Formula One / David Croft / 24 September 2010 /

This amazing championship race continues in Singapore where David Croft believes the Prancing Horse can land a significant blow

Here we go then. Five more races of the 2010 season to go and five drivers in with a shout of the title. To make it just a touch more spicy, those same five drivers occupied the top five places at the end of second practice as well. Without doubt this is a title race that will go down to the wire with driver ability having just as big a say as their car.

At the start of the season I said I thought that Fernando Alonso would emerge as world champion and that McLaren would take the constructors title. The Spaniard is currently trading at a best price of [5.5] with Betfair and McLaren are available at [3.3] in the teams' battle.

Given that the Spanish driver is the only one of the championship contenders not having to battle his team mate and that Ferrari have closed the development gap to Red Bull, I see no reason to change my mind.

Meanwhile at McLaren, Button and Hamilton are giving it their all and should continue to score good points in the remaining races. Red Bull still have the best car on paper, but on the track Sebastien Vettel has been making errors and Mark Webber looks a little sluggish off the line. Their great work in qualifying hasn't been translating into maximum points from the races and whilst that may change, the pressure of the title run may be handled more easily by a team used to winning titles. Hence I still think McLaren have the advantage.

So onto Singapore and the unique challenge that it throws up. A street race under lights and one where the threat of rain hangs in the air from dawn till dusk. So far this week we've had rain pretty much every day. On Friday a huge deluge flooded the track about an hour and a half before practice got underway. That meant for very slippery conditions through the first hour and a half with the leading teams spending more time in the garage than out on the track.

Given that there was no sunlight to dry the surface and that the humidity was running at around 76 per cent, that surface didn't dry out fully throughout the second session. So if a driver ran wide or got off the racing line his times were compromised. Should we get similar conditions on Saturday and Sunday then the drivers need to be wary. One small mistake and you're off into the wall and it's race over. The winner of this race will be the man who keeps his head, doesn't overdrive his car, takes his chances when - and if - they come. A little slice of luck wouldn't go amiss because the chance of the safety car coming out is enormous and if it comes at the wrong time drivers will be massively compromised. Or in the case of Alonso in 2008, it makes your race.

You can have a safety car appearance with Betfair by the way at [1.32] and we've had it come out at least once in both of the previous Singapore Grand Prix.

So who will cope best? For me there's one man you need to look at above the race and he isn't driving a Red Bull. True, that car is massively quick on low fuel and should get pole by a country mile. Vettel is trading at [2.2] and Webber at [3.85] for pole. Take your pick the current tally is 7-7 in terms of qualifying between the two team mates. But come the race they need a good getaway and that's something that the Red Bull has been lacking recently.

McLaren have made much better starts but will they be near enough to exploit that when the red lights go out? It could be that they won't. They should have a strong race pace and that will help over the course of the 61 laps. But they may leave themselves too much to do. Especially if the former pole sitter here, Felippe Massa and former winner here, Fernando Alonso can take the second row at least. The Ferrari has been brilliant off the line and will be challenging going into the first turn.

As I mentioned, Alonso is the one Ferrari driver going for the title, so don't expect Massa to be beating him. What he can do is drive for his team mate and that could make a huge difference too. Alonso takes it for me and Betfair have him at a best price of [4.9].

BUT - and I've put that in capitals for a reason - if it's damp or if we have rain then Jenson Button comes into the picture purely because of what we've seen in the past. He's a massive price at [16.5] but if the conditions are right, he'll be up there make no mistake. I can't wait.

Recommended Bets:
Alonso to win the Singapore Grand Prix [4.9]
Button to win the Singapore Grand Prix [16.5]

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