Sports Betting Blog

Michael Schumacher has had a very rough beginning of the season. The F1 Chinese Grand Prix begins next weekend. Up to this point he has only collected nine points in his first three races of the season. First he was forced to make an extra pit stop to replace a broken front wing in the Australian Grand Prix. Despite the incident, the seven-time world champion, still managed to finish 10th. Then, he had to quite the Grand Prix of Malaysia prematurely because of a loose wheel nut on his Mercedes.

Schumacher was still able to finish sixth in Bahrain. It’s has not been a great start for the German. But perhaps we should really think of the high –very– high expectations that have been imposed on the racer. After all, he might have been (and some say he still is) the greatest F1 racer ever, but we cannot forget that Michael was out of the tracks for over 3 years. And that is long enough to build some rust on him. If we are able to put Schumacher’s season in the right perspective, we can understand why he recently stated that his return is going as planned.

But there is one other issue involved. No matter how you look at it, at the end of the day, Mercedes is not, by any means, as strong a racing team as Ferrari under Ross Brown and with Michael at the zenith of his career.  And that is one big obstacle that the team has to deal with. Mercedes’ engine and chassis are not as quick in the racetrack as Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren, so unless they can fine-tune their machine and really get competitive, it will not make much difference who is behind the steering wheel.

As of press time, BetIAS.com’s handicappers have made Sebastian Vettel the favorite to win this race. He is ML +150 favorite in the odds to win the Chinese Grand Prix 2010. He is followed closely by Fernando Alonso at ML+400 and Mark Webber at ML+450 and Lewis Hamilton at +500. Michael Schumacher on the other hand is paying +2600, so if you are a long time fan of the Red Baron and have a tendency for underdog stories, at this odds Schumi might seem like a good choice.

There is one very cool new set of lines available for wagering on F1 Grand Prix events. BetIAS is one more time making great innovations in their lines, and is now offering F1 Exactas. If you have ever wagered on a racetrack, then you might find this interesting. Just like you would wager in the horsebook we are offering F1 racing exactas. Be it a Win and Place or a Win, Place, Show combinations, this is a chance to mix and match this racers and improve your winnings.

By Cindy Ferguson

Every time Lewis Hamilton wins a title, race tickets are worth double and the stock market goes wild, perhaps investing on the ’Hamilton Franchise’ is a lucrative idea. With only 23 years old, Hamilton recently became the youngest Formula 1 World Champion ever, and the chances of becoming the first billionaire sportsperson in Britain are around the corner.

There is no doubt that Lewis Hamilton may have a chance to outranked Tiger Woods as the world’s highest paid sportsman, because it is still unknown if Woods would earn $1 billion by 2010. Perhaps it will take Hamilton a while to reach such a figure, but he is in a good track.

There is no official document regarding Hamilton’s earnings, thus it was said that the McLaren contract is worth $116 million plus an additional $31 million from Reebok and those figures do not count the additional marketing, presentations, private contracts, TV ratings, etc… Approximately 10 years ago when Hamilton was still a rookie go-kart pilot, many sports companies were putting bids on the question: will he be able to win the F1 title before turning 25 years old? Well, if you put money on that, congratulations, because the investment on Hamilton sure paid you off.

Lewis Hamilton is definitely a franchise dream, with a charming personality, formative years and prominent victories. Hamilton is the kind of box office hit that appeals both genres with an unpredictable combination of races in black and white background.At this point in time Hamilton is such a commercial hit, that the McLaren team had to pass a new rule to the drivers, as they can only have sponsors linked to the team itself and not outsiders. If Hamilton continues the racing accomplishments until the year 2012 when the McLaren contract has to be renewed, it is a fact that he will receive $47 million a year and his wages may go to $781 million. If the numbers match on that period of time, Hamilton will definitely exceed Michael Schumacher’s pay packet and David Beckham’s commercial dream, thus becoming Britain’s maximum earning sports celebrity to date.

Hamilton is in the course of building a foundation based on bighearted donations; the potential receivers remain mysterious still, though not to long ago, he did state the importance of the African people. The idea sounds very promising and open hearted, but must still look forward to keep enough cash on the banks accounts will rely on his success on the F1; plus, the chase for new titles must remain flowing on a competitive manner.

Thinking on the present day, Hamilton’s success is in every single blog and newspaper across the planet, many companies are desperate and eager for his support, even if that means a ridiculous amount of money. Right now Hamilton is the man and it looks like it would be that way for a while. So, who knows maybe instead of risking your futures on the stock market or the oil business, you could put some of your profits on Hamilton… anyway no matter with he does, it always pays double.

About the Author:

Cindy Ferguson is a high-ranking sports writer, currently writing reviews on Formula One for the sports betting industry. Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety on your site, make sure to leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content.

By Stephen Lars

Lewis Hamilton obtain without outstanding maneuvers or too much effort, the penultimate big race of the 2008 Formula One World Championship, the Chinese Grand Prix, which was a crucial test that helped him to get closer to the precious world champion title. The biggest challenge to get this triumph was over past the bad memories from last year’s GP of China and the mistakes made in Japan.

With great domain from the beginning to the end of the race, the British controlled to perfection his McLaren MP4/23-Mercedes-Benz. This victory gives the British pilot all the motivation needed for the Brazilian GP _home of his rival, Felipe Massa_ where will be disputed the 59th Formula One World Championship. As if it wasn’t enough winning the competition, Hamilton obtained the pole position and the fastest lap record in Shanghai.

This year as in other 25 different occasions previous, the championship will be decided in the Interlagos Circuit in Brazil, where last year and controversially, Kimi Räikkönen won the race and with it 10 points that placed him at the top of the ranking after being third. Currently the difference between Hamilton and Massa is 7 points, but things are completely different from last year. Excluding the Brazilian GP, Hamilton has competed in two complete campaigns, and from each race has obtained a lot of experience, even when he didn’t win.

By getting those 7 points ahead, no matter what position Massa gets, all Hamilton needs is to finish among the top 5 in the Brazilian GP, than he would be crowned as the new World Champion. On the other hand, all Massa needs is to finish on first or second place and that Lewis be left out of the top 5, if not Hamilton will be the absolute winner.

This World Championship has brought as several surprises, such as the victory by Sabastian Vettel in Monza and the consecutive ones by Fernando Alonso at Singapur and Japan. At Shanghai, with powerful teams but some mistakes from the drivers, we saw a lot of tension but little emotion. Over there Hamilton forced Ferrari with a rhythm that, neither Räikkönen or Massa could followed.

Then Hamilton demonstrated the superiority of McLaren over Ferrari, who had serious problems with the tires grip. Though Ferrari was the only team that used run-flat tires at beginning of the race, they couldn’t overcome Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren capacity.

After making the two statutory pit stops, it was clear that the only thing that could’ve changed the circumstances of the race was a mechanic problem or pilot error. For that reason the only thing that called attention was what all the spectators since the start of the competition: in which lap and how Räikkönen was going to let Massa pass? This happened in the 20th lap, when Massa advanced at the end of the stretch line.

After the classification, Robert Kubica who ended up on the 6th place _probably for the bad choice of not changing the tires_ saw how the odds of staying on the chase for the title were almost banished away. Even though BMW is out of the battle for the title of Constructors Champion, it keeps a stable performance as the third great team of 2008.

On the last and closing event of the year, 2 pilots are the ones to define who will be the 2008 World Champion. On the last editions the one that reached the first place on the GP of Brazil was the one to become World Champion as well, this time Hamilton and McLaren’s team know very well that it is going to be hard competition, but that each one as the capacity of achieving what they want.

About the Author:

Stephen Lars has been a prominent writer on Formula One races, sports news and the online betting industry for many exceptional sports web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.

By Claudia Beckford

By next October 12th one of the remaining three Formula One races will be held at the Fuji Circuit in Japan; the other two races are China and Brazil respectively.

Last year in Japan, the McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton crowned himself as the winner. In this occasion, the race continues to build up more expectation as Hamilton leads the drivers’ standings closely followed by the Ferrari driver Felipe Massa and the BMW-Sauber driver Robert Kubica.

It has been indeed a very different Formula One year than what we expected, especially due to all the unbelievable situations that have taken place at every one of the fifteen races that are already completed, in which all these extraordinary drivers have participated.  We, the Formula One fans, have witnessed action all around the world, since the very first race in Australia where Lewis won his first title of the year, followed by the Malaysian race where the current Formula One champion, Kimi Räikkönen showed his driving skills by grasping the title. Also, we saw how Massa’s flawless performance kept growing steady as he won a total of five races for the Italian team Ferrari; a real accomplishment for the Brazilian as he is Ferrari’s second driver.

Another unexpected turn was that of the Canadian Grand Prix where the Polish Robert Kubica won the race, giving the BMW-Sauber team a real push into the top three best Formula One teams, during the present campaign. Two additional surprises we need to disclose are those of the Hungarian Grand Prix, where McLaren second driver Kovalainen took the title and the incredible victory of the Toro Rosso driver, the German Sebastian Vettel, in Monza only a couple of weeks ago. Once again these situations show us how complex and uncertain these speed races are, as there is nothing secure until the first vehicle crosses the finish line.

There have also been several disappointments as better things were expected from drivers such as the Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who currently drives for the Renault team, as well as that of the world champion Kimi Räikkönen, who still has not found the winning formula to retain his title, as it is known he will not keep it for a second consecutive year. Räikkönen has been but inconsistent in his performance, he has faced several mechanical issues and for some reason he is just not the same we saw last year. These are the reasons Hamilton, Massa and Kubica are above him in the standings and it is very likely the situation will stay as it is now.

Regarding the Spaniard driver Fernando Alonso, this was a quieter year for his professional career as he was able to get away from the spotlight that followed him while he drove for McLaren. We know his decision to drive for Renault was mainly due to his struggle in the Formula One industry and the spy saga link he was connected with. Despite his low profile performance, Alonso triumphed at the Singapore Grand Prix and gave his team the victory they had not had in a long period.

The new world champion will be crowned during the first week of November, right after the conclusion of the Brazilian Grand Prix, and this will also be a new chapter in the history of the Formula One world as neither Hamilton, Massa or Kubica have been world champions before.

About the author
Claudia Beckford provides current English Premier League content as well as information in the sports betting industry. Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety on your site, make sure to leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content.