Korea: pre-qualifying



First off, apologies for the absence of an early discussion piece.

Driver market news for 2014: Bianchi has been retained by Marussia. Not too surprising, as he’s probably the best driver in the pointless teams. I hope he gets the opportunity to drive for a more competitive team in the near future.

Hulkenberg reckons a decision about his seat next year will be made later this month. It sounds like he’s been a bit unhappy (and unpaid) at Sauber, but has been professional enough not to kick up a fuss. He’s also very fast, so I think, and hope, he gets a Lotus seat.

Interestingly, Barrichello, the 73 year old Brazilian, is in talks with Sauber. However, whilst he seems a nice guy I can’t help but think it’d be better for fresh talent to emerge.

The third practice session concludes at 4am, hence the earlier than usual posting of this piece. I’ll skim through the markets but don’t intend to offer a bet.

It’s well worth noting that a tropical storm is nearby and could produce 100mph winds and heavy rain. As well as keeping an eye on the forecast it may be preferable to focus on betting against things happening than for them.

P1 had Hamilton fastest, ahead of Vettel and Webber. Rosberg, Button and Alonso were next, followed by Grosjean, Raikkonen, Perez and Massa.

In P2 Hamilton and Vettel were again top, with Rosberg, Webber and Massa up next (making it seem like a fairly close Red Bull-Mercedes fight). Grosjean, Alonso, Raikkonen, Button and Sutil rounded out the top 10.

In P2 two-tenths covered the top four, and in P1 the same timeframe covered the top three. I didn’t listen to either due to the timing, but Gary Anderson, BBC technical chap, reckoned it’d be very close between Red Bull and Mercedes, which is something.

No bets jumped out at me. I suspect we’ll be in for another Vettel-Hamilton duel.

Morris Dancer

Comments

  1. Peter4 October 2013 at 09:34

    Two bets for me -

    Firstly a deployment of the safety car. In view of the very inclement weather forecast, this looks like a value bet at 8/11 with Ladbrokes.

    Secondly a podium finish for mark Webber - it's high time he put on another good show in his very fast car.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Peter4 October 2013 at 09:41

    I should have added that I placed this podium bet for Mark Webber with SkyBet at 6/1 (also available at this price with Paddy Power, etc).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Peter4 October 2013 at 09:47

    "Barrichello, the 73 year old Brazilian"

    I think you'll find he's a mere 41 year old youngster!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Morris Dancer4 October 2013 at 10:40

    Hmm. The safety car bet looks pretty tempting.

    To be honest, whilst I think Webber may not finish on the podium 6/1 is too long (I don't have a Skybet account, however).

    I've backed the Webber bet on Ladbrokes (6.5, so half a stake only down on Skybet). I think the Ladbrokes odds on a safety car have shortened since you made the post, though.

    ReplyDelete
  5. GeoffM5 October 2013 at 11:56

    I've taken Safety Car and Webber for podium.

    5 of the last 6 GPs have had no retirements 1st lap so I've gone on that trend continuing. I'm also Grosjean top 6. I flirted with podium for him as sneaking a cheeky 3rd wouldn't be impossible after Germany and Bahrain but I'm not feeling quite that brave. Alonso podium instead with Grosjean 4th-6th is my position.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Morris Dancer5 October 2013 at 11:59

    Without rain (see the pre-race piece just posted) it's hard to call a safety car. There have been 2 dry races, 1 with a safety car, 1 without.

    I'm not so sure about Alonso. Very good driver but I have my doubts about the car.

    ReplyDelete
  7. GeofM5 October 2013 at 12:13

    I had a *crackingly excellent* Ascot yesterday after a week in clear profit but I've got to say that very little of the winnings are going into this race. I don't like anything really.

    I'm a quid or two on everything (including Hulkenberg for top 6 now) but even if everything comes in we're only talking a couple of pints. Done mostly as an incentive to get to a tv and watch it.

    ReplyDelete

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