With Lewis Hamilton a short priced favourite to begin his assault on a fourth world title in Melbourne, punters looking to bet around the outright market are spoilt for choice if they are looking to find value investments.
The opening race of the season is always fascinating, and not just because it satiates the appetites of F1 fans left hungry for the four months of the off season.
Part of the intrigue is because there are invariably new rules and regulations, either to the way races are run or the technological changes which have been made to the cars to bring them into line with the new rules.
This year, for example, there will be a standing start if the heavens open at 4 pm on Sunday afternoon, rather than the traditional rolling start behind the safety car.
New Rules and Regulations Increase the Intrigue
The cars are wider and will have larger front wings and wider rear wings set at a lower level. The tyres will also be wider and ”fatter”, the end result that they will have much more aerodynamic downforce – a critical factor in allowing them to approach corners much quicker and make turns much faster as their grip will be even better.
Restrictions on teams developing their engines during the season have been removed, which in theory should assist Ferrari and Red Bull improve their cars to challenge Mercedes.
Many experts are touting them as potentially the fastest breed of F1 cars the sport will have ever seen. The increased speeds and faster cornering will, of course, make it far more physically demanding for drivers and ensure their concentration levels have to be greater than ever.
Those factors mean that there will be plenty of uncertainty about the opening couple of races, even though pre-season testing has delivered some clues, and that is where investors looking for some value might find something to interest them.
To Finish First, You Have to Finish
Inevitably there are retirements and breakdowns with some teams, including the best, suffering unexpected problems.
In those circumstances, it might be worth taking a punt on an experienced driver for an unfancied team to perhaps navigate his way into a top-six finish.
There are few more experienced in this field than Felipe Massa, who was going to retire but answered an SOS from his former team, Williams, to stay on for another year to replace Valtteri Bottas, who has gone to Mercedes.
Massa finished all but four races last season and was in the top six in three of the first four, including Australia. His odds of $1.83 with Sportsbet and Bet 365 to do so again could prove rewarding.
McLaren once used to be the dominant team in this sport, but they have fallen well behind now and anyone expecting them to have another poor weekend can take the odds of $1.14 (Bet 365) for one of their cars not to finish the race.
If you fancy Hamilton to get off to a horror start, he can be backed at $7 not to finish in Melbourne, something he failed to do twice last season.
