This weekend sees the sixth race of the 2015 Formula One World Championship as the F1 circus visits a track like none other as the 20 drivers and cars race around the tight and twisty streets of Monte Carlo for the Monaco Grand Prix. It is one of the greatest honours to win the race and the sport’s biggest names have all won around this track which is virtually unchanged since Juan Manuel Fangio won the first Formula One Championship race here in 1950. The Argentine won in Monaco twice, while Stirling Moss, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher have all claimed multiple wins too.
Nico Rosberg has won both of the last two races in his homeland, but team-mate Lewis Hamilton has claimed his first ever F1 pole position in the principality, but he add to his 2008 victory around this circuit this weekend? Online sportsbook WilliamHill.com believe that he can as they make the Briton the 1.25 favourite to take the chequered flag and we feel that he can win too. However, as he offers very little value to add a fourth race win this season we’re taking a look at some head-to-head race bets instead.
Fernando Alonso v Jenson Button: 2.00 – 1.73:
The two McLaren drivers have had terrible seasons so far having picked up zero points between them after five races while having some of the worst luck possible. Alonso crashed in pre-season testing to miss the first race of the season and then retired in Spain after a rip off from his visor caused brake failure on his car, and things have not been much better this weekend. The car has been much better in Monaco than anywhere else where the failings of their engine are not as apparent as anywhere else and the drivers will line up 13th and 10th respectively after penalties to Carlos Sainz Jr and Romain Grosjean despite Alonso’s car stopping in the second qualifying session and Button having his fastest lap compromised by yellow flags to prevent him from reaching the final part of qualifying.
The 2009 world champion from Briton has looked smoother and more comfortable in Monaco this weekend and he certainly has had fewer flare ups of bad luck this season so we’re backing Button to beat his team-mate around the street circuit this weekend. This is, of course, assuming that his car does not let him down again!
Daniil Kvyat v Daniel Ricciardo: 3.00 – 1.36
Although the Red Bull drivers have amassed 30 points between them this season, with 25 of these going to the Australian Daniel Ricciardo, the four time world champions have not had a great season as they have been outclassed by Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams so far. On top of this Russian youngster Daniil Kvyat has found making the step up from Toro Rosso to the first team difficult. However, with the drivers lining up fourth and fifth on the grid for the race in Monte Carlo as they split the Ferrari drivers and blew the Williams team out of the water they have chance to pull in some big points this weekend.
While we’d like to say that it would be the big outsider in this Red Bull battle that will make us plenty of cash by beating his far more experienced team-mate in the race, in the races this season it was been Ricciardo who has been the class of Milton Keynes and his price of 1.36 in the William Hill Sportsbook offers a reasonable profit for the race.
Romain Grosjean v Pastor Maldonado: 3.00 – 1.36
The two Lotus drivers have the same prices as the two Red bull drivers, yet we feel that there might be something different going on with the French and Venezuelan team-mates. The reason for this is that Grosjean is the sole points scorer for the Lotus team this season having claimed all 16 points for the Enstone based team while Maldonado has had four retirements and a 15th placed finish so far this season.
The South American is renowned for crashing into other drivers or being in the right place for them to crash into him and despite the fact that he starts eighth on the grid, seven places ahead of Grosjean after his gearbox penalty, we feel that he is likely to suffer an accident at an early stage of the race that rules him out and sees Grosjean secure a better finish than him. The Frenchman’s eighth place at Monaco last season has already seen him outscore Maldonado around this track despite racing on one fewer occasion as the favourite to win this inter-team battle has three retirements and one failure to start after stalling on the grid last season.
We like the upset in this Lotus clash so back Grosjean to do better than his team-mate in Monaco this weekend at odds of 3.00 with William Hill.