Time for Lotus to win in Valencia to extend crazy F1 season

Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the Canadian Grand Prix ensured that the run continued of a different driver winning the first seven Formula One races of the season and the onus is really on Lotus to extend this start further.

Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen have both been challenging for podiums throughout the majority of the season to date, without ever quite managing the chequered flag.

Grosjean came close in Canada when gaining his best ever Formula One result by taking second after a prudent one-stop strategy, while Raikkonen filled the same spot in Bahrain.

Despite still waiting for a first success, Lotus still sit third in the constructors’ standings behind Red Bull and McLaren and so are clearly not far adrift of their rivals in terms of performance.

The big difference thus far has come in final qualifying, with Lotus regularly struggling for a leading position on the grid.

Neither driver has yet had the privilege of starting on the front row of the grid, while Raikkonen in particular has had some difficulty in even making it to Q3.

Both will be looking to improve on this area heading into the European Grand Prix in Valencia, although this is a circuit where Raikkonen has not enjoyed the best success in the past.

In nine previous visits, he has finished no better than third and been forced to retire on four occasions.

Some would argue that he is due a change of luck and it is 14/1 that Raikkonen wins the European Grand Prix.

Grosjean looks the better bet at 14/1 given that he has finished in the top six of four of the last five races, with the one exception being when he was involved in a first-lap crash in Monaco.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.