Bahrain Grand Prix Betting Preview

March 09, 2006 The 2006 FIA Formula 1 World Championship kicks off this year in the Middle East, Bahrain being given the honor of hosting the opening round. All eleven teams have been testing hard over the winter and will be looking to assert themselves early in the season at this fantastic venue which is traditionally hard on engines with the high temperatures and sand in the air.
 
2006 will see a different looking grid with the arrival of new team Super Aguri F1, making eleven teams in total. Honda have taken over BAR in its entirety and are now known as just Honda F1. The iconic Jordan and Minardi names have vanished to be replaced with Midland and Scuderia Toro Rosso respectively.
 
BMW having dropped there support of Williams at the end of 2005 have bought out Sauber meaning the Swiss team no longer relies on Ferrari horsepower, whilst Williams will be using Cosworth engines. New team Super Aguri will be using Honda engines.
 
As has become the norm in F1, a few regulation changes have happened in order to liven things up again. The engines have changed from V10 to V8 layouts in an effort to reduce speeds, tyre changes are reintroduced which should help out the Bridgestone runners and qualifying has taken another bizarre twist which defies most reasonable logic. Essentially qualifying will take the form of three short knock out sessions which will see the field gradually reduced until time has expired, don't expect this system to make it past the third GP without being changed.
 
Renault, Mclaren, Toyota and Red Bull have unchanged driver line ups for 2006 whilst Ferrari has ditched Barichello for Massa, Williams have Webber and Nico Rosberg. One of the most enticing line ups is at Honda, who have Jenson Button and Rubens Barichello, these two are likely to be very closely matched and should provide an entertaining season long battle.
 
Looking forward to the actual race and the favorite is undoubtedly Alonso in the Renault who has been fast and flawless all winter. As last year his main challenge is likely to come from Raikonen who whilst showing blistering pace is struggling to find reliability once again. Montoya will also be looking to prove his doubters wrong in the knowledge that either he or Raikonen will be leaving Mclaren at the end of the season; Juan will be pushing hard right from the opening session.
 
Possible surprises could come from Ferrari's Michael Schumacher who has tested at Bahrain extensively, his chances rely upon the quality of Bridgestone tyres he has at his disposal. The Hondas could prove to be potent performers too with the level of investment the Japanese firm appears to be supplying, expect Toyota to continue its slow crawl to the sharp end of F1.
 
To sum up, expect Alonso to win with Button there or there abouts.
 

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