Sport is made for betting

It's a waiting game with this race - will the forecast thunderstorms arrive before, during or after the race? If they don't arrive, this will be one mighty boring race as it has as few overtaking moves as Monaco and Valencia. A little bit of rain-inspired chaos always spices up a race... Read my preview here .

You can read my betting preview for today's race at Hockenheim on PuntingAce . Season results so far can be found here . Here's hoping for a bit of rain to spice up today's race!

Another great day for sport, even with a day off at Wimbledon. It's the Irish Derby at The Curragh, England playing Australia in cricket at Old Trafford, and apparently there's a big football match on this afternoon ;) But before England stops at 3pm, there's a Formula 1 race to watch. Here's my preview, as published at Punting Ace. The European Grand Prix in Valencia is held on a new circuit with only two previous races under its belt. The waterfront setting of the circuit is spectacular, but unfortunately as a race, it's about as exciting to watch as Paul Collingwood in the fourth innings of a Test match that they cannot win. Last year's race was not won by the polesitter Lewis Hamilton, only because his team stuffed up in the pits. Rubens Barrichello started from third, on the 'clean' side of the track, took second before the opening corner, and that was the only overtaking move required to win the race. In 2008, it went 1-2-3-5 from the grid (positio...

It's three pole positions in a row for Aussie Mark Webber, will it be three consective wins? This track is faster with more opportunities for overtaking, but that doesn't make it any easier to get in front of the obviously superior Red Bull cars. You can find my preview here on Punting Ace .

You can find my last preview of the season here Abu Dhabi F1 Betting Preview: A track made for Hamilton

More rain forecast and a pair of drivers on the front row with terrible records at the track. You can read my race preview here.

A very eventful qualifying day at Suzuka, with the qualifying list looking a lot different to how they'll end up on the grid tomorrow morning. Here's my preview

In the light of the Renault scandal in Formula 1, Bloodgate in rugby union, and football scandals such as the one Juventus was relegated for in Serie A, is it too easy for sporting authorities to blame gambling for all its integrity problems? Fair enough, there are obviously some issues with it, but ever since there has been a prize for winning a competition, people have found devious ways to win, or stop others from winning. Look at scandals in kids' beauty pageants, flower growing contests , elections, tanking for better draft picks etc - where someone has something to gain, cheating will never be far away. And that's without even discussing drugs in sport. Biggest threat to Sports Integrity comes from within While no one can argue that manipulation of sports by betting syndicates does not exist, the reality is that the most concerted efforts at manipulation are made by criminal elements via illegal bookmakers, and not as it is suggested, by online gamblers who in the majori...

Their marketing budget must be pretty healthy if they can afford to sponsor at the Monaco GP. Being French-focused, to sponsor in Monaco makes a lot of sense after all - different laws, but essentially the same country.

It has been a crazy week here so apologies for the lack of updates - it won't happen again :) This week I've been busy. NRL previews French Open title previews here Monaco F1 preview IPL finals preview

As promised. This track is so conditioned to being a procession, it's not funny. F1 preview

Australian rugby league IPL cricket - Delhi v Mumbai There'll be some F1 stuff from me late on Saturday as well.

Here's a link to my post-qualifying update . The early value on Hamilton looks to have been snapped up already, but most of the Aus bookies won't price up until morning. If you think the race weights make a difference (you get to work out when the teams are planning on their first pitstop and thus strategy around that), then the official list is here .

Got a few articles up on Betting@Betfair this week.. F1 post-qualifying preview , very keen on the two bets listed. Deccan Chargers IPL - don't read too much into this one, all the writers drew straws for a team and had to make a case for them. I have backed Herschelle Gibbs at 25/1 each-way for Top Runscorer though. NRL Round 6 form (no byline)

Another column I'm doing this week. Malaysian GP Betting: Button eyes the victory but can he survive the storms? Should be a great race, I love it when rain turns a procession into complete chaos :)

I must admit, I'm a bit of a petrolhead. Go back to 2000-2, I was heavily into betting on Formula 1, particularly head-to-heads. However, the constant rule changes which made driver ability a very small part of the equation eventually turned me off it. This season though, I could be right back into it. For full details on rule changes, read this In summary, slick tyres are back, aerodynamics are significantly different to reduce reliance on downforce and make wheel-to-wheel racing easier, engines now have to last three races and in-season testing is heavily restricted. Just look at how different the McLaren car looks, the wings are a big change from previous years, front and back. New team, Brawn GP, formerly Honda, set the testing tracks alight last week, to such an extent that PaddyPower made Jenson Button favourite for the Drivers Championship! I had to check it wasn't April 1st... The away races in Australia, Malaysia, China and Bahrain often tell a different story to the ...