Chinese Grand Prix Preview
After yet another eventful week in the soap opera that is Formula 1, attention can again turn to the racing and none will be more pleased than those involved with the Brawn, Toyota and Williams teams. The International Court of Appeal adjudged that the diffuser used by these constructors does meet technical regulations, which leaves the rest of the teams playing catch-up. It will therefore come as no surprise to F1 spread bettors that five of the six favourites on Sporting Index's race win index for Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix sit in these cars.
Once again, Brawn GP's Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello lead the spreads at 32-35pts and 24-27pts respectively (60pts to winner, 40pts for second, 30pts for third etc.). Buyers of either driver's spread might be interested that both have shown form at the Chinese circuit - in the first ever Chinese Grand Prix in 2004, Barrichello (then with Ferrari) beat Button into second place (in BAR-Honda). Of further encouragement to spread buyers, Button and Barrichello are two of only five drivers who have completed all five of the Chinese Grand Prix. Buyers of Alonso's (10-13pts) and Webber's (7-10pts) win index spreads will be pleased to know that they have also completed all five since 2004. Fisichella is the driver to complete the list.
Buyers of Kimi Raikkonen's season points spread, currently at 41-45pts, will not need reminding that he is yet to pick up a point from the first two races, but buyers of his points spread or his Championship index may be encouraged by his past performances at the Shanghai International circuit. He has finished on the podium in four out of the five races here and took the chequered flag two years ago. Buyers of his index spread for the race at 15pts, or Massa's spread (also at 15pts) will also be optimistic in light of Ferrari having supplied three of the China GP's five winners. Sellers of Raikkonen's spread should not be too disheartened however - he retired in 2006 after just 18 laps.
Spread punters might be interested in another trend to emerge from the previous five Chinese GP's � all five winners had a top-three finish in one of the two preceding races. Button and Barrichello are joined in the group of podium finishers this year by Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock, with win index spreads of 16-19pts and 15-18pts respectively. But it is likely that buyers of Nick Heidfeld's spread, set at just 4-6pts, will be most pleased with this news after he finished second two weeks ago in Malaysia. Sellers of the spread will be aware that the extreme conditions seen then are unlikely to be the norm in Shanghai, and Heidfeld's tenth-place finish in Australia will have informed their decision to a greater extent. A final note should go to Lewis Hamilton who, spread punters may remember, threw away his chances of a title in his rookie year here in 2007. He returned to Shanghai with a victory last year, and buyers of his index spread at 13pts will be hoping he is able to at least get close to that result on Sunday.
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