German Grand Prix: Nico Rosberg to win at his home race?

Formula 1 racing teams return to race again at Hockenheim just two weeks after the Silverstone British Grand Prix. Once more, we can expect a great and exciting F1 race in Germany, and potentially good value bets. Among key factors that can influence your betting strategy, keep in mind that two drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg, are driving in front of their home fans this week-end. Also, an analysis of the race track will help you be successful at betting on the Hockenheim race. Here is a German Grand Prix preview and some betting tips for Sunday’s race.

Hockenheim circuit

The Hockenheim circuit is pretty much different from the Silverstone track, where Britain's Lewis Hamilton won his home Grand Prix for the second time on July 6. However, both tracks offer high-speed sections and benefit the fastest Formula 1 cars. So, Mercedes will continue to enjoy a significant advantage, even if lately the Red Bull team is performing well and can hope a good result for this race.

Let’s start with a short race track analysis. The Hockenheim circuit can be split into three sections. The first one goes from the start line to the fourth circuit curve and two zones emerged as key areas: the first high-speed curve and the end of the straight line segment between the first and the second curve (first DRS zone), where Formula 1 cars have to brake from 310km/h to 90km/h.

The second section goes from the fourth curve (the “Parabolic” curve) till the eleventh curve. The Parabolic curve is the second DRS zone and is by-far the fastest curve of the circuit and the most spectacular. Cars can reach speeds of 330 km/h and then have to slow down to 60km/h.

The third section includes the last turns of the track. It’s the most technical zone and the slowest as well due to the numerous tight curves.

The FIA established two DRS zones for this Grand Prix. We will hopefully see great overtaking moves thanks to the Drag Reduction System aid.

Race winner

On the technical Hockenheim circuit, Mercedes and Red Bull are clearly the favorites and both teams will be looking to finish on the top step of the podium. If you're going to bet on the winning driver market, we recommend you focus on Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Daniel Ricciardo or Sebastian Vettel.

Two weeks ago, Lewis Hamilton won his fifth win of the season and is incontestably the bookies favorite, with odds of 1.57 from Bet365 and Ladbrokes, 1.62 from Sportsbet and 1.60 from Sportingbet. Bookmakers offer also nice dividends for the victory of the German driver, Nico Rosberg, with odds from 2.70 to 2.87. Red Bull drivers’ odds are much higher. Daniel Ricciardo’s price for race victory this week-end reaches odds of 29 and up to 34 for Sebastian Vettel’s victory.

Recently, Hamilton said that the German Grand Prix is not really Nico Rosberg’s home race as he moved to Monaco with his family when he was a child. Hamilton’s joke highlights the intense competition between Mercedes team-mates. We definitely think that the German public’s support will be a great motivation for Nico Rosberg and we predict a victory of the German driver. Rosberg will be on a high on Sunday’s Grand Prix in front of his home supporters!

Nonetheless, the weather is going to play a major part in the weekend’s race and it can’t take long for things to shift in favor of the Red Bull or Williams’ team.