The 2020 Eifel Grand Prix is the 11th round of the 2020 Formula One World Championship. It will be held on October 11, 2020, at the Nurburgring in Nurburg, Germany. This will mark the first Grand Prix at the racetrack since the 2013 Santander German Grand Prix. It will be raced over 60 laps at a distance of 308.617 km around the 5.148kn circuit.
Sebastian Vettel won the last race here with Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean joining him in the podium. However, that was a long seven years ago and the landscape of Formula One racing has changed a lot. Current world champion Lewis Hamilton finished that race in 5th place and 4th in the Championship. Since that season, Hamilton has won five out of the last six titles.
Here is the official schedule for the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix:
| Date | Activity | Time (track time) |
| Friday, Oct. 09 | Practice 1 | 11:00 – 12:30 |
| Friday, Oct. 09 | Practice 2 | 15:00 – 16:30 |
| Saturday, Oct. 10 | Practice 3 | 12:00 – 13:00 |
| Saturday, Oct. 10 | Qualifying | 15:00 – 16:00 |
| Sunday, Oct. 11 | Race | 14:10 – 16:10 |
Valtteri Bottas won his second Grand Prix of the season by topping the Russian Grand Prix last September 27, 2020, in Sochi, Russia. Bottas started third in the race but got the victory after teammate and pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton received two five-second penalties for performing practice starts outside the designated area.
Hamilton added to his record with his 96th pole and he looked like he was headed to tying Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 Grand Prix races won. However, he lost another race due to a penalty. The defending champion served his 10-second penalty in Lap 17. He would make a spirited comeback but could not overtake Bottas or Verstappen.
Bottas finished eight seconds clear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who finished second. Hamilton, despite his penalties, came in third place. Bottas was able to cut into Hamilton’s lead in the driver’s standings. The Finn now trails his defending champion teammate by 44 points.
Here are the current Drivers standings after the 2020 Russian Grand Prix:
Here are the latest betting odds to win the Eifel Grand Prix outright. These odds were taken from MyBookie as of 10/07/2020:
| Driver | Odds |
| Lewis Hamilton | -225 |
| Valtteri Bottas | +350 |
| Max Verstappen | +400 |
| Sergio Perez | +10000 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | +10000 |
| Alex Albon | +10000 |
| Carlos Sainz | +12500 |
| Alexander Albon | +240 |
| Lance Stroll | +12500 |
| Esteban Ocon | +12500 |
Lewis Hamilton will be looking for vengeance after losing the last race due to a 10-second penalty. He has won six out of the 10 races this season and he’s never lost back to back races this year. Hamilton leads the field with 8 podium finishes this season. The Mercedes ace has four starts in Nurburgring and he has three Top 10 finishes and one race win here. His average start of 4.5 ranks only second to Sebastian Vettel’s 3.0. However, Hamilton’s average finish here is 8.2.
Valtteri Bottas has to be an interesting pick here. He is coming off his second win of the season in Sochi and he is looking to cut into Lewis Hamilton’s lead in the Driver’s standings. Bottas has 8 podium finishes this season, same as Hamilton and he has finished in the Top 5 during the last six races of the season. Bottas has a Top 2 finish in three of his last four starts. Bottas has raced only once at Nurburgring and that was in 2013 when he finished 17th in the Santander German Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen is the third wheel in this year’s world championship. Red Bulls’ flagship driver is coming off a second-place finish at Sochi. Verstappen has finished inside the Top 3 in all the seven races he’s finished this season. Before his second-place finish in Russia, Verstappen was unable to complete the previous two races of the season. Verstappen and Pierre Gasly are the only non-Mercedes drivers to win a race this season.
Sergio Perez finished next to Hamilton in the Russian Grand Prix. The 30-year old Mexican has finished in the Top 10 in all races he’s completed. Perez has finished in the Top 5 in three out of the last five races of the season. He has raced twice at the Nurburgring with an average finish of 9.5 and a total of 119 laps of experience. His best finish here was 8th place in the Santander German Grand Prix in 2013.
Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth in Russia two weeks ago. The 31-year old Australian has seven Top 10 finishes in the last nine races of the season. Ricciardo has four Top 5 finishes in the last seven races of the year and he has finished sixth or better in the last four. He has two starts and a 117 lap experience at Nurburgring but his best finish here was 12th in 2013.
History tells us that Lewis Hamilton loves to bounce back after a poor performance. Well, he didn’t really do too bad in Sochi because he came all the way back to finish 3rd after incurring a pair of five-second penalties. But that was still a disappointing result after he topped the qualifying.
Hamilton is looking to tie Schumacher’s record fo 91 wins and he was supposed to do that the last time out. However, he gets another shot at it on Sunday and I don’t think he will waste a second opportunity. This is the most dominant F1 driver today and perhaps is the greatest ever in the sport.
Prediction: Lewis Hamilton -225. If the betting market for the pole sitter opens, go with Hamilton too. He started at the pole in the last race at Nurburgring and he’s been picking up poles left and right this season.
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