This weekend I’m going to put 10 bucks on Lance Stroll winning his home Canadian Grand Prix. Why such folly you will ask? Simple as you will see in this report made possible by PeeveeMedia.
Those ten bucks can win me 2,000 bucks as odds given by a prominent betting company (which shall not be hot-linked!) as listed below.
[For the record, this post is not sponsored by a Formula 1 betting company however it was prompted by doing research for such an article]
For sure Max Verstappen will win the 42nd running of the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, Red Bull’s reigning F1 World Champion is in scintillating form ahead of Montreal, two victories in the last two races, a hat-trick is hard to bet against. And if you did fling money on the #1 RBR winning again, at 1/3 your winnings are meagre.
The only other driver with a chance is his teammate Sergio Perez, but will I drop 10 bucks to win 50 when betting is not my thing at all? Nah. Ditto Lewis Hamilton will unlikely be winning for the eighth time in Canada. But Fernando Alonso in his rapid Aston Martin at 14/1 is a fair bet. But again – not being a betting man – the prospect of making a couple of hundred bucks from my ten is hardly inspiring to go through the hassle.
However, Stroll’s 200/1 is worth a gamble in my book. But the stars must align, and man there are many of them!
1. Aston Martin has working updates for the weekend in Canada; 2. Stroll of old is back and not the plodder we have seen over the past two years; 3. Stroll stays out of trouble; 4. Stroll qualifies well aka Turkey 2020; the weather plays in his favour and, of course, Fate, Luck and Karma book the top step of the Montreal podium for the 24-year-old.
Fernando: He has the speed and he has the talent
Thus for Stroll to win, it means a lot of uncontrollable stellar activity to make the stars to align, on the Sunday afternoon of the Canadian Grand Prix, for the local hero to do the business. But they are alignable as Circuit Gilles Villeneuve does throw up occasional surprises and anomalies:
Canada’s favourite racing son, Gilles Villeneuve’s most famous win, in 1978, the year of the circuit’s debut on the F1 calendar; Jean Alesi’s solitary F1 victory he scored here in 1995; Ralf Schumacher in 2001; Robert Kubica 2008; Jenson Button 2011. In fact, a huge surprise result is long overdue at the venue of the Canadian GP since 1978.
As for Stroll junior actually delivering – Papa Lawrence believes – his new veteran teammate and latest mentor Fernando Alonso is brimming with confidence for the team owner’s son: “In Lance, the team has a driver who is super young, super talented and has the possibility to be world champion. To see him achieve that and have played a part in that, whether that’s behind the wheel or not, will be special for me.
“He has the speed, and he has the talent. He has shown it many times, especially in wet conditions. I remember Lance’s pole position in Turkey and some of his other excellent performances in the wet; to perform at that level in difficult conditions you have to have a special feeling with the car.” Amen Fernando. I hope you are right.
For all the above reasons, step up Lance Stroll who – at 10 bucks for 2K to win his home race – provides an unlikely but highly lucrative opportunity (eg. $100 on Lance to win and he does; equals 20K!) for a tiny wager my 10 bucks (cost of a coffee or two) is worth losing simply for entertaining the near impossible, and a good laugh, plus the handsome reward it could deliver on Sunday. Stay tuned!