F1Punter

The opening race of the 2006 season saw a stunning drive by Kimi Raikkonen from the back of the grid to finish on the Bahrain podium. Here in Australia on the opening day of last season, his teammate managed to drag his Ferrari forward sixteen places in fifty-eight laps after starting from last place. Following his fuel pressure problem in qualifying, Raikkonen again faces a similar task – starting from sixteenth on the grid. I am backing him to make a good fist of it.

Traditionally Melbourne is not a great track for overtaking, but Massa showed last year that making up places is perfectly possible. In addition the new regulations seem to be causing a greater number of off-track excursions by the drivers, so in theory as long as Kimi keeps it rubber-side down, there will be opportunities for him to progress. Indeed the performance of the Ferrari relative to the cars around it on the grid (and the experience and ability of the Finn over his neighbouring adversaries) will hopefully see some positions gained by the first corner. It is however always a gamble starting down the field.

Sporting Index have pitched Raikkonen at 14-17 on their Race Index. Points are awarded as follows

I am buying Kimi at seventeen: Anything better than sixth will show a profit. Anything less but in the points limits the damage. A stunning drive towards the podium means I will be well rewarded. The thing that I like about this type of bet is that every time a car is passed in the top eight, I get a little less poor!