has ever won this race from anywhere other than the front row. But a bigger price, it may pay to side with Nico Rosberg to be amongst...
Jack Houghton might not be the world's leading authority on F1 but when it comes to writing about betting we reckon he's at the front of the grid. Here, our man explains how you can proft from Sunday's race in...
No comments:
Post a Comment