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Formula 1: United States Grand Prix Preview

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betting F1 Schumacher
Can Ferrari fight back?
Michael Schumacher shouldn’t find the going so easy at the this year. In last year’s F1 event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway all seven teams using Michelin tires exited the race right after the formation due to safety concerns. That left only the six drivers using Bridgestone tires on the track when the race got underway.

And that led to an easy victory in the event for Schumacher, with Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello ending up in second place. The other two Bridgestone teams, Jordan-Toyota and Minardi-Cosworth, filled out the rest of the Top 6, and picked up rare drivers championship points for their efforts. Racing fans, though, weren’t impressed.

With a full field expected to compete in this year’s event on Sunday, July 2, the end result should feature a little more intrigue. Or possibly not. Spaniard Fernando Alonso has won each of the circuit’s last four events, and he leads Schumacher 84-59 at the top of the current drivers championship. Overall, Alonso has won six of nine 2006 races.

And Alonso is also coming off a win in last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix at Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in Montreal. Schumacher finished second in Canada, while Kimi Raikkonen, Giancarlo Fisichella, Felipe Massa, Jarno Trulli, Nick Heidfeld, and David Coulthard rounded out the race’s Top 8 and collected championship points on the day.

The rest of the field, though, is well behind Alonso in the drivers championship, and pretty far behind second-place Schumacher as well. Raikkonen holds down third spot with 39 points, followed by Fisichella (37), Massa (28), and Juan Pablo Montoya (26).

The situation is the same over in the constructors championship, where Alonso and Fisichella have Team Renault up 121-87 on Schumacher, Massa, and Team Ferrari. McLaren-Mercedes (Raikkonen, Montoya) is third with 65 points, with the rest well back.

History, though, is on Team Ferrari’s side on Sunday. Since the United States Grand Prix came back to the circuit’s schedule in 2000, a Ferrari driver has won the race five of six times (including last year’s controversial result). Schumacher has four of those five victories on his resume, with Barrichello winning for Ferrari back in the ‘02 season.

And who do the oddsmakers like at Indy on Sunday? Not surprisingly, Alonso is the big -200 favorite to win right now, followed by Schumacher at +175 and Raikkonen at +350. Here are the complete odds for listed drivers to win the 2006 United States Grand Prix:

Fernando Alonso --- -200  
Michael Schumacher --- +175  
Kimi Raikkonen --- +350  
Giancarlo Fisichella --- +1000  
Felipe Massa --- +1500  
Juan Pablo Montoya --- +2000  
Jenson Button --- +3000  
Rubens Barrichello --- +5500  
Mark Webber --- +5500  
Nick Heidfeld --- +7000  
Nico Rosberg --- +7000  
Ralf Schumacher --- +7000  
Jarno Trulli --- +7000  
Jacques Villeneuve --- +7000  
Field (All Others) --- +5000  

Alonso is also listed as the favorite to record the fastest lap on Sunday, at -140. He’s followed on that odds list by Schumacher (+100), Raikkonen (+150), Fisichella (+800), Massa (+1200), and Montoya (+1500), with the field paying out at +700 for the prop bet.

If you’re looking to put a little less pressure on the race favorite, you can get Alonso at -1000 odds to finish in the top three spots at Indy, and -1500 to finish in the points (that is, end up in the Top 8). Schumacher is listed at -300 to end up Top 3, and -700 to end up Top 8. Raikkonen (-210, -450), Fisichella (-110, -425), Massa (+225, -325), and Montoya (+300, -325) are also seen as prime candidates to wind up in lofty positions.

Formula 1’s North American swing ends with the United States Grand Prix; the circuit next heads back over to Europe for the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours on July 16.
 
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