Lewis Hamilton has been backed heavily to not only win today’s Canadian Grand Prix, but to also finish off the season with another drivers championship victory. Online bookmakers have Hamilton at 7/5 to win today and 5/2 for drivers title. It’s not without some risk for punters, however.

While Hamilton has qualified almost a quarter of a second faster than any other driver, he has done so on soft tyres that won’t go the race distance. He will be hoping for an early safety car so he can pit and change tyres. If the safety car doesn’t come out early, he could see his tyres go off, virtually handing the race to either of the Red Bull drivers – Mark Webber, who is second on the grid, or Sebastian Vettel, who is third on the grid.

The Canadian Grand Prix has a long history of needing the safety car so it’s a reasonable gamble by the British driver. It will be interesting to see how the race does pan out. Webber is second favourite to win today at 11/4 and, although currently leading the points race, is only third favourite to take the drivers title (13/4). His team mate, Vettel is second favourite for the title at 11/4 and 9/2 to win today. A little betting anomaly for those who watch out for those types of bets.

Of the rest of the drivers, Fernando Alonso, who was the early favourite to take the drivers title, is now fourth favourite at 9/1 with Jensen Button. They are both 6/1 chances to win today and start from 4th and 5th on the grid. Our tip – follow the money and the online bookmakers and back Hamilton to win his second successive Grand Prix.