Hi James,
Got this message today from one of my readers, Charlie. Put a smile on my face and hope it will do for you too.
“James, Do you remember me taking your advice and putting £20 on Brawn to win the Championship? at 15-1? well I got this email from Paddypower this morning:
…..With the British Grand Prix around the corner and Jenson Button and the Brawn team still thrashing allcomers, we’ve decided to accept reality and settle all bets on Jenson Button to win the World Drivers Championship and Brawn to win the World Constructors Championship as winners!
That’s right – given there’s no point in making you wait another four months to collect on what is effectively a racing certainty, we’ve paid you your winnings today….”
The suggestion was made when we first saw the Brawn in anger at the Barcelona test. You get a mega car which shows itself in pre season testing to be head and shoulders above the others about once every five years or so. Last time was Ferrari on the new Bridgestones in 2004, before that McLaren in 1998.
allenonf1.wordpress.com 
Me and two of my friends put a £40 each on Jenson the day of their first Barcelona test when the Brawn went like s**t of a shovel. Between us we look to make over £6000 if he comes good. Go Jense!
When i read the title I said at last FIA & FOTA finally agreed on something, maybe another day
It’s official, FOTA will start a new series. No more Mad Max: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/76292
Hello Joe,
Im sorry this comment as nothing to do with the post but I just read on the Times Online that FOTA has decided to breakaway from F1. Is this true? Do you think it’s a threat???
I don’t know what to think. I’m scared I have never been to a F1 race and I’m moving to Melbourne next year so being in Albert Park watching Mclaren race going to be fulfilling a life long dream. I hope this is isn’t true. If someone has to go that should be Max. I’m pretty sure none of the fans would miss him.
Congratulations! I wanted to place a 10-pound bet on Brawn winning the championship when the odds were 80 – 1, but Skybet wouldn’t accept my Malaysian credit cards, so I missed out big time. Oh well…
Damn, knew I should’ve put money on it
Found some really long odds as well (33-1 being the best I found…)
what was that about counting chickens before their hatched?
1 DNF this weekend, a first corner crash in the next race and with two Red Bull wins it’s all on.
Baak, baak
James, a note about the breakaway series that you have not made mention of yes.
I wonder if FOTA team up with Dorna and use that series & tracks, it has tv to piggyback as well.
Hmmm!
But it does suck, Cart/IRL yuck!
Love the blog but I’m sure I speak for most, you need to be putting something out every hour on the hour haha!
Yeah but whos gonna win 2010, my moneys on Force India… 😉
Cool message! Though I find it an odd policy on the part of Paddy Power – surely if they held onto the winnings til the championship was formally decided they’d get a few months extra interest on the money, which even in these topsy turvy times is better than nothing…
And what if Jenson broke his leg this weekend a la Schumacher in 99 or suddenly suffered 4 DNFs?
Very strange…
I put £10 on Brawn Gp to win the constructors championship at 100/1. Looking forward to my £1000 pay out 🙂
Yeh, but james you were also saying it would be worth putting money on Hamilton to win the championship this year after the rate of development they carried out between Australia and Bahrain GPs, a punt is a punt.
Hmph. Silly me listened when you reckoned Hamilton was worth a sneaky bet after Bahrain – I thought the odds might narrow from where they were at least, but no it was a complete waste 🙂 Ah well….
Fair cop. Season isn’t over yet, but it looks like that car will never be a winner.
Two questions:
1. Did you do the same, James?
2. And what was the gain?
🙂
at 15-1??? huum, a pretty good deal, but I guess that was a little late, as the odds were really going down due to a lot of people getting bets on Button!
I adviced some friend of mine to put 20€ on Button just after the first day in Barcelona, at 67-1, now, that’s a good deal!
Did you follow you’re own advice and have a little wager on Brawn yourself James?
Nope, not a gambling man
Thanks James. I took your advice as well and now have £60 waiting in my Paddy Power account.
haha nice one, i put a tenner on jenson to be wdc after their test, but i cant remember the odds. maybe i should go check my account.
Oh! I put £30 on Button with William Hill at 50-1 (this was right at the end of last season, before Honda pulled out). Wonder if they’ll pay up early too!
Is this true? If so thats insane! Why would they pay out now? Anything could happen, he could get injured, fall ill, have a bad run, anything. I think they are unwise, Ive never heard of this sort of thing before.
I can trump that one with £50 on Jensen at 66-1 and £30 on Brawn at 55-1. The only downside is that my wife has already put the money, in her mind, towards
a new bloody bathroom………………….
I too wish to thank james for helping me with the betting. I too placed a small bet then increased it to a much larger one whilst the odds were favorable and stand to cash several thousand thanks to trusting the professional opinions on this blog!
Is it true?
If yes – nice one, Paddy Power!
I too put a bet on Brawn at 15-1 after your suggestion James. Only a fiver mind, because I’m a coward, but I’ll still be buying a few drinks at the end of the season methinks!
This is in a way Mad no? I mean “anything can happen and it usually does” is a famous phrase from one of F1’s most loved characters throughout the years.
Seems kind of premature to M__E.
And if 15-1 was all you got on a car which was given basically Zero chance from the Barcelona test, you’d wonder why people bother to bet on F1 at all. (help me out here what was say..torro rosso and Ferrari’s odds at the time you placed your bet)
I put £15 on button after the first test at 50/1 and £25 on vettel at 33/1 after the new RB was released based on adrian newey and the sleek back end 🙂
It’s definatley true (it was my original post) I thought they were mad too but I guess they are hoping I use the credit to bet on the british GP, they are barking up the wrong tree because I’ve allready transferred it to my bank account, maybe I’ll buy a Brawn GP coat at Silverstone on Sunday.
PaddyPower are renowned for this. Basically it means that their liabilities on the outcome are low and the probability of pay-out is high enough to warrant taking the risk for the good publicity. Look at all the people talking about them.
Didn’t they pay out on Stoke to get relegated from the Premiership fairly early on last season?
So if everything turns around, and Jense doesn’t win will Paddy Power come looking for their money back? OR is it closed when paid wrongly or not?