Singapore grand prix betting single minded ricciardo to end wait for a win



The big gossip from the Formula One world is that Daniel Ricciardo appears to have finally confirmed his split with high school sweetheart Jemma Boskovich.

The silence of the Red Bull driver - accidentally outed as newly single by Lewis Hamilton during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend - spoke volumes when he moved the subject on during an awkward radio interview about his relationship status.

Why are we bothered? Well it's an example of how Ricciardo mostly flies under the radar as far as the glamour side of Grand Prix racing is concerned. While Lewis Hamilton is the party king, and Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen has been grabbing all the headlines as the sport's new young superstar, Ricciardo just gets on with his job.

Maybe it is because he hasn't won a race since 2014, but you tend not to notice how consistently he performs. Until I started checking the stats, I'd not realised that he has outdriven Verstappen in each of the last five races.

He currently sits in third place in the Drivers Championship, some 18 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel, yet there is a spread between [1.5] and [3.5] for him to end the season among the top three drivers.

That could be about to change this weekend, because if there was ever a chance for Ricciardo to end that two-year wait to stand on the top step of the podium, it will be at this Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix.

In a season dominated by Mercedes, when most weeks are a question of whether Lewis Hamilton [3.1], or his team mate Nico Rosberg [5.9] finish first, there are few opportunities for anybody else to get a look in. Singapore is one of them. Even Hamilton has called it a "Red Bull track" and Ricciardo is second favourite at [3.95] to take the chequered flag.

Without getting into too much of the technical stuff, Singapore has 23 corners, more than any other circuit on the calendar, and it favours cars with high downforce exactly like the Red Bull. As a street circuit it is similar to Monaco - where only a bungled pit stop cost Ricciardo the victory. It is comparable to both Budapest and Spa, where Ricciardo, who is [1.68] to achieve a podium finish, both times finished second.

The combination of so many corners, and the demands of temperature change as the race moves from day to night, mean this is a race which values experience behind the wheel. Verstappen might attack it with youthful enthusiasm, but Ricciardo in his 103rd Grand Prix, is less likely to make a mistake.

This race was a disaster for Mercedes last year, with Hamilton forced to retire due to engine trouble and Rosberg managing only fourth. In the early market the Silver Arrows are still [1.78] to provide the winning car as they have done for all but one race this season, but for once you'd be more tempted to lay at those odds rather than back.

If there is value anywhere it could be in supporting Sebastian Vettel for a podium finish at [2.56]. This is one of the Ferrari driver's favourite tracks - he has won four of the eight races held there since it was first added to the calendar.