Our Formula One insider fancies Lewis Hamilton to bounce back at the Spanish Grand Prix and the British driver is one of two bets for the weekend.
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Hamilton to continue world domination
Ten wins in his last 15 races. Two consecutive wins in Spain, and three consecutive pole positions. Four consecutive one-two finishes for his team and a one-two finish in Spain last year. Six successive team poles with five of those front-row lockouts. The stats go on and on for Hamilton and Mercedes to the extent it's difficult to overlook them for a headline bet. Valtteri Bottas, winner of two races so far this season and the championship leader courtesy of a bonus point for fastest lap in Australia, is arguably the form driver on the grid, but Hamilton has the pedigree at this circuit. He won last year's race by over 20 seconds and is clearly the man to beat. Ferrari should theoretically be well-suited to this warmer, grippier track but Mercedes were in cruise control last time out in Azerbaijan and could have won by double the eventual margin of 11.7 seconds to third-placed Sebastian Vettel. Take Hamilton to reclaim the championship lead with a win here and not look back.
Incredible Hulk can be best of the rest
Renault have endured a testing quartet of "flyaway" races but should thrive on more familiar territory in Spain this weekend. Nico Hulkenberg finished a creditable seventh in the opening race in Australia but that preceded an embarrassing double failure towards the end in Bahrain. Hulkenberg also retired from the Chinese Grand Prix with a power unit mishap, while it was Daniel Ricciardo's turn for an ignominious walk back to the pits after a collision with Daniil Kvyat's Toro Rosso in Azerbaijan. Amidst the lows, though, was a 'best of the rest' placing behind the Mercedes, Ferraris and Red Bulls in China for Ricciardo, and that achievement looks repeatable at the Circuit de Catalunya this weekend for either Renault. Ricciardo will be penalised three grid places for his contretemps with Kvyat so it's Hulkenberg that appears to be the value without the big six drivers at 10/1 with Paddy Power.
Preview posted at 2000 BST on 08/05/2019
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