BetNose sniffs out the best F1 betting odds for the 2010 f1 championship.

The Blue Square traders have safely reported that we haven’t seen anything like the kind of pre-season gamble we saw last year on eventual winner Jenson Button. The 2009 champion set off alarm bells as his testing with the Brawn team appeared to be a cut above the opposition. Early season dominance gave them the right momentum to cope with an end of season slump and they secured the Constructor’s title with ease. Button’s championship was punting gold for backers who had taken prices of 100/1 down to 5/1 before that season got underway in Australia. Button now teams up with fellow Brit’ and 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton at McLaren. Lewis and Jenson haven’t attracted the kind of patriotic support that say, for instance an English football or cricket team would provoke. Maybe it’s something to do with their essentially German driving force? Although McLaren have parted ways with Mercedes (who have taken over the Brawn team) it will still be the Mercedes-Benz FO 108X under the distinctive silver car’s hood. Stevenage born Lewis is a weak looking 7/2 second favourite (from 5/2) and teammate Button is another one on the slide, 6/1 out to nearly double that. 

The main money has come for a German man rather than machine, although some of his exploits when World Champion suggested he was maybe not human. Michael Schumacher returns to the F1 circus as a lead driver at the new Mercedes GP outfit. The team’s former name of Brawn was synonymous with Schumacher’s unmatched success from his Ferrari days and Manchester born Ross will be at his side once more as they try to turn back the clock. Schumacher has been backed from 12/1 into 5/1 to win an eighth Drivers’ Championship. Fellow German Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) is another driver that has been well supported at 5/1. Fernando Alonso is finally a Ferrari driver and that fact alone has attracted money, he went from 3/1 in to a price of 5/2 favourite. 

Jenson Button has it all to prove against Hamilton and it will surely be no longer than the tenth race on their home track that the Somerset born driver becomes nothing more than an obvious second car. The World Drivers’ Championship hasn’t had a less visible winner since Michael Schumacher’s win at all costs performance in the 2003 season. Eight of the last ten races saw Button’s driving-suit come home smelling of sweat rather than Champagne. Podium finishes in Italy and Abu Dhabi the only highlights after achieving his sixth win in Turkey. Of course it was better than Lewis achieved in what was a year to forget. Disqualification in the first race in Australia after lying about an overtaking move set the tone. After finishing near enough last in Germany the car did manage to sparkle a little to give his army of fans plenty of hope for this campaign. 

The Constructors’ Title is always a joint effort and it’s hard for one driver to single handedly claim the prize for his team. That said, only once since the year 2000 has a driver become champion without landing the constructors’ as part of the triumph. That was Lewis Hamilton in 2008 as his then McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen offered up the paltry sum of one win and two podium finishes to go with Lewis’ 98 points. Kovalainen has rightly been consigned to a career down the grid at returning Lotus. 7/4 favourites Ferrari attach upmost importance to this aspect of the season and with two solid drivers in a competitive car will surely rack up plenty of points. Mercedes are fourth in the betting at 4/1, with McLaren and Red Bull at 9/4 and 3/1 respectively. It’s hard to give any hope to teams outside of that quartet and there doesn’t look to be a surprise Brawn package – those kind of things happen once rather than twice in a generation. The odds reflect this as the market picks up again with 28/1 Sauber and 40/1 or bigger the rest. 

We have an extensive range of ‘season long’ markets at Blue Square and a whole host of outrights and specials for each race during the year. One market that looks particularly fascinating is the one which asks if a driver will win a race during the season. We are also offering the negative side – drivers not to win a race. For instance Michael Schumacher is 4/11 to win at least one race during the year, and is 2/1 to fail. I like the look of Robert Kubica to eventually drag his Renault past a chequered flag towards the end of the season (after some obvious early struggles) – he’s 4/1 to take at least one race, and while he may keep us waiting that could be a nice bet for an interest throughout the year. Odds from Blue Square.

Take a look at all the live F1 betting odds at the BetNose Odds Comparison section or see Formula 1 World Championship 2010 Drivers Odds.

F1 2010 Winner	Best Odds	Where	Live Odds	Free Bet
Lewis Hamilton	4/1		Bet Now	£200 Free Bet
Jenson Button	17/1		Bet Now	£30 Free Bet
Sebastian Vettel	9/2		Bet Now	£20 Free Bet
Fernando Alonso	11/4		Bet Now	£25 Free Bet
Michael Schumacher	5/1		Bet Now	£25 Free Bet

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