Azerbaijan: pre-qualifying 2016
Our
first race at Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. It looks like a
tedious street circuit, with one surprisingly fast bit and a
collection of right angle corners for maximum boredom. But is it
dangerous? Mood music suggests it might be a race of red flags and
safety cars.
In
P1 Hamilton led his team mate by four-tenths, with Bottas a couple of
tenths back, followed by Alonso. Vettel, Button and Perez were next,
with Massa, Sainz and Hulkenberg rounding out the top 10.
P2
had Hamilton seven-tenths up on Rosberg, with Perez and Bottas
behind. Hulkenberg, Sainz, Verstappen, Vettel, Button and Ricciardo
complete the top 10 lineup.
At
the moment, Ferrari and Red Bull look lacklustre, Perez and Bottas
look pretty comfortable. Could be good for McLaren as well.
In
final practice a drain cover came loose and damaged Bottas’
Williams. Bit worrying. Ferrari also had reliability issues, notably
KERS in P2 and loss of power for Raikkonen in P3. Perez crashed into
the wall in final practice.
In
P3 Hamilton was a quarter of a second ahead of Rosberg, with
Hulkenberg in 3rd (albeit a second off the top slot).
Ricciardo, Vettel and Perez were close behind, with Verstappen,
Button, Kvyat and Raikkonen rounding out the top 10.
Looks
very tight between Red Bull, Williams (Bottas has been quick all
weekend but the drain cover meant he didn’t set a P3 lap time),
Ferrari and Force India. Perez might’ve finished higher up the
order but for his late collision with the wall.
In
GP2 only 10/22 cars finished, which tallies with my thinking on
betting on a low number to be classified.
I
didn’t see any value bets (tempting to repeat the Rosberg pole
[each way] bet but I really do think it’s Hamilton’s), so no
qualifying tip.
There
may be many crashes in the race. If we get some in qualifying, that
could mix up the grid a fair bit.
Morris
Dancer
Agree with you, it's Hamilton's pole - assuming there's no inappropriately timed red flags during the session. No bet from me for Qualy either.
ReplyDeleteSandpit.
That prediction proved very accurate ;)
DeleteShould have backed the German as I mentioned yesterday. Grr...
DeleteSP
Yesterday, pre-qualifying, I posted on PB.com my single bet for the race, i.e. Vittel to get a Podium at odds of 7/4. I see he's now only 11/10 for this bet, so it looks like I got good value.
ReplyDeleteOf course, good value is one thing, delivering a winnin g bet is quite another, but fingers crossed.
Always a bit hesitant betting on the race before we know the grid, but it can offer value. Glad your bet came off. 'twas well-judged.
Delete