MorrisF1

It wasn’t a classic. Whilst it was red, it was to the tune (using my £10 comparison stake approach) of a whole 50 pence. So, every race has been red, but I’ve got 3/7 bets this season right, and if I get a 2/1 winner next time it’ll push me green overall. It’s a little odd, really. Button did not start, when his car refused to even make the hundred yards he made in qualifying. I don’t know if the DNS counts as the first constructor retirement, and Ladbrokes won’t let me log-in, so when they slay their gremlins I’ll find out and report back (as per Mr. M’s cunning tips, I backed Toro Rosso [winner if Button doesn’t count] and Red Bull to fail first). Update : on checking, Ladbrokes scored it a winner, so kudos to fair play for that. Yet again, Mr. M’s tips (including two losers on Hulkenberg points and Grosjean top 6) proved more profitable than me. Massa failed to get away for the formation lap, but was able to manage a pit lane start. Sainz got a really weird penalty (5s), ...

Qualifying was definitely exciting, and every bet I’d considered (for qualifying) proved utterly wrong, so it’s a good job I didn’t back any of them. In Q1 Button’s dire fortune continued, with his third immediate car failure this weekend. One suspects his hopes of finishing the race must be thin indeed. Naturally, both Manor Marussia’s exited at this stage (Stevens again substantially faster than Merhi). Kvyat, oddly, also failed to escape the first part of qualifying, though it’s unclear if it was some sort of problem or he was just slow [on that point, Eddie Jordan, who is mad as a box of frogs but also hears rumours from many places, suggested that whilst the Renault engine is a bit weak, Red Bull has other problems entirely unrelated to the engine]. Maldonado was the fastest of the five departing drivers, and he had some sort of power issue. Q2 was very close, and featured the slightly odd sight of Rosberg going off-line on the main straight to perhaps check the braking p...

The tyres this time round are soft and medium. It’s a night race, again [well, sunset is three minutes after the start time], which, unfortunately, may decrease tyre wear. That said, Ferrari are looking good on long runs, although unlikely to trouble Mercedes in qualifying. Although it’s less likely to have an impact during qualifying compared to the race, the engines do seem a bit wonky (especially Renault), Vettel had brake issues in practice, and Button’s McLaren failed in both sessions (Alonso’s was looking reasonable). Speaking of McLaren, they reckon that, correcting for the power deficit, it’d be 0.6-0.7s or so off the Mercedes, which is more or less Ferrari territory. Something to consider if/when they get their arse in gear this season, and for 2016. In P1, Raikkonen was fastest, two-tenths up on Vettel. Then we had Bottas, Sainz, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Alonso, Nasr, Kvyat and Massa. The Mercedes were working fine, but given it’s much warmer at that time of day...

Must admit to being rather disappointed how the bet turned out. Retirements were few, and with just three laps left Verstappen’s engine blew up on the pit straight, guaranteeing a safety car. However, I do put this down to bad luck rather than ill-judgement, and luck should even itself out over the course of a season. This is also why I dislike short odds bets. I had one red and one green this weekend, but because of the short odds I finished very slightly down. Not awful, but red’s never good. The race start was notable for Raikkonen dispatching both Williams on the first lap and Ricciardo leaving the handbrake on, sliding from 7 th to 17 th . From then on, the top 6 stayed as they were (Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Raikkonen, Massa and Bottas), although at time the gap covering the top 4 fell to just 10 seconds. It was close between the Mercedes and Ferrari, but not quite close enough (China’s fairly difficult to overtake on). However, further down the grid there was some f...

For such a short odds bet, the Vettel tip was much closer than I anticipated, or wanted. In the end it came off, which is a nice start to both the weekend and qualifying betting in 2015. The first session of qualifying was pretty close (backmarker Manor Marussias aside). In the end, Hulkenberg was the fastest chap to be booted out, ahead of the two McLarens (although the gap from McLaren to the rest of the field appears to have declined). The second session was even more competitive. Maldonado failed to reach Q3, as did Kvyat [perhaps a shade disappointing], both Toro Rossos and Perez, who starts directly ahead of his team mate. Q3 was a little odd. Mercedes were ahead by miles, as expected, although Rosberg did manage to close the gap to a miniscule 0.04s. Williams suddenly came to life and looked in danger of locking out the second row and shunting the Ferraris back to row three. In the end, Vettel’s final lap put him 3 rd on the grid, with Massa (who looked pretty good...

Ahead of qualifying, there are a few critical questions. How rapidly can McLaren resolve their substantial issues? Can Williams fight at the front? Will the Red Bull engine get sorted? And, most importantly, will Ferrari be able to fight the Mercedes on pace or was that a one-off due to the particularly hot and humid situation in Malaysia? The Chinese track is a very nice one to answer the final question. It’s got plenty of straights, including one of the longest in F1 (Abu Dhabi’s might be longer by a smidgen). The prancing horse gallops faster than the rest on a straight, but in the corners the Mercedes has the advantage. So, if Ferrari can fight with Mercedes at circuits which aren’t very hot and humid, and if the team wants a shot at the title, this is the sort of place they must be competitive and (ideally) winning. In P1 Hamilton led Rosberg by half a second, with Vettel half a second further back and Raikkonen yet another half-second down the road. Nasr was also 0.5s ...