AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX PREVIEW
With the pre season testing concluded and lights out in Melbourne just a few days away, the teams will be completing their optimisation program and looking to put their best foot forward for the season opener. Testing gave us a chance to answer some of the questions fans will have for the upcoming season but we are still left with a good degree of uncertainty.
What testing suggests for the season
On the surface, it seems the top three teams from the 2016 season are poised to occupy the top three spots this year also, although the order may be shuffled. Mercedes have shown impressive reliability, as have Ferrari, whereas Red Bull seem to be suffering a little in that area resulting from Renault’s overhauled engine architecture. It is Ferrari’s raw speed that has made the headlines after testing, with their drivers setting both the fastest and second fastest lap over testing. This needs to be tempered with the Mercedes performance however, as the German team have made a habit of hiding their real performance until it is absolutely necessary. While Red Bull certainly seem to be slowest of the three heading to Australia, they did have the engine turned down to assuage reliability fears and they are known to have an aggressive development path so don’t be surprised to see them make relative gains early on in the season
Moving to the midfield, there will be a very tight battle for the next five spots in the constructors championship, with Williams, Renault, Haas, Toro Rosso and Force India all seperated by less than a second during testing. Williams and Renault seem the best poised of those to make big gains through development, given the larger budget these teams are working with.
McLaren Honda have had a rather ignominious start to the season, having only managed to complete just under 2000 kilometres, less than 40% the distance ran by Mercedes. Moreover, the longest continuous stint completed by a McLaren driver was 11 laps, which ended in a trip on the back of the recovery vehicle to the pits. Meanwhile, Sauber managed to put in a lot of laps during testing and illustrated respectable reliability, but the 2016 spec Ferrari engine will undoubtedly be holding them back for the entirety of the season. Unfortunately for the team, they may be relegated to backmarkers, occupying the void left with the departure of Manor Racing.
Win Market
Lewis Hamilton is the clear favourite ahead of the start of the Australian GP, but at a price of 2.5 and with the explosive nature of the start of F1 races, perhaps better value could be found in his teammate, Valterri Bottas. Although this will be his first drive for Mercedes, Bottas has already proven himself to cool under pressure and genuinely fast. While there will always be a question mark over him before he cuts his teeth in the team, a price of 5.7 seems to more than compensate for this.
For those out there looking for a longer shot, either Red Bull driver has a decent outside chance of a win at Australia. Both drivers are currently trading at a generous 11.5 after their less than impressive testing
BETDAQ’S BEST BET:
Back Daniel Ricciardo at 10.5 & Max Verstappen at 12.0.
You can view all markets here -> http://bit.ly/BDQ-OzGP
Specials
Just for the people who prefer less linear choices that are available in our outrights, we have several interesting specials for Australia. If you fancy a safer type of accumulator, “Sharp end of the grid” offers a great price of 2.5 for the likely result of the 6 drivers for Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari to finish in the points. Our “McHonda Reliability meal” lets you put your faith in the robustness of the McLaren Honda package and at 4.4, it’s about as long as it gets! Finally, if your inner anarchist feels there will be an upset near the top, “Car Trouble”, where you can have a double on Hamilton and Vettel to not finish the race, might just be the market for you.
You can view all markets here -> http://bit.ly/BDQ-OzSpc
