Formula 1 - Special Market v Nick Heidfeld

21 October 2007

Preview By Tipster CYellow (England)

Hurrah! Another F1 season is upon us. 2007 promices to be the best F1 season for at least a decade following the retirement of Michael Schumacher.

The first clue to how the season will develop allways begins with pre-season testing. So far there have been two tests at Valencia and Jerez.

After reading thru the timesheets and also various statements from both drivers and team members i have drawn up the following conclusions:

FERRARI. While everyone else has designed smaller cars to help with the Bridgestone tyres everyone will run in 2007, Ferrari have bucked the trend by going a bit bigger. Widely criticised for this Felipe Massa has pointed out that the Ferrari design team have been responsible for a lot of championship winning cars over the years and did "not forget how to design a car in 2 weeks".

Kimi Raikkonen joins Felipe Massa and have been right up the sharp end of most of the time sheets. Another competitive season looms for the men from Maranello.

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RENAULT are a team i want to oppose heavily this year. With Fernando Alonso gone the team are left with Fisichella and new boy Kovalianen. I have supported Fissi for years but i even i admit he is not the best and Heikki will take some time to sette in, learn the tracks etc. Coupled with the driver problem is the car troubles. Pat Symonds has admitted they are a "few tenths of a second" off the pace of Ferrari, McLaren and BMW Sauber.

I predict a horrible season for Renault this year - No wins and outside the top 3 in the constructors. Odds of 6.0 to win the constructors championship are a total joke.

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MCLAREN have not won a title since 1999 and as Juan Pable Montoya so helpfully points out with a driver who beat Micheal Schumacher on the books the Woking based team "have run out of excuses" and will be under pressure to turn their form around.

Winter testing has gone well for McLaren. I forsee Alonso battling the Ferraris for the drivers title while Lewis Hamilton backs him up and possibly wins a grand prix in his debut year. Anyone who watched Lewis Hamilton in the GP2 series will be well aware of his prodigous talent.

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Honda have had a horrible winter, reports that the chassis is not very good and that the engine is underpowered will do little to enthuse Jenson Button. Engineering director Jacky Eeckelaert admitted the car is"not as quick as McLaren, Ferrari and BMW's new offerings, "but we think we're ahead of Renault," Not exactly inspiring is it?

Jenson Button is far too short of a price in H2H markets and the outright and despite being imo one of the best drivers on the grid he is one driver i will be keen to "get after" this season.

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BMW SAUBER have been the suprise package of winter testing. Thier car has been very quick both on qualifying tyres and also over the long runs. So much so that other teams are looking on quite enviously at how little their times seem to drop off. Robert Kubica has shown himself to be very fast if a little erratic (much like everyone thought of Felipe Massa before his move to Ferrari) and "quick" Nick Heidfeld is a very steady pair of hands.

While they admit themsleves they wont be challenging for the titles 2007 promices to be an enjoyable season for BMW and their fans. Well worthy of a spread bet on their points totals i will be supporting these 2 where the odds suggest giving them a go.

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Of the rest i expect Williams to struggle badly, Toyota to continue scrapping for 4th-8th placed points and the rest of the field are also rans.

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All of which im sure you will agree is interesting reading but onto the first of my pre-season F1 tips. Sporting Odds have grouped 4 drivers together and asked us to predict who will score the most points.

Given that i want to support BMW Sauber and oppose Honda and Renault, Sporting Odds Group B seems to good to be true!

Group B

Jenson Button 2.6

Heikki Kovalainen 3.0

Giancarlo Fisichella 3.0

Nick Heidfeld 11.0

Yes 10/1. Seems at least twice the price it ought to be to me, 4.0 would be way nearer the mark. If my suspicions about BMW Sauber are proven correct and they iron out the technical problems they have had that 11.0 could well be the best F1 bet we place all year!