Back Page Betting: Summer showers will suit Hamilton at German GP

Formula One / Ralph Ellis / 18 July 2008 / Leave a Comment

The rain is good news for the Brit who will not compromise his winning instinct despite calls for greater consistency, says Ralph Ellis.

It's easy to confuse today's sports pages with the weather forecast. Rainy, windy, wild conditions dominate the coverage of day one of The Open at Royal Birkdale. And Sandy Lyle is quite rightly given his own deluge by the Daily Mail for walking off with only ten holes completed just because his club grips had got wet. Oh, and his glasses were steaming up too. Poor dear.

There's mention of sunshine for Manchester City in the Faroe Islands, of showers in Headingley for the first Test, of heat for the runners next month in Beijing. So it's ironic the one sport where the climate doesn't get a mention is the very one where a weather forecast would have been most handy - in the coverage leading up to Sunday's German Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton proved conclusively at Silverstone that he's the king once the track gets a soaking, and you need to know whether he can expect to be on wet weather tyres again this week.

The papers won't tell you, but at least you can rely on Betting.Betfair.com to supply the info (admittedly with the help of a couple of German weather websites). And the answer is to expect showers in Hockenheim on Sunday, the very conditions where Hamilton's McLaren will come into its own. He's [3.1] second favourite behind Kimi Raikkonen [3.0] and that looks well worth backing.

Rain works for England's young ace because it concentrates his mind. The need for control takes away his impetuous side and lets his natural feel for the balance of his car come through. What you won't take away, despite what he might say, is his ferocious competitive instinct.

Hamilton has been encouraged to say all the right things by reporters who clearly feel he would be better off taking less risks and making sure he scores points in regular races. Listen to him talking in today's Daily Express and Daily Mail: "The experience from last year means I am older, wiser, and more sensible and can accept that scoring points is important," he says. Experienced writer Bob McKenzie in the Express points out that BMW's Robert Kubica, Hamilton's old karting rival and [24.0] to win in Germany on Sunday, is only a couple of points adrift in the drivers' championship yet has only won a single race. What he has done is finish consistently while Hamilton had his spectacular blunders in Bahrain and Canada. The idea is to reduce the number of daring darts into tiny overtaking spaces, being happy to pick up points for finishing on the podium rather than always taking first prize.

Hamilton is saying all the right things about agreeing with that strategy. But he won't change his natural instincts, and nor should he. What makes him a great driver is his competitive nature allied to his skill. And after agreeing with everything put to him about the need to be more sensible he adds: "However, I do like winning".

Five things you might not know about Hockenheim

1. The circuit was originally built for motorbike racing before Mercedes turned it into their test track in 1936

2. Britain's top rally driver Jim Clark was killed there in a Formula Two accident in 1968

3. The circuit now holds one of the largest drag racing events in Europe.

4. The original 4.2 mile circuit was shortened to the current 2.84 miles in 2002, taking away the long fast straights into the forest which had been the track's signature

5. The stands seat 120,000 for race day - and play host to a 54 room luxury hotel the rest of the year