Melbourne blog   Sunday 16 March - What should, at last, be an exciting season in Formula 1 racing opens in Melbourne on Sunday with the rivalry between former team-mates,  Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, set to explode now that Alonso has departed McLaren for his new home at Renault. Although Hamilton will be driving the more powerful car, Alonso will be relentless in his efforts to pick up points wherever he can.

Formula 1 betting fans will realise though, that Hamilton will be focusing all his attention on the Ferraris of Finnish driver, Kimi Raikkonen and Brazilian, Felipe Masse. Ferrari showed signs of engineering dominance toward the end of last season and it remains to be seen whether McLaren have kept up on the engineering front. Rumours abound that while Ferrari have the edge on the race pace, McLaren will have the speed advantage in qualifying and thus grid position.

Bookies are favouring Raikkonen in the pre-season but there can be no doubt that Hamilton will be very, very hungry for the title after last year’s near miss to the fiery Finn. Raikkonen won the Melbourne race last year and is bookies favourite again this season but Hamilton is genuinely convinced that the McLaren team preparation makes him favourite, at least in his own mind. Certainly observers of the Barcelona pre-season trials noted that Hamilton was a man possessed in getting everything from the car.

It’s going to be a great season with the two way assault on the title from Hamilton and Raikkonen with Alonso snapping at their exhaust pipes. Time to get out there now and take up some of those free bets offers for new customers from the myriad of online betting sites.