mmmm the smell of rubber!
There have been plenty of major news stories coming out of Kuala Lumpur this weekend for the second race of the 2015 F1 World Championship season, with Manor finally getting their car on track, Fernando Alonso appearing to contradict McLaren over the Spaniards mysterious accident in pre-season testing as well as the return of both Alonso and Williams driver Valtteri Bottas after their respective injuries. However, none of this prepared us for the monsoon weather that flooded the track during the second period of qualifying to shake up the final grid positions.
2007 world champions Kimi Raikkonen was worst affected by the rain as he could manage just 11th as he battled through a number of cars before the rain came and washed out the rest of the session leaving him outside of the top ten and a place in the final part of qualifying. With Ferrari showing that they’re currently second best on the grid this will be a massive source of frustration for the Finn, but the other side of the garage will certainly be celebrating.
The Mercedes team have been by far and away the best since the start of last season as they cruised to the constructors championship and saw Lewis Hamilton win his second drivers’ title in 2014 before Hamilton and team mate Nico Rosberg lined up first and second on the grid at Albert Park two weeks ago. They drove into the distance in Australia to claim a 1-2 finish and before the rain came on Saturday they were expected to do the same in Malaysia. However, the second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel smashed that with a stunning drive to line up on the front row besides Hamilton and ahead of Rosberg in third.
The Betfair Sportsbook 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix betting odds suggest that it will be Hamilton that takes the chequered flag and claim back to back wins at the start of the 2015 F1 season, but with the weather report suggesting that we could be in for more monsoon rain during the 56 lap race. The outright odds to win the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix are here:
With Hamilton having the best car, the confidence that being the world champion brings and the fact that he is defending his win on this track last year makes us believe that he’ll take victory here on Sunday afternoon. There is not much value on him to win this race however, so with each way offered at one quarter odds for a top two finish there is still a chance to make some cash on the race.
Sebastian Vettel starts second and has won three of the last five races at the Sepang International Circuit and if there is rain during the race his odds of 7.0 to win the race and 2.75 to finish in the top two is certainly worth taking a chance on as wet races are a completely lottery, especially if we have wet start to the race.
If the race is dry then we expect another Hamilton Rosberg 1-2 finish, but there is no value on either of these two drivers to finish in these positions, so we’re rolling the dice and hoping for rain in Malaysia on race day. As qualifying showed anything at all can happen, but with Vettel best placed to take advantage if things get messy we feel the value is with the four time world champion Ferrari driver this weekend.
Malaysian Grand Prix Pick – Back Sebastian Vettel each way to win the race @ 7.00 in the Betfair Sportsbook!