Tuesday 7 May 2013

Spain: early discussion



It’s only been three weeks since Bahrain but it feels like a lot longer.

Pirelli are making some extra tyres available in practice to encourage teams to actually go trundling around instead of sipping energy drinks in the garage.

Naturally, most teams will be bringing significant upgrades to the European part of the season. The races are both closer to one another and to the factories of the teams (most of which are based in a small part of England) so upgrades should be coming thick and fast during this portion of the season.

Will McLaren have improved? Will Webber’s car run out of petrol? Thoughts, tips, insights and the like are all welcome in the comments below.

And [this is the only bit of plugging I’ll do here, promise] my latest book, Journey to Altmortis, is out now. It’s up on Amazon and Smashwords right now. The latter site offers a variety of formats to download and if you use the code XK87G (expires the 14th of May) you get it for a third of the usual price.

Morris Dancer

8 comments:

Peter said...

Morris -

Thanks for your initial thoughts on the Spanish GP - the start of what traditionalists like me view as being the start of the proper part of the F1 season.

All eyes, British eyes that is, will be on the McLaren to assess the measure of any improvements they have managed to introduce, which will need to be considerable if they are not to finish this year as also rans.

I'm off to take a look at the betting markets to see if I can spot any stand out value before the action starts tomorrow.

Morris Dancer said...

Hmm. My initial effort to reply must've been eaten by the internet.

I share your sentiments, Mr. Putney. F1's in danger of leaving behind the historic (and superior) circuits for cash-rich but low-entertainment ones.

Peter said...

I was unable to spot much value at this prelim stage - but I've had one modest lottery-style bet ..... on the safety car being deployed.

Firstly on the basis that its use has been limited recently and it is therefore due an "airing". Secondly, because Hills' 7/4 odds look to be on the generous side, being around 25%-30% better than most of the competition.

Nigel said...

Rosberg poss. worth a look for pole north of 11/1 ?

He does appear to have had the best single lap speed overall, up until now, and the Mercedes looked thereabouts in what little there was of first practice.

Vettel is probably rightly favourite, but those are decent odds.

Peter said...

I've backed Felipe Massa again for a win with Betfair at 34 = 31.4/1 net in real money. Recent form suggests he's not too far off the pace.

Am I mad? Probably, but surely I should be able to lay this off profitably should he qualify on either of the front two rows.

Morris Dancer said...

Obviously I'll post the proper pre-qualifying piece tomorrow, but right now I rank the teams as follows (top 3 only):
Qualifying: Ferrari/Red Bull equal, then Lotus

Race: Lotus, then Ferrari, then Red Bull

I reckon Ferrari have probably the best chance. Hopefully Vettel will qualify poorly

Peter said...

"Hopefully Vettel will qualify poorly"

Pigs might fly!

Morris Dancer said...

Incidentally, my Vettel hope is more about betting than anything else. If he's on pole or second then he's a contender for the win, but I suspect if he's lower down (and doesn't get a lightning start) he isn't. His strong performances this year means that his odds will be shorter than they might be, and, correspondingly, others will be longer.

Got a few potential qualifying bets in mind, but that'll depend on P3, of course.