The Bahrain Grand Prix: Sakhir Pre-Qualifying Tips

Formula 1 Tips For The Bahrain Grand Prix

There's been a lot of talk about the Pirelli tyres so far this season and some criticism of the fact that the current tyres don't allow the drivers to push 100% for the entire race, and that somehow that devalues the racing.  However, at the Chinese Grand Prix the top five places were Alonso, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Vettel and Button ... all former world champions.

This season the opening three Grand Prix have been won by Kimi Raikkonen, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso.  I think it's fair to say that those victories owed more to the fact that Raikkonen, Vettel and Alonso are all brilliant drivers, rather than any random lottery caused by the tyres.  You're never going to produce a tyre which keeps everyone on the grid happy, but the results so far this season would suggest that whatever the tyres, the cream will always rise to the top.

Anyway, onto my pre-qualifying tips for the Bahrain Grand Prix...

Race Winner:
10 points eachway* (20 points total) on Lewis Hamilton at 11.0 (Price Boost)
Mercedes and Hamilton in particular have been close but not quite there all season.  A race victory in Bahrain might just be beyond them just yet, but with two podiums behind him Lewis nevertheless looks a decent eachway bet.

* SkyBet pay 1/5 the odds for first 3 places.

Podium: 
20 points on Mark Webber at 3.75
Mark has suffered from a lot of reliability issues so far this season, with ECU troubles in Australia and fuel and wheel problems in China, but if he gets a trouble free race then he showed in Malaysia that he's very capable of achieving a podium finish.

Top Six Finish:
20 points on Felipe Massa at 1.53
Despite having to make an early pitstop for a new nose Daniel Ricciardo was just outside the top six in China, so I was almost tempted to go for a speculative bet at odds of 10.0 for him to go one better in Bahrain.  However, in the end I've decided to go for the solid but unspectacular Felipe Massa who has so far finished in the top six at every Grand Prix this season and looks reasonable value at odds of 1.53 to do so again.





To Finish In The Points (Top Ten Finish):
20 points on Daniel Ricciardo at 2.5
After retirements in Australia and Malaysia there's still a question mark over Toro Rosso's reliability, but Ricciardo's impressive drive to 7th place in China shows that he's definitely worth a look in the Top Ten market.

Not To Be Classified:
10 points on Nico Rosberg at 5.5
The tail ender drivers traditionally have the shortest odds in this market, but Mercedes have twice suffered from reliability issues this year on Nico Rosberg's car, and therefore odds of 5.5 for more bad fortune to befall Nico in Bahrain look tempting for a small bet.

Winning Margin: 
10 points on Winning Margin - 6 Seconds Or More at 1.73
We're yet to see a really tight finish to a Grand Prix so far this season, and I'm going for a small bet on that trend to continue this weekend.


As usual I'll make another set of tips after qualifying and then compare how the two sets of tips perform.

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Odds were current at time of publication but are subject to change.