Are Daniel Ricciardo and his boss at Red Bull, Christian Horner, singing off the same hymn sheet?
Ricciardo said of his car’s disappointing performance in testing, “We haven’t quite been the fastest in testing so we’re not the quickest as we stand here today. Can we be the quickest? I think we can. Probably not by Melbourne but let’s see.” Horner says, “There is a lot of sandbagging in testing. Nobody really knows what specification each other’s cars are running in. We’ve never won a testing world championship but we are confident we have had a good pre-season.”
The first race of the 2017 campaign is staged in Melbourne this weekend. Red Bull won two races last season as they finished second to a dominant Mercedes in the constructors’ championship and Horner admits that Mercedes are the team to beat again. But will their new driver, Valtteri Bottas, be able to challenge Lewis Hamilton?
Hamilton was eclipsed by former team-mate Nico Rosberg last year. There was no love lost between Rosberg and Hamilton but the German has now retired to be replaced by Finn Bottas. Only time will tell whether his relationship with the Briton will be more cordial but he’s very much perceived as the number two driver at Mercedes by the media and this year will be a steep learning curve, coping with the pressure of being expected to win races.
Hamilton, of course, has been there, done that and got the t-shirt. There is likely to be more rivalry at Red Bull, where Ricciardo and Max Verstappen won one race apiece in 2016.
Sebastian Vettel didn’t win a single race last year for Ferrari but still finished fourth in the final standings and the Prancing Horse are more than optimistic that they’ll be a lot more competitive this season. Impressive testing, in which Ferrari were fastest in a straight line, has seen Vettel’s odds contract to a best 4/1 with Betway as the German bids to recapture his title. But you could argue that Hamilton is now generously priced at 15/13 with Bwin to win a fourth Drivers’ Championship and move him level with Vettel and Alain Prost and only one behind the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio – Michael Schumacher is still way out on his own with seven world titles.
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Bottas is a best 6/1 with Bwin with veteran Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen the only other quoted at less than 200/1 to win the Drivers’ Championship – he is a general 10/1.
F1 2017 Drivers’ Championship Current Best Odds
Lewis Hamilton (15/13), Sebastian Vettel (4/1), Valtteri Bottas (6/1), Max Verstappen (17/2), Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo (10/1), Felipe Massa (200/1), Fernando Alonso (300/1)
