Hungarian GP – Sunday Update. Trying to keep up to speed on what is going on this weekend has involved staying up late and trying to find reputable news sources that were up to date. It seems that reports came out yesterday evening that Alonso had escaped any sanction for his outrageous antics and his odds came in and Hamilton drifted to 7/4. Shortly after, the real news broke that Alonso was being put back to 6th on the grid. To add to the confusion the stewards then dropped Fisichella back to 13th for blocking Yamamoto, but it took them nearly 21 hours to come to this decision! The clever bookies just kept the books closed and no doubt those that didn’t will be crying foul, but if they want to take bets when a stewards enquiry is ongoing, then they have to pay out. Those that were still offering Hamilton at 6/4 at 8.00 this morning, well, I guess they will try and wriggle out of it, but come on guys, the news was in the public domain for hours! The outcome of all this is that Hamilton is as strong a favourite as we have seen all season. Massa is out of it, Alonso will find it very hard to get close to Hamilton from the 3rd row and on the dirty side of the track, while Raikkonens Ferrari looks no match for McLaren on this tight track. Heidfeld will be light on fuel and will do well to hang on to a podium place. However, Hamilton’s best odds of 4/6 are no more than reasonable and no bet for me. The demotion of Fisichella opens up the points finish market and Coulthard looks worth a modest wager at 11/4. He now starts from 10th but has the advantage of being allowed to choose his race strategy as he had initially qualified 11th. Team mate Webber did make the top 10 and commented afterwards that he would rather have been 11th, such is the advantage of a flexible strategy over just 1 grid place advantage. The downside for DC is that he now starts from the dirty side of the track but he is a wily old fox and has a knack of keeping out of trouble at the start. Hopefully the car will stay reliable and if he gets to finish he must have a better chance than the odds imply. He has a good track record and this is a track on which the driver makes a difference. 2 points Coulthard to finish in the points @ 11/4 with Extrabet, BetDirect. lost 2 points 4 points Coulthard to beat Mark Webber @ 2.10 with Unibet lost 4 points Nico Rosberg has been very impressive this weekend. He was 5th fastest in qualifying and that was no surprise as he was always up there in free practice. He will be light on fuel, and so will market hot pot Heidfeld and as we saw at Monaco that can back fire in the race if getting stuck behind slower cars who are going on longer first stints. The driver who may just have the right game plan is Ralf Schumacher. The changes made to the Toyota have made the car much more suited to his needs and his performances are now much improved. To out qualify Trulli in the same car is always a good result and he has achieved just that in 2 of the last 3 races and was just 1 place off in the other. Ralf has a very impressive record on this circuit, 7 times he has finished in the top 5 in Hungary. He starts from the clean side of the track, looks to have a respectable fuel load on board and if the car stays reliable and if ‘Thick Nick’ Heidfeld doesn’t drive into him again, he has an excellent chance of a points finish and at 11/1 looks a good e/w bet w/o Ferrari and McLaren. 1 point e/w Ralf Schumacher w/o Ferrari & McLaren @ 11/1 with Stan James and Skybet. won 1.2 points 5 points Ralf Schumacher to finish in the points @ 10/11 with BetDirect, BetterBet. won 4.54 points |
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