F1 Monaco Grand Prix Betting Preview – Hamilton Takes First Career Pole in Monaco

Having won both of Thursday’s free practice sessions in Monaco, reigning Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton was beaten by teammate Nico Rosberg in Saturday’s FP3, but came back to take his first ever pole position at Monaco in Saturday’s qualification session, with Rosberg 0.342 seconds behind.

Second Row for Vettel in Monaco

Ferrari’s four-time world champion and one-time 2015 race winner, Sebastian Vettel, qualified third in Monaco with a time of 1:15.849, while colleague Kimi Raikkonen had a poor Q3, as usual, and will start sixth on the grid.

Red Bull Impress in Monaco

Illustrating that having the most powerful engine is not as important at Monaco compared to other tracks, the Red Bull tandem of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat qualified fourth and fifth with respective times of 1:16.041 and 1:16.182.

The Force is Strong in Perez  

Still using last season’s car after the release of their ‘b’ spec car was postponed until the Austrian Grand Prix, Force India had a decent Saturday in Monaco, with Sergio Perez their most impressive driver after qualifying seventh with a time of 1:16.808. Hulkenberg will start 13^th after posting a fastest lap of 1:17.193.

Williams Continue to Fall Away

The second best car in 2014 with several podium finishes, Williams fell behind a much improved Ferrari in 2015 and continued to lose ground after drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were shocking knocked out in Monaco’s Q1 and Q2 on Saturday. Bottas qualified a lowly seventeenth with a time of 1:18.434, while Massa starts thirteenth after being unable to improve on his Q2 lap time of 1:17.278.

McLaren Threaten Top Ten in Monaco but Fall Short

Hovering in and around the top ten in practice, the McLaren pairing of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button demonstrated their car’s race-by-race improvement in Monaco, but ultimately fell just short of top ten places when both were eliminated in Q2. Button starts twelfth after posting a fastest time of 1:17.093, but he would likely have made Q3 if yellow flags hadn’t aborted his final run. Alonso, who had engine problems, finished several seconds adrift of his teammate and will start fifteenth.

Monaco Grand Prix Betting

Pole-sitter Hamilton is priced at 3/10 with Paddy Power and several other firms, while teammate Rosberg is 7/2 with BetVictor. Third on the grid, Ferrari’s Vettel is offered at 12/1 with Bet Victor.

The Monaco Grand Prix Betting Verdict

As you can imagine, the pole sitter has a high percentage of wins on the narrow streets of Monaco, so Hamilton is extremely likely to win. However, at 3/10 we look elsewhere.

Rosberg is a two-time Monaco GP winner having won the 2013 and 14 races and should at least be able to finish second and give us a small profit on an each-way bet.

Otherwise, priced around evens, Williams’ Felipe Massa can finish in the top ten, while a well timed pit stop or great start could give Vettel second, but we’ll just take one bet this time.

[quote_center]Advised Bet: Rosberg each-way race winner at 7/2 with Bet Victor (1/3 odds place)[/quote_center]

Tune into Sky Sports F1 from 13:00 on Sunday to watch the action unfold