Penalised Bottas can move through the pack

British Grand Prix
Channel 4 & Sky Sports F1, 1pm Sunday

Top tip
V Bottas podium finish 13-8
Lewis Hamilton saved his best for last in qualifying for the British Grand Prix, with a scorching circuit of Silverstone to secure pole in dominant fashion.

The Mercedes ace had been a 4-7 chance to top the qualifying times after final practice and is understandably shorter to convert his strong starting slot into a fourth successive win in his home race.

The best price of 8-15 is not such a bad bet for those who don’t mind getting involved at such prices.

Hamilton had been bested by teammate Valtteri Bottas in both Friday practices, but always looked on top in Saturday’s rain-disrupted sessions.

Ferrari briefly looked a threat when they unleashed the full power of their upgraded engines – Sebastian Vettel split the Silver Arrows in final practice but Hamilton was clear by more than half a second on his final run.

Bottas made a mistake early in his last Q3 lap and as the Finn has a five-place grid drop for a gearbox change – as Hamilton had in Austria last time – he is effectively out of the hunt for victory and Hamilton should saunter home.

However, Bottas should have the speed to get back into podium contention and is worth backing to make his way into the top three.

He should be expected to run longer than the cars in front of him in the first stint as he used the harder soft compound in Q2 and could emerge from his first stop in a position to challenge the Ferraris and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.

The other Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo is on the back row with Fernando Alonso after the Aussie failed to get out of Q1 and also had a five-place penalty.

Vettel leads Hamilton by 20 points in the world championship despite winning only one of the last six races but it will be a surprise if he or Raikkonen can throw down a serious challenge to Hamilton at a track that rewards superior aerodynamic performance more than most.

Red Bull score strongly on that front too, but Verstappen looks too far off the pace of the top two teams unless conditions are mixed, as they were in qualifying.

Nico Hulkenberg, the master of changing track conditions, deserves a prize for getting the Renault up to fifth on the grid.

He was seventh and fifth in the final two practices but is more likely to be spending the afternoon fending off challengers than improving his position.

Other markets
E Ocon top-six finish 13-8
S Vandoorne points finish 11-8
Force India have been catching the eye for more than their pink paintwork this season and the team based next door to the Silverstone track can be hopeful of another strong finish.

Esteban Ocon has finished in the top six in three of the last five races and looks a fair price to make it four out of six. He was faster than teammate Sergio Perez in every session except Q3, when he was marginally behind, but can go well from seventh.

McLaren basked in the limelight when Fernando Alonso topped the Q1 times with a late lap on slick tyres but teammate Stoffel Vandoorne is well placed and more likely to finish in the points from 12 spots further up the grid.

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