The 2013 German GP preview: Everything you need to know about this weekend's race!

With exploding tyres still very much on the forefront of everyone's minds, Formula 1 heads to the historic Nurburgring in the heart of the Eifel mountains for the German GP.

2011 Nurburgring result: 1. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren); 2. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari); 3. Mark Webbber (Red Bull); 4. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull); 5. Felipe Massa (Ferrari); 6. Adrian Sutil (Force India); 7. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes); 8. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes); 9. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber); 10. Vitaly Petrov (Renault). Last five winners at the Nurburgring (includes European GP 2005-2007): 2011: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren); 2009: Mark Webber (Red Bull); 2007: Fernando Alonso (McLaren); 2006: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari); 2005: Fernando Alonso (Renault).

Tyre allocation

Pirelli will take the yellow-marked soft tyres and white-marked mediums to Germany this weekend, with both compounds set to feature revised rear Kevlar belts. The tyres will understandably be the centre of attention following the spate of failures at Silverstone and the Italian firm say these choices were made as "the tarmac roughness is very low, so plenty of mechanical grip from the tyres is required". The main demands placed on the tyres this weekend will come from the high-speed directional changes of the Michael Schumacher S, the RTL Kurve and the Warsteiner Kurve. Once again GP2 and GP3 are on the support card, meaning they will help clean up the circuit and lay down more Pirelli rubber.

Nurburgring odds

After taking a dominant pole at Silverstone, Lewis Hamilton is favourite with Sky Bet to once again be the top qualifier this weekend. However, the online bookmaker is backing home favourite Vettel to take victory on Sunday. Here are some further selected Sky Bet odds for the weekend:
Pole position - Mark Webber (14/1).
Race Winner - Kimi Raikkonen (10/1).
Winning team - Ferrari (7/2).
Podium finish - Paul Di Resta (16/1).
First Retirement - Romain Grosjean (11/1).
Number of first-lap retirements - Exactly Three (14/1).
Race Winning Margin - Under six seconds (Evens).
Hat-trick (Pole, win, fastest lap) - Sebastian Vettel (20/1).