2018 Belgian Grand Prix

[BillyHills]

Belgian GP

We are back after a 3 week break and all sorts has been going on. Ricciardo has surprisingly chosen Renault next year. Gasley replaces him at Red Bull and Fernando Alonso has announce his retirement, off to Indy I presume.

This years championship is finely poised, Lewis Hamilton has a 24pt lead and is the 2/5 fav with Bet365, Vettel is 7/4.

On Sunday its 11/8 each of two so we should be in for an exciting race at Spa, one of the favourite circuits for many F1 fans. Somehow we always seem to get a thrilling race here, maybe because it rains a lot in Belgium.

Mercedes have won the last 3 renewals and you have to go back to 2009 for a Ferrari victory so maybe the shrewd money should be on Hamilton. The winner has come from the front row in 10 of the last 12 races so qualifying will be crucial on Saturday.

Reliability is not so good here, again due to the iffy weather so going under 16.5 is probably the call although the prices at the moment are not very good. A safety car is very likely and its 4/11 to make an appearance for the fourth year running.

Stats

 

 

[BillyHills]

[BillyHills]

Another crazy qualifying session Belgium! It what we have come to expect from this track, its always full of drama.

End of the day it was Lewis Hamilton who came out on top from Vettel but its hard to separate them in the betting for the actual race. Its 11/10 each of two at some places (Unibet) but you can get 11/8 about the German (Hills).
The weather is supposed to be fine all day so we should have a 'clean' race but you just never know here. I have to side with Hamilton as the Mercedes car is just the most consistent around this circuit.

With the Force India's on the second row and with both Bottas and Hulkenberg having to start at the back its a funny looking grid this week and some value in the betting markets should be available.

I like Bottas at 8/13 to finish in the top 6, the car is so much more powerful than two thirds of the grid and you can make ground around here pretty easily. He should be able to make his way through alright. He's usually 1/5 to make the top 6!

The other driver at the back of the grid Niko Hulkenberg is 10/11 to make the points, the same price as his team mate Carlos Sainz who is 6 places ahead of him? We must go with Sainz here.

Bets
Hamilton 11/10 Unibet
Bottas Top 6 8/13 Hills
Sainz Points Finish 10/11bet365
Under 15.5 5/4 bet365

[real55555]

2 hours ago, BillyHills said:

Another crazy qualifying session Belgium! It what we have come to expect from this track, its always full of drama.

End of the day it was Lewis Hamilton who came out on top from Vettel but its hard to separate them in the betting for the actual race. Its 11/10 each of two at some places (Unibet) but you can get 11/8 about the German (Hills).
The weather is supposed to be fine all day so we should have a 'clean' race but you just never know here. I have to side with Hamilton as the Mercedes car is just the most consistent around this circuit.

With the Force India's on the second row and with both Bottas and Hulkenberg having to start at the back its a funny looking grid this week and some value in the betting markets should be available.

I like Bottas at 8/13 to finish in the top 6, the car is so much more powerful than two thirds of the grid and you can make ground around here pretty easily. He should be able to make his way through alright. He's usually 1/5 to make the top 6!

The other driver at the back of the grid Niko Hulkenberg is 10/11 to make the points, the same price as his team mate Carlos Sainz who is 6 places ahead of him? We must go with Sainz here.

Bets
Hamilton 11/10 Unibet
Bottas Top 6 8/13 Hills
Sainz Points Finish 10/11bet365
Under 15.5 5/4 bet365

1. I'm going for a Vettel win in this race. From qualifying, the Ferrari has been the faster car in sector 1 and 3 which is where the straights and DRS are located. So Ferrari is going for a set up that favours straight line speed, which should help Vettel to overtake Hamilton.

2. Odds for Bottas to finish top 6 is a bit too low for my liking, although I do agree that he should be in the top 6 should things goes to plan.

3. I'll favour Hulkenberg for a points finish in this case compared to Sainz. Nico has been the more consistent performer this season and he is a few tenths faster than Sainz in this track, and the cars standing between him and Sainz are the Williams and McLaren, which should not be too hard to overtake (disregard Bottas as the Renaults are not racing him)

4. A under 15.5 cars to be classified is a good bet at Spa. With such high demands on the engine, I think some of the Renaults will fail, as well as one or both the Honda engine cars. Will be looking forward to a first corner accident due to the tight corner and the corner after the first sector (can't spell the name of the corner, haha)

Anyway, best of luck Billy

[BillyHills]

1 hour ago, real55555 said:

1. I'm going for a Vettel win in this race. From qualifying, the Ferrari has been the faster car in sector 1 and 3 which is where the straights and DRS are located. So Ferrari is going for a set up that favours straight line speed, which should help Vettel to overtake Hamilton.

2. Odds for Bottas to finish top 6 is a bit too low for my liking, although I do agree that he should be in the top 6 should things goes to plan.

3. I'll favour Hulkenberg for a points finish in this case compared to Sainz. Nico has been the more consistent performer this season and he is a few tenths faster than Sainz in this track, and the cars standing between him and Sainz are the Williams and McLaren, which should not be too hard to overtake (disregard Bottas as the Renaults are not racing him)

4. A under 15.5 cars to be classified is a good bet at Spa. With such high demands on the engine, I think some of the Renaults will fail, as well as one or both the Honda engine cars. Will be looking forward to a first corner accident due to the tight corner and the corner after the first sector (can't spell the name of the corner, haha)

Anyway, best of luck Billy

Oh well we agree on one