Pedal to the Vettel for Red Bull to record fastest Monaco lap

In a rain-affected second practice session at the Monaco Grand Prix early-season pace-setter Lewis Hamilton could only sandwich himself between Fernando Alonso, who went quickest, and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, who was just 0.116 secs behind the Mercedes man.

It was the first time in the early part of the 2014 Formula One season that any driver had pipped a Mercedes in a second practice session and this bodes particularly well for Alonso’s 25/1-rated chances of qualifying on pole.

Meanwhile, Vettel’s odds of 14/1 to make pole – as he did before winning the race last year – also has significant appeal after such a confident showing.

The four-time world champion used all his experience of the Monte Carlo street circuit to put in a polished performance, which will have done his slightly shredded confidence the power of good ahead of qualifying.

However, while hopes of pole have been raised, Mercedes’ complete monopoly on claiming grid supremacy during the opening five races still makes it hard to back any other drivers apart from Hamilton (4/7) or Nico Rosberg (7/4) with confidence, especially if qualifying is carried out in entirely dry conditions.

A market definitely worth exploring though, is which driver will end up recording the fastest lap under race conditions.

Vettel is a very plump indeed 5/1 to repeat the trick he managed both last year in his Red Bull and back in 2010 en route to his first world championship crown behind the wheel of his Renault.

Despite Mercedes superior flat line speed, this is a circuit which rarely gives drivers a chance to open up the throttle for extended periods.

So the fact that the German actually managed to record the fastest lap of the preceding Grand Prix in Spain, where straight-line speed was far more of a factor, is the clincher for this bet.

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

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