Formula One Season Starts March 16-18

The upcoming action for 2012 with the F1 betting odds promises to be as exciting as ever with the opening race from Melbourne on March 16^th through 18^th as the Australian Grand Prix will take place.  The F1 season runs through November with the 20^th and final event taking place on November 23-25 in Saul Paulo with the Formula 1 Grande Premix Do Brasil 2012.

Last year’s Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel beat the F1 betting odds with a win in the Australian Grand Prix.  Vettel is from Germany and has 36 career podiums. Last year he drove for Red Bull and became the youngest double world champion in F1 history. 

Vettel has had an intense rivalry with teammate Mark Webber.  Webber is coming off a frustrating season in which he finished third in the standings and was outshone by Vettel.  Webber, who hails from New South Wales, won just one race last year but he has 30 career podiums.

Jenson Button from the United Kingdom finished 2^nd in the F1 standings last year driving for the famed McLaren team.  He has 43 podiums and 1 world championship. Last year he became McLaren’s top driver as he eclipsed teammate Lewis Hamilton with 3 wins and 9 podiums. Lewis Hamilton finished 5^th in the standings last year and has 90 podiums with 1 world championship.  Hamilton had three total wins last year.

Fernando Alonso from Spain finished 4^th in the F1 standings last year and has 73 career podiums with 2 world championships.  Alonso drives for Ferrari with teammate Felipe Massa and clearly outperformed Massa last year. He trailed Red Bull’s Mark Webber by just 1 point.  Massa finished 6^th overall in the standings last year and has 33 career podiums.  The Brazilian failed to make the podium last year which was his 10^th season in the circuit in which he had his 100^th start.

Michael Schumacher, who was the dominant win machine a decade ago, has 154 career podiums and 7 world championships.  Schumacher led marked improvement for the Mercedes team as his fourth place finish in Canada was the team’s best result in a year.  Schumacher retired after narrowly losing the title to Fernando Alonso but launched his comeback in 2010.  He made is fame with Ferrari and has found driving for Mercedes a more difficult challenge than anticipated.  His teammate Nico Rosberg finished 7^th, one place ahead of the legendary German...