Hungarian Grand Prix Betting Tips & Preview – Sunday 29th July 2018

With the mid-season break just around the corner, the stakes are huge in Hungary this week. With the title battle taking yet another swing at the weekend, both Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel are battling for control of the title race over the summer break. After more drama last week, who will come out on top and give themselves a big boost at a key stage of the campaign?

The German Grand Prix was supposed to be a grand homecoming for Vettel, but that didn’t go to plan. He retired and saw Hamilton claim maximum points, putting the Mercedes driver top of the pile, 17 points clear. Another victory this weekend would put him as the clear favourite for the title, and we’re backing him to do just that.

Race Info

We cross the mid-way point of the season in Hungary this week, with just nine races left in the second half of the campaign. After a month which has seen a Grand Prix in four of five weekends, we’re also coming out of a busy schedule for the F1 teams. That puts huge significance on this weekend’s race, given that it’s late August before they return.

Schedule

Last Season's Result (2017)

Last year’s race basically translated from qualifying to finishing, with the top five on the grid finishing in the same position in the final race. That was only broken by Daniel Ricciardo, who finished sixth in qualifying before retiring. However, while there wasn’t a great deal of difference between qualifying standings and race standings, a lot happened in Hungary last year.

Lewis Hamilton didn’t even end up on the podium, finishing behind the Ferrari duo of Vettel and Raikkonen. He also ended up behind teammate Valtteri Bottas, who was in the title hunt after the race. Vettel’s win put him 14 points clear, while Bottas was just 17 shy of Hamilton. With Ferrari taking the fight to Mercedes here last year, can they repeat the trick this time around?

Race News: Mercedes Way Continues Despite German Success

Despite winning the German Grand Prix, Mercedes have tried to play down their hopes this weekend. It’s a familiar tactic which we’ve seen from the Silver Arrows all season. Boss Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton like to play down their favourites’ tag at certain stages of the campaign, now that they have a genuine rival to worry about. Will their fears around a “very strong” Ferrari side come to pass this weekend?

Mercedes are currently leading the way in both championships, after overtaking Ferrari in the constructors’ standings. They have a world champion driver who labelled the win in Germany his best ever drive, yet Mercedes are playing up the difficulties they face. While it is true that they’ve had issues here in recent years, it was only 2016 when they last won in Budapest.

Analysis: Can Hamilton Repeat Past Glories?

The defending champion will be looking to his Hungary record ahead of this race. While we’ve seen Vettel impress this season, we believe there’s an opening for Hamilton to take a dominant position at the summit. While Mercedes are said to be too powerful for the twists in Budapest, we still see them contending, and we could see Ferrari having similar issues dealing with turns.

While this isn’t going to be easy for Hamilton, he has experience on his side. The Mercedes man has won this race more times than any driver in history. He has claimed five victories in Hungary throughout his career, compared to two for Vettel. We expect the world champion to contend again, and with that track record he’s certainly a threat in this race.

Final Verdict: Hamilton To Win

A victory ahead of the summer break would leave Hamilton at least 24 points clear in the standings. That’s a huge gap to take into the last nine Grands Prix and it would leave Ferrari with a lot of ground to catch up on. This weekend could be crucial, especially if Mercedes underperform and allow the challengers to claw their way back into contention for both world championships.

However, Hamilton has sky high confidence after his last race, and that should carry on with his fantastic record here. We expect the Brit to add to his five victories in this GP and use that to strengthen his place at the top. We think Hamilton is huge value for another race win at big odds of 11/4, while this could be a strong weekend for Mercedes, so we’re backing Bottas to make the podium here at 2/1, following his second place finish last week.