After topping the time sheets in first day of the final pre-season test, Webber looks to be a good value bet to win the 2010 F1 Championship. Webber himself is optimistic, saying he believes that the Red Bull team is in better shape than other teams.
Jenson Button won the championship last year, but he did most of the work in the first half of the season, winning six of the first seven races, and failing to win a race after that. Webber won two races in the second half of the season and ended fourth in the championship. Below are the race results and final standings last season.
2009 Race Results
| Grand Prix | Date | Winning Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 29/03/2009 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes |
| Malaysia | 05/04/2009 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes |
| China | 19/04/2009 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault |
| Bahrain | 26/04/2009 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes |
| Spain | 10/05/2009 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes |
| Monaco | 24/05/2009 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes |
| Turkey | 07/06/2009 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes |
| Great Britain | 21/06/2009 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault |
| Germany | 12/07/2009 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault |
| Hungary | 26/07/2009 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes |
| Europe | 23/08/2009 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes |
| Belgium | 30/08/2009 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari |
| Italy | 13/09/2009 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes |
| Singapore | 27/09/2009 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes |
| Japan | 04/10/2009 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault |
| Brazil | 18/10/2009 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault |
| Abu Dhabi | 01/11/2009 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault |
2009 Driver Standings
| Pos | Driver | Nationality | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jenson Button | British | Brawn-Mercedes | 95 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | German | RBR-Renault | 84 |
| 3 | Rubens Barrichello | Brazilian | Brawn-Mercedes | 77 |
| 4 | Mark Webber | Australian | RBR-Renault | 69.5 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | British | McLaren-Mercedes | 49 |
| 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | Finnish | Ferrari | 48 |
| 7 | Nico Rosberg | German | Williams-Toyota | 34.5 |
| 8 | Jarno Trulli | Italian | Toyota | 32.5 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Spanish | Renault | 26 |
| 10 | Timo Glock | German | Toyota | 24 |
| 11 | Felipe Massa | Brazilian | Ferrari | 22 |
| 12 | Heikki Kovalainen | Finnish | McLaren-Mercedes | 22 |
| 13 | Nick Heidfeld | German | BMW Sauber | 19 |
| 14 | Robert Kubica | Polish | BMW Sauber | 17 |
| 15 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Italian | Ferrari | 8 |
| 16 | Sebastien Buemi | Swiss | STR-Ferrari | 6 |
| 17 | Adrian Sutil | German | Force India-Mercedes | 5 |
| 18 | Kamui Kobayashi | Japanese | Toyota | 3 |
| 19 | Sebastien Bourdais | French | STR-Ferrari | 2 |
| 20 | Kazuki Nakajima | Japanese | Williams-Toyota | 0 |
| 21 | Nelsinho Piquet | Brazilian | Renault | 0 |
| 22 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Italian | Force India-Mercedes | 0 |
| 23 | Romain Grosjean | French | Renault | 0 |
| 24 | Jaime Alguersuari | Spanish | STR-Ferrari | 0 |
| 25 | Luca Badoer | Italian | Ferrari | 0 |
Webber’s teammate Vettel is one of the favourites to win the title, with 6-1 odds on Sportsbet. While I think he has a better chance of winning than Webber, I feel the available odds on Webber provide better value. For anyone with a Betfair account, you may be able back Webber now and lay a bet against him at lower odds at a later date if he has a good start to the season.
Sportsbet currently offers the best odds on Webber at 15-1. At the time of writing, Betfair has 12.5-1 odds and Bet365 is offering 11-1 odds. It just goes to show that it pays to shop around!