Live on BBC1: Sun 06.00: Sebastien Vettel starts the 2011 F1 season as 5/2 fav with Ladbrokes for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
Sebastien Vettel and Fernando Alonso go head to head in Melbourne as they look set to continue last season’s close run thing.
Alonso is 10/3 with Stan James to get the season underway with a win while Vettel, who retired here last year, is the 5/2 fav with Ladbrokes and 6/4 to take pole (Coral).
The street based course has a bit of everything thrown in and the Red Bull, looking good in pre-season testing, would appear to have the definite edge, as it did last year. Sportingbet go 11/10 for a Red Bull win, encompassing the chances of Mark Webber (9/2, 888sport).
Last year’s winner, Jenson Button, is a rather large 16/1 with YouWin.com but the McLaren car has undergone some big changes. It remains to be seen whether the new changes, hardly lauded by the owners and drivers alike, will immediately payoff and it could be a slow start for McLaren though Betdaq’s 1.72 (8/11) for Button to be top 6 is quite good. Hamilton, probably to ‘rough’ for this course, is unlikely at 10/1 (Coral) and it’s not worth backing him at 5/2 (Boylesports) for the podium either.
Michael Schumacher will be an interesting proposition this season. He has shown some great pace in an improved Mercedes in pre-season and while he faces a test to win the race, his 14/1 with Sportingbet shows the bookies are wary of the great Champion once again. Bet365’s 4/6 about a top 6 finish for Schumacher could be worth it.
Stick with Vettel for race 1 of the new season.
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