In this exciting season of F1 which is basically a battle between Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton to be the first man to reach five World Championship titles, things remain tight. Vettel heads into the German Grand Prix on the weekend with an eight-point lead over Hamilton. Some momentum swung back in favour of Vettel a couple of weeks ago at the British Grand Prix as he took the win over second-placed Hamilton.
Can Hamilton shift the balance again?
So will things go the other way this weekend with Hamilton looking to close the gap. The British driver is the 7/4 second-favorite* (betting odds taken on July 20th, 2018 at 7:23 pm) and is looking for his first win since the French Grand Prix back on June 24th. Hamilton was the winner of the last edition of the German Grand Prix which was back in 2016 at the Hockenheimring. That was his third success at the race so he does have a bit of form there.
Humiliation looked pretty quick in Friday practice and it had been fully expected that the Mercedes and the Ferrari teams would dominate things over the weekend. Surprisingly though Hamilton was second fastest in Friday practice behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen which was a huge shock as they weren’t expected to be that highly competitive in terms of getting to the front for the German Grand Prix. But on first showing, they have shown up and look pretty quick as well. Daniel Ricciardo, who is starting from the back of the grid because of penalties, posted the fastest time in the morning practice on Friday as well.
German Grand Prix Pole Position*
Lewis Hamilton 11/10
Sebastian Vettel 5/4
Max Verstappen 13/2
Valtteri Bottas 10/1
Kimi Raikkonen 12/1
Daniel Ricciardo 25/1
Bar 500/1
* (betting odds taken on July 20th, 2018 at 7:23 pm)
Vettel’s success at the British Grand Prix was his first win since back at the Canadian Grand Prix at the beginning of June and he really needed that success. This is his home Grand Prix and the German doesn’t need firing up here. He has only tasted victory once before at the race which was while he was driving for Red Bull back in 2013 and that was at the Nurburgring. From the first showing on Friday, the Ferrari’s looked to be struggling a bit for pace and Vettel was beaten by both Mercedes drivers.
So we could be in for a bigger race than first thought because of the presence of the Red Bull team and Verstappen has been on the podium in three of the last four races as well and he is a good even money odds option* (betting odds taken on July 20th, 2018 at 7:23 pm) in the German Grand Prix Top 3 Finish market. Will he be able to get the jump on Vettel and Hamilton and keep that title race wide open? This is a race in which Hamilton really needs a bounce-back performance and for the team backing him to get things right tactically.
German Grand Prix Winner Odds*
Sebastian Vettel 11/8
Lewis Hamilton 7/4
Max Verstappen 9/2
Valtteri Bottas 17/2
Kimi Raikkonen 9/1
Daniel Ricciardo 33/1
Bar 500/1
* (betting odds taken from Ladbrokes on July 20th, 2018 at 7:23 pm)
German Grand Prix Prediction
If the Red Bulls can deliver on their potential that they showed on Friday then this should be a fantastic competitive race. We like Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes for this one though as he has a decent record at the race and was right up there pushing the Red Bull drivers on Friday. The speed of the Red Bull cars should motive Hamilton a lot here and if he can ahead of Vettel and his teammate Valtteri Bottas can do the same then it could be a good weekend for Hamilton.
