Malaysian Grand Prix 2013

The 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix is the second race of the new season and if recent history is anything to go by then it could well be a duel between Ferrari and Red Bull. The F1 circus will be arriving for the race at the Sepang International Circuit for the race on March 24th. It was only in 2011 that the race changed its name to the Malaysian Grand Prix and this will be the 33rd edition of the race. The race itself will be run over 56 laps of the circuit, which blends long straights with tight curves. Ferrari has been the most successful constructor at the event, with six wins through history there and it was Ferrari who were celebrating a triumph last season as Spaniard Fernando Alonso finished top of the podium. The teams will already have had a feel for their new cars and setups from the season opener at the Australian Grand Prix in the week preceding the 2013 Malaysia Grand Prix. Hints for success will be taken from the first season outing, but history points to some strong trends as well.

Fernando Alonso has won three times before at the <a href=”http://www.oddsbetting.co.uk/odds-on/malaysian-grand-prix”>Malaysian Grand Prix</a>, including last season after coming all the way from ninth on the starting grid in a dramatic race. So Fernando Alonso may take some preference in the 2013 F1 Malaysian Grand Prix betting because of his strong performances at the race before. Certain drivers are very comfortable at particular tracks and the cars themselves are better suited to some tracks than others. Ferrari, as mentioned have done well here before and although their car was considerably slower than other title rivals at the start of the 2012 season, the class and prowess of Alonso did the business and made the most of situations, particularly with McLaren being the orchestrators of their own downfall. Alonso should be faster out of the blocks this season, making the Spaniard a solid shot for a top three finish at the least.

But leading the market as outright favourite to win the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix is Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull. The German driver has shown strong dominance at the race before, winning in back to back seasons in 2010 and 2011. The Red Bull team have been very solid at the track in recent times, and have take two of the last three Pole Positions there. It is hard to look past early markets for Pole Position at F1 races and not get behind Sebastian Vettel. He seems to find extra time where others cannot. Let’s not forget that this is Vettel who took 15 Pole Positions (an F1 record) in the 2011 season, and went on to deliver nine wins that season from the front of the grid. Vettel was immense over the latter half of the 2012 season and Red Bull have gone big for the start of 2013 with an innovative new car. Hard to dismiss him from Pole and Race winner thoughts in Malaysia <a href=”http://www.oddsbetting.co.uk/motor-racing”>Grand Prix betting</a>.

So recent history points to good races for Red Bull and Ferrari, but what influence McLaren driver Jenson Button will have will attract a lot of wagers. McLaren decided to upgrade last seasons car, as opposed to Lotus, Ferrari and Red Bull who went with new ones. McLaren were an unknown quantity through pre-season testing, getting to know their car. But Button has been a strong early season starter in past seasons and took a win in Malaysia back in 2009, simply by driving a controlled race. That was in his Brawn Mercedes though, and Button did take second place on the starting grid at last season’s Malaysian Grand Prix in his McLaren, completing a front row one-two with Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton has since moved on to Mercedes, leaving Button the primary driver for McLaren, which will boost his title chances. Solid enough reasoning to wager a podium finish for the British driver.

Kimi Raikkonen is also a prior winner of the Malaysian Grand Prix, taking the chequered flag back in 2008 for Ferrari and back in 2003 for McLaren. He looks primed for a very solid season again in the impressive Lotus and will be worth watching for. Could be a strong title challenger for the 2013 Drivers Championship alongside Vettel and Alonso. New McLaren driver Sergio Perez may be worth a long shot, or at least a top four finish. The Mexican driver surprised everyone in his Sauber in Malaysia last season, coming from 10th to take second spot in the race. With a good showing in pre-season testing in Barcelona, he could be the surprise package.

Snooker 2013 China Open

The 2013 China Open snooker tournament, held towards the end of March, will be the penultimate stop on the 2012/13 snooker season. Only the 2013 Snooker World Championships will be to follow, before the best in the world hang up their cues for a while after touring around the world. England’s Peter Ebdon is the defending champion at the tenth ranking snooker event of the season, which will be held in Beijing, and Ebdon will go as top seed. All of the big guns will be in attendance, aside from Ronnie O'Sullivan, who did announce a return to the game to defend his World Championship title. Ebdon had a superb run to the title last season, taking out former World Champion Neil Robertson, home favourite Ding Junhui and then Stephen Maguire in the final itself.

The 2012 China Open was Ebdon’s last ranking tournament victory and his only one since 2009, so he is not going to be high at the top of the pecking order.But has has actually won two of the last four editions and therefore you never know. He could make a good fit for an outside shot at the event, just on the basis of that alone. But generally it will probably be worth looking for players who performed well at the World Open, the ranking tournament prior to the China Open. After a bit of a slump from the big four in the world leading up to the 2013 World Open, there was a definite strong showing from all of them at the World Open. Judd Trump, John Higgins, Mark Selby and Neil Robertson all hit the quarter finals so it suggests that they are all gearing up for a strong finish.

So what correlations could you draw between current form and what happened at the China Open last year? Of the big four in the world of snooker at the moment, it was only Judd Trump and Neil Robertson who made it the semi final stage at the 2012 China Open. So it could be worth looking at those two to have an impact when the 2013 edition rolls around at the end of March. It is likely that there will be a close race ran at the event. Judd Trump won the event back in 2011, beating Mark Selby in the final and only John Higgins out of the big four has triumphed before at the event. However, the win for Higgins came all the way back in 1999 when it was the China International.

The draw itself for the 2013 China Open will have a big bearing on things and the bottom half of the draw does look the easier of the two. Masters winner Mark Selby and Judd Trump head up the two quarters of the bottom half of the draw and therefore do make likely candidates for a strong semi final clash. The top half of the draw is far more competitive, as defending champion Peter Ebdon, Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui, Stephen Maguire and John Higgins are all going to be jostling for position. That is a pretty tough top half of the draw, but the expected semi final showdown would be between John Higgins and Neil Robertson, who will avoid each other until then. Will it be the easier bottom half of the draw producing a winner? Judd Trump is there, and had good form at the World Open and was a winner there two seasons ago. He should be the main contender.

Full Upto Date List of Snooker Matches and Tournament Betting.

Rugby League 2013 Challenge Cup

Rugby League’s Challenge Cup 2013 will be defended by the Warrington Wolves, who beat the Leeds Rhino’s in last year’s showcase at Wembley Stadium, London. This is the exciting premier cup of Rugby League, where teams from across Europe can take their shots against the big guns from other leagues in a straight knockout competition, which usually offer some big thrills and spills. Last year’s final was actually a repeat of the 2010 Challenge Cup final, with Warrington also winning on that occasion. It has been an immensely prosperous tournament for the Wolves in recent times, having won in it in three of the last four season. It is little surprise then that the Super League side will be heading up the market as favourites again this year.

Even ahead of the launch of the 2013 Challenge Cup, the active rugby league betting market was trending well towards the Warrington Wolves. With their recent record, it would be hard to ignore their presence. They are one of the top sides in England and you don’t get three titles in four years by fluke. So who are the main movers and shakers behind the outright favouritism of the Warrington Wolves? Actually there isn’t so much favouritism this time around as Wigan have been matching up against Warrington very well. It has helped that the Wigan Warriors have already gotten the 2013 Super League off to a good start and they were semi finals of last season’s Challenge Cup, falling to the Leeds Rhinos.

Wigan are the most successful club in the history of the Challenge Cup. Wigan have taken the title 18 teams in history and their last win was only as recently as 2011, so they will probably be back knocking on the door again. Originally the Challenge Cup was only for British teams, but then got expanded to include French and Russian teams as well. However, only British teams have ever won the Challenge Cup, so it’s not worth looking outside that. As well as losing to the Leeds Rhinos in the semi of the Challenge Cup last season, Wigan also lost in the semi’s of the Super League play offs, after topping the regular season table, almost running up 1000 points scored. So they are still one of the powerhouses and should flex their muscles.

But what of the Leeds Rhino’s? They keep getting mentioned and yet they keep trading back in the pecking order of favourites, because of their questionable league form sometimes. They lost last year’s Challenge Cup final but after finishing fifth in the Super League, they did power to the Super League title through the play-offs, both of the final matches in those two tournaments coming against the Warrington Wolves. Turning focus back to the Challenge Cup itself, Leeds have lost the last three finals in a row, and no-one has finished runner up in the tournament more times than Leeds. Their last win came all the way back in 1999, but they keep knocking on the door and yet keep falling short.

Will their luck change this year? With a decent start under their belt in the new Super League, especially with a tight defence, they should be around the business end of the 2013 Challenge Cup. But it looks as if Leeds, along with Hull and St Helens will all be ceding prominence to the powerhouse duo of Warrington and Wigan. Will it be one of those two market leaders who go on claim the title this year? The best option outside of British clubs with be the French unit, the Catalans Dragons, who were a Challenge Cup quarter final side last year, but lost to Warrington.

Full List of Rugby League Betting Matches, Cups and Competitions

Formula One 2013

What will the new Formula 1 season throw up for excitement? The 2012 title went all the way down to the wire, with Sebastian Vettel doing enough in his Red Bull in the final drive of the season at the Brazilian Grand Prix to hold off the challenge of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. That gave the German driver his third Drivers’ World Championship title in a row and he will go as the outright favourite for the new season. The Red Bull have launched a brand new design of car for the season ahead and even with a slow start, like they had in 2012, they will probably be the most the adaptable to changes and set ups throughout the year. While many will be backing Sebastian Vettel to go on dominate the sport again, there were some pointers from last season, which suggests and open year ahead.

The start of the 2012 F1 season was remarkable, with the first seven races of the new year being won by a different driver each time. It was a start which no-one really saw coming, but it does throw up interesting connotations for the 2013 Formula 1 season and it may be worth looking at options on the number of different race winners there will be in the 2013 season. This is going to be a split market, with an option of four or less winning drivers, general trading equally alongside five or more. So which way will the F1 season go? Overall in the 2012 season there were a massive eight different winners taking a turn on the podium, and that was out of the 20 races which were ran.

So how to break this down? It is more than likely that Sebastian Vettel will get a win on the board. He finds pace where no-one else can, so too Fernando Alonso, who finished second in last season’s Drivers Championship. With the Red Bull team being so strong, it’s not without reason that Mark Webber may score a win, and the threat of Lotus this year could be immense with Kimi Raikkonen leading the charge. Then you have Jenson Button and Sergio Perez in the unpredictable McLarens and already you can realistically pick out at the very least five winners. Will the season be open again or will Sebastian Vettel dominate like he did in the 2011 season when he took a remarkable 11 wins from 19 races?

Another of the interesting questions about the 2013 Formula 1 season, is when the Drivers Championship will be mathematically decided. How long will the new season remain alive? The 2011 season was over long before the end because of the power of Vettel dominating pole positions and podiums. But last season was a totally different story. Those mix of different winners at the start of the season really kept the season very long. Champion Vettel won only one of the first twelve races of the season before turning the screw over the latter half of year with some remarkable form. Nothing was decided until the Brazilian Grand Prix, the final race of the season. Will the season be over before the penultimate race, the US Grand Prix, or the 18th race of the season in Abu Dhabi or even earlier than that?

Motor Racing Betting