Austrian Grand Prix Betting: Lucky Seb can cash in on escaping a ban

Read Sebastian Vettel's website and you might think you need to go away and double check that he really is the four-times world champion who has just celebrated his 30th birthday and not an over enthusiastic teenager.

Yes, he's truly sorry for the way he drove into Lewis Hamilton in the heat of the moment in Baku during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. And yes, he says he loves the sport and "I am determined to represent it in a way that can be an example for future generations".

But dear me, wouldn't it have been handy if he was thinking like that before causing crashes - even if they were at "low" speeds of 100mph or so - that could be downright dangerous to the lives of his fellow drivers.

Vettel arrives in Austria this week still with a 14 point lead in the Drivers Championship ahead of 1.82 favourite Hamilton but very lucky that he hasn't been forced to sit out the race and watch his big Mercedes rival take control.

If you want a conspiracy theory it would be that former Ferrari chief Jean Todt is now the head of F1 making decisions about whether the Prancing Horse's top driver should face further sanctions. Big surprise, he said no.

As a background to this week's Austrian Grand Prix it couldn't add more spice to what has already been a compelling duel between the two multiple world champions.

Basically Vettel has escaped with the Formula One equivalent of being sent on a Speed Awareness Course to avoid a driving ban, so no wonder he couldn't wait to make his apology public and move on.

Vettel is already driving on the edge. The three penalty points he got on to his super licence for his mad moment in Azerbaijan took him to nine in total, meaning one big indiscretion in the Red Bull Ring in the picturesque setting of the mountains around Spielberg could leave him missing the British Grand Prix.

He is a serial offender. Two points at last year's British Grand Prix for forcing Felipe Massa off the track, two more for colliding with Nico Rosberg in Malaysia, two more for swearing at race director Charlie Whiting in Mexico. He got away with saying sorry for that one too.

We'll hear in the next few days exactly what Hamilton, who at the time labelled Vettel's driving "a disgrace" and "disrespectful" has to say about it. In the meantime he's given us all a good guess on what he really thinks by liking an Instagram post which condemned the FIA for failing to take more action.

Will all this play on Vettel's mind? I suspect not. If anything it will inspire him.

Hamilton is the 1.95 favourite to deliver the race win that would surely have been his in Baku if it had not been for the problem that saw his headrest come loose. But Vettel 3.75 has a history which suggests he is just as likely to grab the opportunity afforded to be at a race from which he should have been banned.