Fernando Alonso has been the online bookmakers’ favourite to take out this season Formula 1 drivers championship. After some poor efforts in recent weeks he has now slipped from favour with the Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber now topping the market. This weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix may well further clarify things with Webber in hot form following consecutive wins.
The forgotten man in betting is defending champion Jensen Button. He has recorded the fastest lap time in practice so far and his car looks to be in good shape. You can forget his last start where a mechanical error cost him any chance of figuring in the finish. Webber is second fastest with Vettel and Hamilton claiming third and fourth fastest. Alonso was fifth fastest but a full half second slower than Button.
Online bookmakers have posted Vettel as favourite to win in Turkey with his odds surprisingly short at 6/4. Webber is second pick at 5/2 while Hamilton has eased to 7/1 alongside Alonso. Despite claiming fastest in practice, Button is still only rated a 10/1 chance of winning. They are pretty handsome odds considering his form on this circuit in recent years – he won last year and did it in fairly easy style too. At 10/1, he is well worth backing. Webber is in great form and looks to be good value at 5/2 as well.
In the drivers championship, it’s still early days. Vettel leads the betting at 9/5 ahead of Webber at 3/1. Alonso has drifted out to 9/2 while Hamilton is currently quoted at 7/1. The top two look hard to beat although there is one factor that has to be remembered – they both drive for the same team and eventually one of them will have to give way to the other, or they will just steal points off each other and allow a Hamilton, Button or Alonso to sneak past the pair of them.
Keep your eyes on the online bookmakers prices -they often get a sniff of some sort of agreement and suddenly drop the price of the driver who gets the nod. Webber is older and his career does not have much life left in it – don’t be surprised if he gets the nod, especially if he performs well this weekend. He currently leads the drivers championship and if he puts any space between himself and teammate Vettel, the latter may well have to give way. It all makes for some interesting racing and some keen betting.