We have already brought you our preview for the British Open Golf Championship, which got underway today at Royal St Georges in Sandwich, Kent. But this is not the only major sporting event taking place across the UK in what is a massive weekend for sport in the country.
That’s because this weekend also sees two other huge sports events taking place with the British Grand Prix taking place at Silverstone from Friday through to Sunday and on Saturday, the PDC World Matchplay tournament gets underway for darts fans to enjoy at its home venue of the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.
These other two events are not just big sporting events for those competing, but they will draw in huge numbers of fans, who are now allowed to start returning to major sports events across the UK, and of course, they will attract plenty of betting from punters willing to enjoy a gamble on who will come out on top in each event.
If you are one of them and would like to enjoy a flutter on either the British Grand Prix or World
Matchplay, then check out the wide range of pre-event bets and In Play betting available on the excellent bet365 Sport site.
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First up, let’s take a look at the British Grand Prix, which is taking place at the famous Silverstone circuit in Northampton from Friday through to Sunday and which, for the first time, will feature a potentially new qualifying system for the main race, which will incorporate a special Sprint Race on the Saturday.
British Grand Prix – Preview
We head into the British Grand Prix in the somewhat unusual situation of Mercedes and Lewis
Hamilton not being the dominant team and driver in this year’s F1 championships. Red Bull and Max Verstappen have won four of the last five races and five of the nine races in total in order to lead both the constructors and drivers’ championships.
It’s a somewhat unexpected situation, especially after Hamilton won three of the first four races of the season, but since then Red Bull have been dominant and it does look like Mercedes have it all to do to reel in the charging Red Bulls this weekend.
Whether the new qualifying system, which will be trialled for the first time this weekend at Silverstone, will help or hinder either team remains to be seen.
The 2022 F1 season gets underway with the Bahrain Grand Prix. Check out this preview for the race which is held in March.
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New Qualifying System
The new qualifying system which we will see for the first time this weekend has been
proposed for some time. With many complaining that the original format of a practice day on Friday, qualifying on Saturday and then the race on Sunday wasn’t providing good viewing or value for money for fans, a shake up of the system had been on the cards.
Ross Brawn’s proposal will see a qualifying session take place on the Friday, however the qualifying will be for grid position for a new 17-lap (100km) Sprint Race on the Saturday. The final positions of the drivers in that Sprint Race will then be used to determine grid positions for the full race on Sunday.
It is going to be very interesting to see how the new qualification system changes the race weekend in Formula 1, and with another two scheduled trials, one at Monza and one at another as yet unnamed Grand Prix, it will be useful to evaluate whether the new qualifying is a success or not.
Current Standings – Driver’s Championship
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 182
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 150
- Sergio Perez (Red Bull) – 104
- Lando Norris (McLaren) – 101
- Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) – 92
Red Bull lead the constructor’s championship by 44 points from Mercedes who are themselves 101 points ahead of McLaren in third. Ferrari are fourth, 19 points behind McLaren.
Who Wins Sunday’s Race?
As for who will win Sunday’s race, it does look very much like it is going to be another win for Red Bull and Max Verstappen if recent performances are anything to go by. The Dutchman has exerted a level of dominance over the field in the last few races that is hard to ignore.
Lewis Hamilton will have home support roaring him on and that will certainly help him, but it is hard to see him being able to match Verstappen, unless Mercedes have managed to make a few adjustments to his car that will enable him to close the gap and there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of that as yet.
I do feel Mercedes will bridge that gap at some point but Sunday’s race looks a little too soon, so I would stick with Verstappen for the win here which is an 8/11 shot with bet365.
World Matchplay Darts – Preview
After being contested last year in Milton Keynes, the World Matchplay Championship returns
to its home of the Winter Gardens in Blackpool this weekend as 32 players begin the tournament on Saturday in the hope of becoming the new World Matchplay Champion and lifting the famous Phil Taylor trophy.
Taylor won this event an incredible 16 times in his career and the most any other player has won the event is twice (Rod Harrington and Michael van Gerwen achieving that feat). Of the current field, only Van Gerwen, James Wade, Rob Cross, Gary Anderson and last year’s winner Dmitri van den Bergh have lifted the crown.
The tournament is different to other darts events as it is not played using legs and sets, but simply by players accumulating legs and winning the required amount to win the game. The first round is a best of 19 contest, which sees players needing to win 10 games, by two clear legs or more, in order to land the win.
As the tournament progresses, the number of legs a player needs to win to progress increases up to the final which is a best of 35 contest.
This event does favour players that are consistent and can win legs regularly, and it does penalise players who tend to play in fits and starts and as such, it has tended to be the more consistent players that have won this event in the past.
Looking at the players in the field this week, Jose De Sousa has been extraordinarily consistent this season and at 7/1 he is a good value option here. You can also add Gerwyn Price to that list at 5/1 and of course Michael van Gerwen who is the 9/2 favourite.
However, my tip here is De Sousa (7/1) and I think the Portuguese star is long overdue a big win in the PDC.
