Post Race Analysis: German GP

With so many different race strategies, we have analysed lap times to get a better picture of the raw pace of each car. We have compared the best lap time for each driver when on the same tyre compound and broken down the race into ‘stints’ to compare cars on similar fuel loads.

Stint 1

Not a huge amount can be deduced from the first stint with most drivers trading in their soft tyres after only 8 laps

Stint 2

Some unlikely names topped the pace charts in stint 2.  Jenson Button started on the medium compound and ran two very long stints on the tyre. His fastest lap in his second stint came on lap 44, when the car was lighter. Nevertheless his McLaren showed consistently strong pace on the medium tyre.

It was a similar story for Williams with Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas clocking their times on laps 47 and 53 respectively.

Stint 3

Both Lotus cars enjoyed productive third stints, with Kimi Raikkonen churning out 25 consistent laps on his second set of mediums. Could this herald a return to Raikkonen’s early season form?

Stint 4

Sebastian Vettel was pushed to the limit to hold off the challenge from Lotus. It was a super drive from the World Champion considering his Red Bull didn’t enjoy the dominance of recent grand prix. Mercedes went back to their usual tyre struggles and only managed to keep pace with their rivals once their cars had emptied of fuel.

Summary
Sebastian Vettel is 6/4 favourite for the Hungarian GP but that price looks skinny considering he had very little in hand over his rivals. Kimi Raikkonen has been on the podium five times this season and at evens (Ladbrokes) he looks a fair bet for another top-3 finish.