MorrisF1

Well, that session felt like counterbalancing some early season flukes backing Perez for poles. Interesting grid setup, though. The first session had a major scalp in the form of Norris. He and Piastri had attempted (and both fluffed) to initially get through on medium tyres, then he buggered up his first run on the soft, and his final attempt failed due to Alonso bringing out a yellow flag. He was joined by Ocon, Magnussen, Stroll, and Sargeant, and while the McLaren has decent pace this is not a great place from which to start. While Tsunoda escaped Q1, he starts last on the grid due to numerous parts changes. In Q2, Gasly, Hulkenberg, Alonso, and Albon were eliminated. Albon did have the pace to escape but was deemed to have just barely transgressed against track limits. Tsunoda failed to set a time. And so to Q3 and the inevitable Max Verstappen pole. Only he forgot to read the script and ended up 3 rd . Even more bizarrely, Ferrari went so fast they confused themselves and locked...

  In a huge shock, Verstappen was fastest in first practice, a tenth ahead of Albon. Perez was next, followed by Norris, with Leclerc and Piastri behind him. Sainz, Ricciardo, Ocon, and Stroll rounded out the top 10. Verstappen also topped second practice but this time the runner-up was the more usual figure of Norris. Leclerc was next, but just a few thousandths ahead of Bottas, who was a few hundredths ahead of Perez. The Mexican was a whole hundredth ahead of Ricciardo, with Hamilton two-hundredths further back. Ocon, Piastri, and Russell followed, but the gaps were all very small indeed. So, tough to call. Verstappen still favourite for pole, but Norris, Leclerc, and Perez all in contention for best of the rest, with Mercedes well off the pace, Aston Martin still struggling, and Piastri/Sainz a step behind their team mates.   I’ve decided to back Norris at 9.5 to ‘win’ qualifying each way. Perez has a bad habit of messing up qualifying or just generally underperforming, an...

The football tips have been far more sporadic than I’d like this year, due largely to a series of minor annoying factors that cut back on my free time (if I hadn’t bet on F1 for so long I probably would’ve skipped the last race). Anyway, new exciting opportunities to lose money await. EPL I’ve backed Wolves at 2.8 (Ladbrokes) to win at home versus Newcastle. While the away side are rightly favourites, in the last three matches both teams have a pair of wins and a draw, and home advantage is a big thing in the EPL. Wolves do have a patchy home record with a win, draw, and two losses, but they’ve also scored in every home match. And their home win was versus Manchester City. La Liga I’ve backed Barcelona to win at home versus Real Madrid at 2.58 . The two teams are highly similar in terms of points and Barcelona currently has a perfect home record. Because of that and home advantage, I feel the odds are a parsnip too long. Serie A Chosen to back Lecce again...

And so, finally, the sprint tedium is done with and we come to the race. I didn’t watch/listen to the sprint, which is unusual but the late hour just added to the format’s annoyance. In it, Leclerc lost out to Hamilton and Perez rose a few places, but otherwise it was mostly formation flying. Early Betting Thoughts Norris, win each way Verstappen win each way Piastri top 6   Norris starts second behind Leclerc, and the Monegasque has an unfortunate habit of going backwards (or having excellent qualifying, if you prefer). Leclerc will also have a decent shot of being hindered by Ferrari strategy. While I suspect Verstappen will end up winning, Norris has a decent shot of retaining second place. Norris is 7 to win, although Leclerc out at 13 does make me wonder about that. Verstappen has a lot of pace and the fastest car, and is 1.36 to win. Too short to tempt. In the sprint, Piastri went from 5 th  to 10 th , and he starts the race in 10 th . However, he is quick and his car i...

  I do loathe the sprint. Anyway, qualifying had some upsets. In Q1 we said goodbye to both Aston Martins, whose update appears to have failed thus far. After setting a great time earlier, Hulkenberg was also out, as were both Williams. Tsunoda and Ricciardo were the fastest and slowest chaps, respectively, eliminated in Q2, and between them were both Alfas and Magnussen. But Q3 was altogether more interesting as track limits came into play and turned what would’ve been a Verstappen pole into just 6 th  on the grid for Sunday’s actual race. Leclerc starts on pole, leading the front row ahead of Norris. Row two is Hamilton and Sainz, while Russell and Verstappen are row three. Gasly and Ocon, the best friends forever of Alpine, comprise row four, with Perez an underwhelming 9 th  and Piastri just 10 th  (unsure if the Aussie had a time removed for track limits). At the time of writing (8.51am on Saturday) Ladbrokes has no sprint markets at all, which is a bit unexpect...