The Formula 1 roadshow rolls into Hungary this weekend, and look for world championship leader Sebastian Vettel to return to winning ways.
Bet with Betfair on the Hungarian Grand Prix and get £25 free.
It was my birthday at the weekend. Everybody came round for a barbecue, and we discovered some crackers that were left over from Christmas.
One of them suggested that the best way to count your age is to ignore all the Saturdays and Sundays, and it seemed a great idea to me. Makes me nearly 40, and I'll settle for that - although if truth be told I'd take off Thursdays and Fridays too for the way I feel about life. I'm lucky, blessed with good health, great family and a job I love that has taken me all over the world watching sport.
So I know just where Jenson Button is coming from as he prepares for his 200th Grand Prix in Hungary this weekend. At 31, he's looking to sign another contract with McLaren, and says he's forgotten all about any plans to retire. "I was thinking recently I'd do four more years, but what the hell am I going to do for the rest of my life at just 35?" he asked the reporters assembling in Budapest. "I had three days off recently because of an injury and I was twiddling my thumbs not knowing what to do."
If you are a driver, you want to drive. Just ask Karun Chandhok, who will be back talking for Radio Five instead of behind the wheel for Team Lotus this weekend as Jarno Trulli returns to action.
Button will be even more of a kid because the 4.381 kilometre Hungaroring circuit was the scene of his first ever Grand Prix victory back in 2006. And his McLaren team mate Lewis Hamilton will be in a good mood too after last Sunday's success in Germany. He's also got happy memories of a track where he won in 2007 and 2009.
The trouble for both of them, however, is that harsh reality is waiting when they leave the pit lane in the form of the Red Bull cars, which have bossed the season so far and are likely to carry on doing that.
Sebastian Vettel made a couple of rare mistakes in Germany, spinning as he tried to make ground and flat-spotting his tyres so he had to settle for fourth. Mark Webber had driven brilliantly to take pole, but suffered as his team couldn't decide the timing of his third pit stop and ultimately were proved to have got their strategy wrong. Hamilton and Fernando Alonso benefited from quicker hard tyres in the cold and damp track conditions.
Those errors have combined to push Vettel's odds out to 2.58 for this Sunday, making it the perfect time to back him again. The German proved in Valencia that he has the character to bounce straight back from making errors to both take pole and victory on Sunday. He can do the same here. He's 1.93 to be quickest in qualifying too. The weather is warm, and the track notoriously tough for overtaking.
The bottom line this season is that Red Bull have the fastest cars. Button can enjoy his 200th race, but he's not likely to finish it on the winners' rostrum.
