Who will be the surprises – and disappointments – of F1 2011?

After 16 weeks without racing – an eternity for the sport’s fans – the competitive roar of grand prix engines is soon to be heard once more, with the curtain-raising F1 2011 Australian Grand Prix due to fire into life, and now’s the moment to make that our predictions about the action to come, can start to bear fruit and start making you big profits from one of the most exciting, glamorous and romantic sports around.

Of course, the season should have been revving into gear in Bahrain rather than Down Under, but that’s another story – and in any case, Melbourne has always been an awesome place to get proceedings off to a flying start. Testing has offered some indications as to relative pace in the early pecking order, but this year more than ever thanks to the dramatic difference in tyre compounds brought to the table by the sport’s new supplier Pirelli, it is nigh-on impossible to know just where each team stands.
What seems safe to assess for the time being is that defending double world champions Red Bull Racing again have the fastest car in the field, that Ferrari’s 150° Italia – or whatever they have decided to call it this week, anyway – is metronomic in both its reliability and consistency and not far from the outright pace, either, and that McLaren-Mercedes still has much work to do in order to get on terms with its two arch-rivals.
Mercedes Grand Prix is another troubled front-runner, which is doubtless causing a few strained conversations in the ‘Schumi’ camp, whilst Lotus Renault GP may have lost its talisman driver in Robert Kubica, but the Enstone-based outfit has an extremely capable and dependable replacement in ‘Quick’ Nick Heidfeld and the innovative R31 has been the object of many an envious glance from other teams’ drivers, designers and engineers during testing to-date.
Scuderia Toro Rosso’s new baby appears to be a big step forward on the evidence seen so far, too – although whether the under-fire and under-pressure Jaime Alguersuari and Sébastien Buemi will survive in the ejector seat long enough to be able to take advantage of it remains to be seen – and Team Lotus, similarly, looks primed to vault up the starting grid somewhat.
Williams is more of a mystery, with head-turning pace from Brazilian veteran Rubens Barrichello on occasion – but was that more of a tactical ruse as the multiple world champions’ debut on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange neared..? Sauber look solid if unspectacular – as ever, it must be said – Virgin has been difficult to evaluate and as for HRT, well, best wait until the car hits the track before making any judgements, really, although many of the same issues from 2010 remain.
So there you have it. Can anybody defeat Red Bull this year? Can ‘number two driver’ Mark Webber turn the tables on reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel? Will Fernando Alonso continue to walk all over Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa? Can McLaren catch up quickly enough to salvage their season and Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button’s title chances?
Is Michael Schumacher set for a second consecutive campaign of crushing disappointment? Can Heidfeld take up the mantle and lead Renault back to glory and to his own maiden grand prix victory? Will Kubica return?
So many questions, and yes we have what we feel will be many of the correct answers that we anticipate will make both ourselves and any of our members a great deal of money during, F1 2011 Grand Prix Season. 

2011 FIA Formula One World Championship Race Calendar

MotoGP 2011: The new season
The first Official MotoGP Test of the year takes place at Sepang as the fight for the final 800cc title gets underway. Here, motogp.com previews the forthcoming season.

The 2010 campaign is still fresh in the memory but already the focus has turned to 2011. With the first Official Test in preparation for the new season coming immediately after the final round of the year in Valencia back in November, the excitement at the final 800cc season before the introduction of a 1000c engine capacity limit in 2012 is merely adding to the anticipation that the 2011 season will be one to savour.

Looking at the leading contenders for the 2011 MotoGP title the defending World Champion Jorge Lorenzo will be at the forefront, as he aims to underline his status as the new dominant force. Having been so consistent in 2010 and finishing 16 of the 18 rounds on the podium on his M1, the factory Yamaha rider displayed a level of maturity that was vastly improved in comparison to his previous premier class campaigns.
As Lorenzo opts for continuity with Yamaha two of his chief rivals ride with new teams in 2011. Casey Stoner becomes a factory HRC rider and his display in the Valencia Test hinted at what was an immediate affinity with the RC212V, whilst Valentino Rossi has filled the Australian’s seat at Ducati as an all-Italian match-up adds to the fascinating grid. Rossi may not have enjoyed as comfortable an introduction to his new machine as Stoner did to the Honda, but such is the nine-time World Champion’s proven track record he can be expected to be pushing hard on the Desmosedici come March 20th at Losail.
Along with Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa will hope to benefit from the stability of remaining with the same set-up in 2011, and for the 2010 runner-up it will be his sixth season on the factory Honda team. Having been Lorenzo’s longest challenger until injury struck towards the end of 2010, Pedrosa’s sights will be firmly set on a first premier class title.
As much as the ‘top four’ continue to be spoken of in one bracket, the gap behind them is being closed all the time and there are a number of riders who will not only be confident of breaking into that elite, but who have proven they have the ability to run at the front.
Andrea Dovizioso enjoyed his best premier class season to date in 2010 and will remain on the factory Honda team, Ben Spies was Rookie of the Year and earned a factory Yamaha ride as well as serving notice of his talent in what was his debut year, and of course Nicky Hayden is a former World Champion who displayed a much-improved feeling on the Desmosedici in his second season with Ducati. Marco Simoncelli was also highly impressive in his first campaign in the MotoGP class, and in 2011 will ride a factory supported RC212V on the San Carlo Honda Gresini team.
Colin Edwards has a wealth of MotoGP experience and will continue with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team, whilst Loris Capirossi and Randy de Puniet are both seasoned campaigners and will compete to adjust quickest to the Desmosedici of the Pramac Racing team. Returning for their second seasons respectively and eager to make progress will be Héctor Barberá (Paginas Amarillas Aspar), Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) and Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini).
Great interest will also be stoked by the introduction of three new riders to the category. Toni Elías, winner of the inaugural Moto2 World Championship, makes his return to the premier class with LCR Honda whilst rookies Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing) make the move from superbikes and Moto2 respectively.
The Official MotoGP Test at Sepang on February 1st will give further indications as to the progress of each individual rider and team, and you can follow the pre-season on motogp.com.
A provisional calendar for the 2011 FIM MotoGP World Championship has been released, and the schedule is as follows:
Date Grand Prix (Circuit)
March 20th Qatar* (Losail)
April 3rd Spain (Jerez)
April 24th Japan (Motegi)
May 1st Portugal (Estoril)
May 15th France (Le Mans)
June 5th Catalunya (Catalunya)
June 12th Great Britain (Silverstone)
June 25th Netherlands** (Assen)
July 3rd Italy (Mugello)
July 17th Germany (Sachsenring)
July 24th United States*** (Laguna Seca)
August 14th Czech Republic (Brno)
August 28th Indianapolis (Indianapolis)
September 4th San Marino & Riviera di Rimini (Misano)
September 18th Aragón (MotorLand)
October 16th Australia (Phillip Island)
October 23rd Malaysia (Sepang)
November 6th Valencia (Ricardo Tormo – Valencia)

£51,323.00 PROFIT 2010 Sesaon

FORMULA1 WIN / PLACE BETS: £10,790.00

FORMULA1 MATCH & OTHERS: £20,076.00

MOTO GP (ALL BETS):                   £20,457.00

2010 FORMULA 1 RESULTS: GRAND PRIX RACE WINNERS:

£10,790.00 PROFIT on these bets alone.

DATE

GRAND PRIX

DRIVER

ODDS

PLACED

PROFIT/LOSS

14-Mar

BAHRAIN

F MASSA

12~1

 PLACED

£100.00

L HAMILTON

25~1

 PLACED

£263.00

28-Mar

AUSTRALIA

F ALONSO

n/a

Lost

-£100.00

F MASSA

80~1

 PLACED

£950.00

04-Apr

MALAYSIA

L HAMILTON

n/a

Lost

-£100.00

N ROSBERG

100~1

 PLACED

£1,200.00

18-Apr

CHINA

L HAMILTON

10~1

 PLACED

£75.00

N ROSBERG

66~1

 PLACED

£775.00

09-May

SPAIN

J BUTTON

n/a

Lost

-£100.00

S VETTEL

100~1

 PLACED

£1,200.00

16-May

MONACO

F ALONSO

n/a

Lost

-£100.00

R KUBICA

66~1

 PLACED

£775.00

30-May

TURKEY

F MASSA

n/a

Lost

-£100.00

F ALONSO

n/a

Lost

-£100.00

13-Jun

CANADA

J BUTTON

12~1

 PLACED

£100.00

F ALONSO

25~1

 PLACED

£263.00

27-Jun

EUROPE

J BUTTON

50~1

 PLACED

£575.00

R KUBICA

n/a

Lost

-£100.00

11-Jul

GREAT BRITAIN

L HAMILTON

16~1

 PLACED

£150.00

N ROSBERG

100~1

 PLACED

£1,200.00

25-Jul

GERMANY

J BUTTON

n/a

Lost

-£100.00

S VETTEL

25~1

 PLACED

£263.00

01-Aug

HUNGARY

F ALONSO

33~1

 PLACED

£363.00

S VETTEL

50~1

 PLACED

£575.00

29-Aug

BELGIUM

F MASSA

n/a

Lost

-£100.00

N ROSBERG

n/a

Lost

-£100.00

12-Sep

ITALY

M WEBBER

n/a

Lost

-£100.00

F MASSA

50~1

 PLACED

£575.00

26-Sep

SINGAPORE

F MASSA

n/a

Lost

-£100.00

R BARRICHELO

n/a

Lost

-£100.00

10-Oct

JAPAN

M WEBBER

10~1

 PLACED

£75.00

F ALONSO

50~1

 PLACED

£575.00

24-Oct

KOREA

M SCHUMACHER

n/a

Lost

-£100.00

F MASSA

66~1

 PLACED

£775.00

07-Nov

BRAZIL

F ALONSO

7~1

 PLACED

£138.00

S VETTEL

5~4

WON

£125.00

14-Nov

ABU DHABI

F ALONSO

n/a

Lost

-£100.00

J BUTTON

100~1

 PLACED

£1,200.00

TOTALS =

£10,790.00