Formula One 3
TEAM TACTICS
F1 teams have been banned from actively preventing free competition between their drivers, but it would extremely naive not to take the possibility of a manufactured result into account when betting. Hopefully the darkest days of drivers openly moving over for team-mates, or the ridiculous attempted dead-heat staged by Ferrari at Indianapolis in 2002 are behind us, but it's still very likely that drivers from the same team will be under unspoken orders not to race each other after the final pitstop, for example, in order to prevent the possibility of an accident which knocks out one or both. When backing Ferrari No. 2 Rubens Barrichello for example, be aware that he will probably only have a chance to win the race if some misfortune befalls team leader Michael Schumacher.
When the red lights go off to start the race, the opportunities to profit are far from finished. In fact, motor racing is an excellent sport for in-running betting, either with fixed-odds firms, spread companies or, most lively of all, the betting exchanges. Keep an ear out for teams' likely fuel strategies and you might be able to create a handy position. Better still, monitor the in-race data from www.formula1.com and see who is putting in fast lap times or slowing dramatically - it will give you a major advantage over those who have only the television pictures to work with.
ANTE-POST ACTION
Long-term fixed-odds markets on the drivers and constructors' titles can be painfully dull and tie your money up for long periods without promising any huge gains. Pre-season testing can be particularly misleading and waiting until the first three or four races have gone before taking an interest is a sensible precaution.
Of slightly more interest are the drivers' points and various spread indices, where careful monitoring of teams' progress and prospects can bring about profitable portfolios.