This weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring in Budapest could well be a crucial race in terms of the Drivers’ Championship, with Lewis Hamilton having moved to within just a single point of title rival Sebatian Vettel after his win at Silverstone just over a week ago.
The British driver won in Budapest last year, ahead of team mate Nico Rosberg, and with five career victories to his name at this track, overtaking the likes of Aryton Senna and Michael Schumacher in the process, he will once again head into the weekend as the favourite.
However, with Vettel, Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen all set to be in the podium mix-up, the race is set to attract a whole host of bets from punters hoping to get one over on the bookmakers. As a result, let’s take a closer look at the potential winners, as well as our top betting tip for the race.
Race Contenders
Hamilton has won more races than any other driver this season, and having narrowly lost out to Rosberg for the title last time around, it appears that the Mercedes man is fully committed to regaining his title come the end of the year.
Team mate Bottas has also performed admirably during his first season with Mercedes however, finishing as runner-up on three separate occasions, as well as winning twice himself. Such performances have all-but assured that he will be driving for the team next year too.
Elsewhere, Vettel will be looking to recover from a disappointing run of results, having not won a race since Monaco back in May. The German will have to be at his best to stop Hamilton overtaking him in the standings, with Vettel and Raikkonen having only managed one podium finish each in the last four Grand Prix. Ferrari have plenty of work to do in the build-up to the race, with the Italian team in danger of being overtaken by Mercedes in all aspects.
As for Red Bull, the consistency of both Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen has been somewhat inconsistent throughout the season, however the duo have shown signs of improvement over recent races.
With both drivers featuring within the top six in the driver standings, the emphasis will be on the Australian to compete with the big boys, having won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix earlier on in the season.
Top Betting Tip
Due to his success of late, many bookmakers are offering Lewis Hamilton extremely short odds on claiming another win in Budapest. As a result, our top betting tip for the race is to back Valtteri Bottas to finish on the podium, which can be backed at best odds of 1/2 at Ladbrokes.