F1 – Malaysain Grand Prix Preview

Thu, Apr 1, 2010

After last weekend’s action-packed and dramatic Australian Grand Prix, the Formula One circus moved swiftly onto Malaysian this weekend. And if it has half of the drama of the Melbourne race it promises to be an enthralling contest.

Sebastien Vettel has started the first two events of this season pole position thanks to dominant performances in qualifying. But the reliability of his Red Bull has let him down when holding commanding leads in both Bahrain and Australia. He will be hoping for a change in fortunes in Malaysia, a circuit where he has yet to pick up a point in two previous visits.

It is hard to oppose him in the market pole position with his Red Bull appearing to be the quickest car on the grid and Ladbrokes offer a standout 6/4 with Bet365 as short as evens. But until he displays reliability is not an issue over race distance he is working taking on in the race itself, for which he a best price of 9/4.

Behind Vettel in the win market, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso is a best priced 10/3 shot having won the race twice when with Renault. One statistics that does stand out is Ferrari’s fine record in Malaysia having won five of the 11 events since it joined Formula One in 2000 and that would further strengthen the case of Alonso.

None of those Ferrari wins were for Felipe Massa, who has not got the greatest record in Kuala Lumpur with two fifth place finishes his best efforts. But he showed he can live with new team-mate Alonso in Australia and at odds of 10/1 (general) he is worth chancing each-way at a track his car should be suited to.

Jenson Button, winner of the race last year, got off the mark for McLaren with a great piece of strategy in Australia but he still looks to pace in a true run race and even at odds of 10/1 does not tempt me and Massa makes more appeal at the same odds.

Just two of the Malaysian races have been won by less than a 17-second margin and it may be worth backing a couple of winning distance margins with Bwin, who appear to expect a close race. Back between 21 and 24.999 seconds and over 25 seconds for the winning margins at 16/1 and 14/1 respectively in the hope of the race following the path the majority of races in Malaysia have following.

Bettrends Advice

Sebastien Vettel – to be on pole position – 6/4 (Ladbrokes)

Fernando Alonso – to win Grand Prix each-way – 10/1 (general)

Winning race distance between 21-24.999 seconds – 16/1 (Bwin)

Winning race distance of 25 seconds or more – 14/1 (Bwin)

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