The first Australian odds are in for the 2010 Formula 1 season – and the early money is with Lewis Hamilton and his Vodafone McLaren team.
The 2008 F1 world champ is listed as the season favourite ahead of new Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso and returning seven-time champion Michael Schumacher.
Last year’s runner-up Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing) sits fourth in the odds, with reigning world champ Jenson Button fifth. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Vettel’s Australian team-mate Mark Webber share sixth-favourite at A$10.
The odds list, below, clearly shows that there are the teams with the ‘haves’ and the have-nots’ in 2010. Eighth favourite Nico Rosberg (Mercedes GP) is paying A$12, while the next favourites Rubens Barrichello (Williams) and Robert Kubica (Renault) are a healthy A$51.
But will there be a ‘smoky’ in the pack? Before the first round of last year’s world championship at Albert Park, Button was listed at over $50 to win the title. Anyone who put their hard-earned on the Brit to win his first championship before racing got under way would have enjoyed a very merry Christmas …
FORMULA 1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ODDS (courtesy of www.tab.com.au)
| Lewis Hamilton | 4.00 |
| Fernando Alonso | 4.50 |
| Michael Schumacher | 4.50 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 6.50 |
| Jenson Button | 8.00 |
| Felipe Massa | 10.00 |
| Mark Webber | 10.00 |
| Nico Rosberg | 12.00 |
| Rubens Barrichello | 51.00 |
| Robert Kubica | 51.00 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 67.00 |
| Timo Glock | 126.00 |
| Adrian Sutil | 126.00 |
| Jarno Trulli | 126.00 |
| Heikki Kovalainen | 151.00 |
| Vitantonio Liuzzi | 151.00 |
| Bruno Senna | 151.00 |
| Sebastien Buemi | 201.00 |
| Lucas di Grassi | 201.00 |
| Jaime Alguersuari | 251.00 |
