Our Formula One insider fancies Lewis Hamilton to dominate at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and the British driver forms part of his staking plan for Sunday's race.
Hamilton to dominate once more
Hamilton has not been the fastest or most convincing driver across any of the three grand prix weekends so far, yet he arrives in Baku with two wins and a second place to his name. Some punters will be keen to oppose the reigning champion as they wait for mean reversion to kick in, but doing just enough to get the job done has become something of a Hamilton signature over the last dozen or so races. In fact, the five-time title winner has won 10 of the last 14 races and while it's possible to build a case against him given his apparent struggle to string together a dominant weekend in 2019, the form guide is clearly in his favour. He won here 12 months ago despite being slightly off the pace (sense a pattern here?) and at nearly triple-your-money odds at Hills looks a good bet to repeat that success on Sunday and take control of the championship chase.
Kvyat set for bold show
Kvyat has endured a testing hat-trick of races since his return to Toro Rosso. His outing in Melbourne yielded a point but he arguably had the pace to be at least seventh lest for mishap in qualifying which left him 15th on the grid. In Bahrain an operational error resulted in him being sent out for his Q2 hot lap on used tyres, compromising the rest of his weekend, while Shanghai saw an opening-lap skirmish with Carlos Sainz ruin a promising start. The Russian has shown the underlying pace to be 'best of the rest' behind the Mercedes, Ferraris and Red Bulls and a clean run would surely allow him to at least notch another top 10 finish. Honda are introducing a significant upgrade aimed at improving their engine's performance and reliability so Kvyat should be able to reach Q3 and keep ahead of the midfield maelstrom in Baku.
