tze

Dont know if anyone has been following the F1 this year - but Honda have been doing a tremendous job -

Currently in the break they have been topping the time sheets -

WIll be interesting to see their new imola spec 006 car in a couple of weeks!

Anyways; I have put my money where my mouth is, after surfing recently, I found that nswtab had 251:1 odds on drivers not listed on their list for the championship - and button/sato wasn't listed! -

Who knows, come eoy I might possibly be $25k richer (Odds are now only 101:1 after i put my bet in)

DavidM

I'd bet almost anything that he will NOT be the champion this year. Though, you never know, there is a small chance that the top 6 car/drivers will get kidnapped by aliens and them he's got a shot ;-)

Though, there's nothing wrong with supporting the team you love.

tze

Hmm but if had a space abduction of the top 6 then he would be on the spaceship too! - JB is 3rd on drivers (Schumy and Barri 1,2; with Monty 4th) - And BAR is tied third in constructors w Williams!

Ahh well - fingers crossed -

DavidM

Hmm but if had a space abduction of the top 6 then he would be on the spaceship too! - JB is 3rd on drivers (Schumy and Barri 1,2; with Monty 4th) - And BAR is tied third in constructors w Williams!

Yes, he is doing well .... but so was Webber last year after the 1st race. My predictions are that all these will be ahead of Jenson when the year is up:
- M. Shumacher
- Barrichello
- Montoya
- R. Shumacher
- Raikkinnon

And then all of these could be ahead of him too, but it'll be close:
- Coulthard
- Alonso
- Trully

So my predictions for Jenson are that he'll finish at best 4th, and hopefully in the top 9th. Though realistically, I'll predict 6th for him ... and it will be a tough fight for him.

naishou

That would be amazing considering four of those drivers aren't even in the world championship (you're probably thinking of the Schumacher brothers, Raikkonen and Trulli ).

I'd be very surprised if all of them beat Button this year, or even Sato. BAR has come a long, long way. McLaren has a lot of work to do to even be in contention. Their biggest problem is their engine and historically once you have a bad engine it takes a long time to fix.

2kturkey

Tze, You may need to redo your numbers. It's my understandingf that the TAB pays out on the current odds NOT Starting Price.

Therefore your likely to be $10k richer, or is it different with this type of betting?

RastaS2K

i love F1 and to see Honda kicking some butt is so cool!! I tell most poeple that their reason for improvement is that they now have VTEC at 16k rpm

tze

David - Agreed that even Webber was doing well after first race - But don't forget that we are three races in and Button has scored 2 podiums - and they weren't due to ppl dropping out in front of him.

In msia he clearly outdrove barrichello; and in bahrain, though monty's bmw died, button was already catching him prior to that -

Also impressive is bar's aero development this year; also they are supposed to be the first team to use OCP tech (optimum contact patch, i think to be introduced in imola) for their rear suspension. Not to mention that the engine is proving very powerful and reliable (still revving above 19K)

2turkey - thats what i thought of orginally too; so I called up the phone service and enquired how the dividends worked - Its a fixed dividend based on what the pricing is at the time that you buy it. I have a print out showing the payout if I was to win

DavidM

Hey I'm impressed with BAR this year as well ... and in particluar Jenson. Still, 3 races do not make a season. Ferrari, Williams and McLaren know kow to be competive over a season (even if they're down in som races). They always know how to be at the front and when the year is over their drivers are the ones on top of the leader board.

Then there is Renault - we know from their last season that they can be/stay competitive over the whole year - I'd say that their odds of winnng the chanpionship are at the moment better than JBs' (and that is despite them having less points at the moment) .... still, I'd say they are about the same as of me winning the lotto.

The way I see if, look at the last season - Michael was strugling in the 1st five races, but even then he was the overwhelming favourite to win the title. Winning the title for JB this year is next to impossible. And I'd say even of noone but Ferrari were racing against Button. Them alone make the championsip almost impossible target for anyone else this year.

Though, if it's a 'race win' that we're talking about, then I'd say his chances are pretty good of taking one before the end of the year. I'd say just as good as Trulli's and/or Alonso's.

tze

Well, my hopes were tragically dashed on SUn nite!! -

Jubliation with JB on pole turned to a glum look when it was clear that the BAR somehow dropped pace in the 2nd/3rd stint - Only wish that they could have kept their first stint pace, and it would have been a thrilling race.

Oh well 2nd is still another step up!

Bring on Barcelona, where BAR currently hold the lap record. According to Geoff Willis further aero and engine upgrades are coming. Can't wait till they bring in the rumoured OCP suspension as well..

comeon I can almost smell the payout now!!!