The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Yas Marina Pre-Qualifying Tips

Formula 1 Tips For The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Every Grand Prix weekend I give myself 100 points and place a few hypothetical bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com and see how I do.  In general I always like to wait until after qualifying before placing my bets, so to test whether that's the best strategy or not, I'll make some tips before and after qualifying and see which set of tips do best. 

GP Winning Margin:
20 points on 6 Seconds Or More at 1.73
All of Sebastian Vettel's four recent victories have been won by more than 6 seconds.  Maybe part of the reason for this is that Vettel, being the competitive racer he is, likes to put in fast laps in the closing stages of a Grand Prix in an attempt to get the fastest lap of the race.  Whatever the reason, we haven't seen a really close finish for a while now so a winning margin of more than 6 seconds would seem to be the bet to go for.

To Win Outright:
10 points on Sebastian Vettel at 1.73
The unpredictability of the start of the season now feels a long time ago after Sebastian Vettel's domination in recent Grand Prix.  Vettel now has four straight victories so you can understand why the bookes have him as the odds on favourite as he looks unstoppable at the moment.  At odds of 1.73 though, there's too much risk for not enough reward so I'm going to limit myself to a small 10 point bet on Sebastian Vettel to continue his run and then go for an additional eachway bet on one of the chasing pack...

Indian Grand Prix: New Delhi Round-Up

Post-qualifying bets perform best once again...

In general I always like to wait until after qualifying before placing my bets, so to test whether that's the best strategy or not, every Grand Prix weekend I give myself 100 points and then place a few hypothetical bets both before and after qualifying using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then analyse their performance and see which set of tips do best.

My pre-qualifying tips were a washout this weekend, but my post-qualifying tips returned a slight overall profit…

To Win Outright: 
15 points on Lewis Hamilton at 8.0 - LOSS
Sebastian Vettel justified his extremely short of odds of 1.4 with a very comfortable victory.

To Finish In The Points (Top Ten Finish): 
20 points on Bruno Senna at 3.0 – WIN 60 points
Like he has done on several occasions previously this season, Bruno Senna once again just sneaked into the lower end of the points scoring positions.

The Indian Grand Prix: New Delhi Post-Qualifying Tips

Formula 1 Tips For The Indian Grand Prix

Every Grand Prix weekend I give myself 100 points and place a few hypothetical bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com and see how I do.  In general I always like to wait until after qualifying before placing my bets, so to test whether that's the best strategy or not, I place a selection of tips before and after qualifying and see which set of tips do best.

You can find my pre-qualifying tips here:

The Indian Grand Prix: New Delhi Pre-Qualifying Tips

And here are my post-qualifying tips... 

To Win Outright: 
15 points on Lewis Hamilton at 8.0 
On current form you can understand why Sebastian Vettel is the 1.4 odds on favourite but at odds like that there’s not much money to be made.  In Lewis Hamilton's post-qualifying interviews, he seemed to think that McLaren have the pace to give the Red Bulls a fight in tomorrow's race so I'm going to go for a small bet on Lewis Hamilton for the win at odds of 8.0. 

To Finish In The Points (Top Ten Finish): 
20 points on Bruno Senna at 3.0 
Both the Williams drivers of Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna seemed to think they could have got more out of qualifying.  Added to this, Senna tends to race better than he qualifies so although he’s been out of sorts in recent Grand Prix, starting from 13th tomorrow he has to be considered for a points finish.

The Indian Grand Prix: New Delhi Pre-Qualifying Tips

Formula 1 Tips For The Indian Grand Prix

Every Grand Prix weekend I give myself 100 points and place a few hypothetical bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com and see how I do.  In general I always like to wait until after qualifying before placing my bets, so to test whether that's the best strategy or not, I'll make some tips before and after qualifying and see which set of tips do best. 

To Finish In The Points (Top Ten Finish):
20 points on Daniel Ricciardo at 3.5
Toro Rosso's steady improvement in form throughout the season seems to have gone unnoticed by the bookies, so given that Ricciardo has achieved a points scoring finish at four of the last five Grand Prix he looks to be generously priced at odds of 3.5.

Retire On First Lap:
10 points on Romain Grosjean at 23.0
Given his well publicised first lap troubles I was surprised to see SkyBet offering odds of 23.0 for Grosjean to retire on the first lap, so this one has to be worth a small bet.

Korean Grand Prix: Yeongam Round-Up

The driver’s championship is now looking very much like a two horse race and although Red Bull look very strong at the moment, Ferrari aren’t too far away so it’s all to play for with four races to go.

Pre-Qualifying Tips:

To Win Outright: 
25 points on Lewis Hamilton at 4.5 - LOSS

Lewis suffered from an issue with his rear suspension during the race, but even before his suspension problem manifested itself he never looked in with a chance of troubling Vettel for the victory.

To Finish On The Podium:
15 points on Fernando Alonso at 2.5 – WIN 38 points

Once again Fernando continued his impressive run of podium finishes and if we disregard retirements he has now finished on the podium in eight out of the last ten Grand Prix.  Again excluding retirements, Fernando has also improved on or matched his grid position in all but two of the races so far this season, so that’s one other statistic worth bearing in mind when considering a post-qualifying bet on Fernando in future Grand Prix.

The Korean Grand Prix: Yeongam Post-Qualifying Tips

Formula 1 Tips For The Korean Grand Prix

Every Grand Prix weekend I give myself 100 points and place a few hypothetical bets using the odds available from OLBG.com and see how I do.  In general I always like to wait until after qualifying before placing my bets, so to test whether that's the best strategy or not, I place a selection of tips before and after qualifying and see which set of tips do best.  You can find my pre-qualifying tips here:

The Korean Grand Prix: Yeongam Pre-Qualifying Tips

And here are my post-qualifying tips...

To Win Outright:

25 points on Mark Webber at 4.33

Mark Webber has had a poor spell by his standards recently but he tends to race strongly when he starts from the front row of the grid.  Of course, there’s the potential matter of team orders to consider but Mark is still in with a mathematical shout at the championship and given that he hasn’t taken too kindly to team orders in the past, I’m therefore going to risk 25 points on Webber to win outright at 4.33.

To Finish On The Podium:

20 points on Kimi Raikkonen at 5.5

You would have to say that with Webber, Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso starting on the front two rows of the grid, you would probably expect the podium to most likely come from those four drivers.  However, with the driver’s championship balanced the way it is we may see some very competitive opening laps so if there are any incidents then Kimi Raikkonen is well placed starting from fifth to take advantage if any of the front four encounter problems.  He wasn’t too far away from the front row pace during qualifying and therefore given the short odds available on the front four, I’m going to go for a small bet on Kimi for a podium at odds of 5.5.

The Korean Grand Prix: Yeongam Pre-Qualifying Tips

Formula 1 Tips For The Korean Grand Prix

Every Grand Prix weekend I give myself 100 points and place a few hypothetical bets using the odds available from OLBG.com and see how I do.  In general I always like to wait until after qualifying before placing my bets, so to test whether that's the best strategy or not, I'll make some tips before and after qualifying and see which set of tips do best.

To Win Outright: 
25 points on Lewis Hamilton at 4.5
Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel in particular looked very strong at Suzuka, but given the unpredictable nature of the season so far, Vettel's odds of 2.62 look a little short.  Lewis Hamilton had a bad day at the office in Suzuka but a lot of that was down to Lewis going in the wrong direction with car set-up, so he'll be aiming to bounce back to form in Korea.  Admittedly, the reliability of the McLaren hasn't been too great in recent races but before Japan, Lewis had won the last two races that he managed finished, so at odds of 4.5 for the victory he looks a slightly more attractive bet than Sebastian Vettel. 

To Finish On The Podium:
15 points on Fernando Alonso at 2.5
Excluding retirements (neither of which were Fernando's or Ferrari's fault), Alonso has finished on the podium at all but two of the last eleven Grand Prix.  His consistency therefore makes him an attractive bet for the podium at odds of 2.5.

Japanese Grand Prix: Suzuka Round-Up

On the betting front it was an unsuccessful Grand Prix weekend, but in terms of the battle for the driver's championship things are hotting up as Sebastian Vettel is now breathing down Alonso's neck after his second successive victory.  The bookies now have Vettel as the odds on favourite for the title, but it would be foolish to right off the experience of Ferrari and the talent of Alonso just yet.  Although Lewis and Kimi are both still in with a mathematical chance at the title, they can only really be considered as distant outsiders with the bookies rating them as 20/1 and 50/1 long shots respectively.  Formula 1 is an unpredictable sport though, so there will no doubt be quite a few more twists and turns before the season is over.

Just to recap, every Grand Prix I give myself 100 points and then place a few hypothetical bets before and after qualifying using the odds available from OLBG.com and then see how the two sets of tips compare.  As neither set of tips was successful this weekend, the running totals for their comparative performance therefore remains unchanged at:
Pre-Qualifying Tips:  0
Post-Qualifying Tips:  2

So after qualifying is still looking like the best time to place a bet.  Of course given my poor performance this weekend the best strategy would be not to have a bet at all!

Alternatively, it's always safer to bet with points rather than cash, so for anyone who’d like the chance to bet with points for the chance to win cash prizes I recommend checking out a cool website called olbg.com.  They award prizes every month in several sporting categories for the best performers of the month and it’s completely free to play, so if you want to discover more then check out the following link:

Bet with points for the chance to win cash prizes on olbg.com

Legal note: This page contains affiliate links.

The Japanese Grand Prix: Suzuka Post-Qualifying Tips

Formula 1 Tips For The Japanese Grand Prix

Every Grand Prix weekend I give myself 100 points and place a few hypothetical bets using the odds available from OLBG.com and see how I do.  In general I always like to wait until after qualifying before placing my bets, so to test whether that's the best strategy or not, I place a selection of tips before and after qualifying and see which set of tips do best.  You can find my pre-qualifying tips here:
The Japanese Grand Prix: Suzuka Pre-Qualifying Tips

And here are my post-qualifying tips...

To Win Outright:
20 points on Mark Webber at 6.0
The Red Bulls were clearly the team to beat in qualifying but at the time of writing Sebastian Vettel is still under investigation for allegedly blocking Fernando Alonso during Q3.  With Vettel's odds for the victory as short as 1.57 that therefore looks a risky proposition as things stand.  Mark Webber has been off the pace slightly in the last few races but with the question mark currently hanging over Vettel's starting grid position, a small bet on Mark Webber at odds of 6.0 looks the safer option.

To Win Outright (Eachway)*:
15 points on Sergio Perez at 26.0
This looks like a bit of an optimistic bet given that Sergio Perez has yet to win a Grand Prix.  However, excluding retirements, Perez has improved on his grid position during the race in all but one of the last ten Grand Prix, and always looks strong during the closing stages of races.  Starting from 5th he therefore looks a reasonable bet to claim his 4th top three position of the year, so while the top step of the podium looks a longshot, an eachway bet at odds of 26.0 seems worth a small punt.

* NB. Some bookies pay 1/5 of the odds for a top three finish, while others pay 1/3 of the odds for a top two finish.  I'm picking this bet based on 1/5 of the odds for a top three finish but would probably give it a miss if 1/3 of the odds for a top two finish were offered.

The Japanese Grand Prix: Suzuka Pre-Qualifying Tips

Formula 1 Tips For The Japanese Grand Prix

Every Grand Prix weekend I give myself 100 points and place a few hypothetical bets using the odds available from OLBG.com and see how I do.  In general I always like to wait until after qualifying before placing my bets, so to test whether that's the best strategy or not, I'll make some tips before and after qualifying and see which set of tips do best.

To Win Outright:
35 points on Lewis Hamilton at 3.25
Reliability seems to be McLaren's one weak point at the moment, but they remain the team in form.  Like Spa, Suzuka is a circuit with high speed challenging corners and one which the drivers love, and with team-mate Jenson having to take a five slot grid penalty, Lewis looks to be the man to beat at this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.

To Win Outright (Eachway):
20 points on Jenson Button at 8.5
Jenson has a five slot grid penalty this weekend due to an enforced gearbox change, so a bet for the outright win looks a touch optimistic.  But given how well McLaren are going at the moment added to Jenson's impressive drive at Suzuka last year, I still think a small eachway bet is worth a punt.