Rosberg Ready To Reign At Home

The German Grand Prix offers Nico Rosberg the chance to emulate his Mercedes team mate, Lewis Hamilton’s victory on home ground at Silverstone two weeks ago.

The Season So Far
Two weeks ago at Silverstone, Nico Rosberg suffered his first retirement of the season, allowing Lewis Hamilton to win his fifth race of the year and close the gap on his team-mate who still leads the Drivers’ Championship by points.

Daniel Ricciardo once again outperformed Sebastian Vettel, finishing third, whilst Williams continued their recent revival thanks to Valtteri Bottas, who grabbed second.

The Circuit
The German Grand Prix alternates between two circuits and this time returns to Hockenheim, a track that was revamped in 2002 and which is now one of the shortest in Formula One. There are a number of slow corners which are hard on brakes, while the medium and fast corners put a lot of energy in the tyres, increasing tyre degradation, a problem that will be exacerbated by the forecasted high temperature.

In The Pits
The good news for Red Bull and Ferrari is that the data shows they are closing the performance gap on Mercedes. The bad news is that the gap is still a significant one, and Silverstone followed a familiar pattern. Once again Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso finished in the points but nowhere near the podium.

Once again Daniel Ricciardo outdid his Red Bull team-mate and once again Kimi Raikkonen had a nightmare of a race. It is hard to see any of them winning in Germany.

Recommended Bets
Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag in the British Grand Prix and has strengthened his position at the top of the antepost betting markets as a result, but

Nico Rosberg started on pole last time out and but for a gearbox failure, would surely have won at Silverstone.

Either way, he still leads the Drivers’ Championship and continues to offer more value than his team-mate at 15/8.

After their success in Austria, where both drivers finished on the front row of the grid, Williams picked up their first podium finish of the season at the British Grand Prix. All being equal, the Williams car cannot match the Mercedes, but at the moment they appear to be the best of the rest. I went for Massa last time, but after Bottas’ impressive performance at Silverstone, I’ll be backing the Finn in Germany.

Finally, it could be worth taking a chance on Nico Hulkenburg at big odds. Force India have only one podium finish this season, but they have been accumulating points steadily and will be hopeful that the medium speed circuit at Hockenheim and the forecast high temperatures will suit their car. Sergio Perez earned that sole podium finish, but Nico Hulkenburg has been the more consistent of the two, and he knows Hockenheim like the back of his hand. Back the German each way at 100/1.