German GP inside line

Why? Well, according to Brawn, the new Hockenheim and Hungaroring, with the usual high temperatures, place more emphasis on chemical rather than mechanical tyre grip. And last year the Ferrari/Bridgestone package was left wanting. I must point out straight away, of course, that Bridgestone rubber is very different this year and that both team and tyre company put in a lot of work to address weaknesses over the winter.

But, saying that, this could be one of those weekends where temperatures mean that Michael Schumacher is not the 5-4 favourite for the pole that he is quoted. Looking at the performance of Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren at Silverstone, it's probably entirely logical that the Finn is second favourite for pole, at 9-2.

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There are some mighty attractive odds on the other Michelin cars though: Jenson Button at 8-1, Jarno Trulli at 12-1 and Fernando Alonso at 14-1. There's a lot of accelerating out of slow corners at the current Hockenheim, traction is a Renault strong point and for some reason I just fancy a Renault for the pole.

Alonso and Trulli are 20-1 and 25-1 respectively to win the race and I'd think about a slice of that, too. Or, being a little more conservative, they are 3-1 and 4-1 for a podium, which is eminently sensible.

Hockenheim is also the first race for a Toyota with aerodynamic input from Mike Gascoyne. Although Mike is keen to see the B version of the TF104 as a step rather than a whole new world, don't waste the opportunity to take a punt on a car that hasn't been seen before.

Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta are both listed at 4-1 for points. Don't stake the house on it, but either one, or even both, are worth a punt. And so are the McLarens. Reliability issues, hopefully, are in the past and Raikkonen is certain to score points if he finishes. And yet at 1-4, that's a 25 percent return! Coulthard, at 4-9, is even better and he's in need of a much stronger race than Silverstone.

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