[JasonB]

What a day of sport we had yesterday here in England.

With the British GP, the Cricket World Cup final, and the Wimbledon finals all on the same day, it felt like sports fans were somewhat overloaded, and it raised the question of whether things could have been organised better.

Fortunately I'm not a Tennis fan, so I only had to follow two events.

The British GP was great, with Hamilton winning, lots of great racing, and a spectacular mistake by Vettel.

But that was all fairly tame compared to what must have been the most incredible end imaginable in the cricket. My nerves were shredded by the end of the match.

The BBC summed up an amazing match like this...

A match that ended in a tie to produce a tie-breaker that also ended in a tie. A final over that contained a six that was a six and also contained a six that wasn't a six at all but actually a two and a four, which meant the final over wasn't the final over any more either.

When you try to navigate your way through those 60 hallucinogenic minutes you keep coming up against these impossible riddles: New Zealand's Martin Guptill facing the first ball of the match and the last one too; a tournament that England's men had never won before won with a winning margin that wasn't even a winning margin.

I think we have to accept that there was an element of good fortune in both British wins, and the Cricket in particular seemed harsh on the losers New Zealand.

But what an incredible day, I don't think I've ever seen anything like it.

Was anybody else following it?

[Gordon Steadman]

I was playing with toy cars

[CMOTD]

As a child I lived in St John's Wood, about 100 yards away from Lords and my best friend's father was a test match cricket umpire. I therefore had free tickets to every match, spent whole summer holidays in the grandstand there and was totally cricketed out by the time I was 13. I have hardly watched the sport since. I did watch the final hour yesterday though and was engrossed, cricket has changed quite a bit since my days watching three day county matches!

No interest in tennis and agree that the British GP was the best race for quite a while, LeClerc, Verstappen and Norris are seriously exciting and bode well for the future. I really don't like the pot luck element of the safety car though, the outcome of the race should not be decided by where you are on the track when the yellows come out. They should use the NASCAR system where the pit lane is closed until the pace car has gathered everybody up so nobody gains an unfair advantage. Two by two restarts would liven things up as well instead of letting the lead car clear off into the distance before the green is waved.

Incidentally what is the matter with the BBC? Is Formula 1 of no interest to their viewers? The evening sports section on the news channel and radio 4 totally ignored the race. We had full reports on the cricket and Wimbledon but a record 6th Silverstone win for a British driver was not even mentioned.

[Anthony B]

Oh dear here he goes again (me that is)  

Rose tinted glasses are in abundance for F1.  Simple fact is mercedes are KILLING F1 . They will be hiding funds in balance sheets, associate companies, and suppliers. F1 success = money . Simple Why watch ANYTHING when you know the outcome? How many of you watch the same movie 21 times a year??

For Cricket - Although I was born English - I am not a supporter - especially of Rugby and cricket. I am sure it is because I watch sky and i get SO tired of the unbelievable bias of the comentators. Would I get the same bias from Italian commentary - sure - but I dont have access to them

AND Federer lost - what a terrible sporting weekend!!

[Gordon Steadman]

AND Federer lost - what a terrible sporting weekend!!

Oh I don't know, I beat Ronnie with the ProSlot Alfas!

[JasonB]

As a child I lived in St John's Wood, about 100 yards away from Lords and my best friend's father was a test match cricket umpire. I therefore had free tickets to every match, spent whole summer holidays in the grandstand there and was totally cricketeted out by the time I was 13. I have hardly watched the sport since. I did watch the final hour yesterday though and was engrossed, cricket has changed quite  bit a bit since my days watching three day county matches!

No interest in tennis and agree that the British GP was the best race for quite a while, LeClerc, Verstappen and Norris are seriously exciting and bode well for the future. I really don't like the pot luck element of the safety car though, the outcome of the race should not be decided by where you are on the track when the yellows come out. They should use the NASCAR system where the pit lane is closed until the pace car has gathered everybody up so nobody gains an unfair advantage. Two by two restarts would liven things up as well instead of letting the lead car clear off into the distance before the green is waved.

Incidentally what is the matter with the BBC? Is Formula 1 of no interest to their viewers? The evening sports section on the news channel and radio 4 totally ignored the race. We had full reports on the cricket and Wimbledon but a record 6th Silverstone win for a British driver was not even mentioned.

Totally agree about Charlie, Max, and Lando.

I'm not sure about the safety cars. I mean, I agree that it's unfair and random, but I don't mind that.

[JasonB]

Oh dear here he goes again (me that is)  

Rose tinted glasses are in abundance for F1.  Simple fact is mercedes are KILLING F1 . They will be hiding funds in balance sheets, associate companies, and suppliers. F1 success = money . Simple Why watch ANYTHING when you know the outcome? How many of you watch the same movie 21 times a year??

For Cricket - Although I was born English - I am not a supporter - especially of Rugby and cricket. I am sure it is because I watch sky and i get SO tired of the unbelievable bias of the comentators. Would I get the same bias from Italian commentary - sure - but I dont have access to them

AND Federer lost - what a terrible sporting weekend!!

LOL

[CMOTD]

Periods of dominance by one make and/or driver are not uncommon in many forms of motorsport and it does get a bit tedious but they never last forever as McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull would testify. The main problem with F1 is the rubbish, Mickey Mouse circuits with run off areas the size of Wales and no real overtaking opportunities. If there is no penalty for mistakes then what is the point? The classic European venues can still provide exciting races and a few more gravel traps would also help.

Meanwhile, after the GP and cricket I watched this for three hours and it is why I love NASCAR. Go on Jason, force yourself to watch the final restart:

[JasonB]

Yes, I agree with you, and I'd also add that the aerodynamics make it difficult to overtake, but I think they're looking into that.

But as you say, there have been dominant teams in F1 and other sports for years, and I find the battles between the manufacturers fascinating, and they are often played out over a number of years not just one season.

Going back to one of Anthony's points, I'd say Ferrari have a lot to answer for in recent years. Their incompetence has been partly responsible for the dominance of Mercedes. I've lost track of the number of points they've thrown away through driver error, lack of reliability, mistakes in development, and lack of leadership. 

Well, I've forced myself to watch the video, and I can understand the attraction, but to me it just looks unnatural to have so many cars, so close together after however many hours of racing. Are the cars and drivers really so evenly matched? Are some of them on different laps, or is there some way the race is organised to make that happen?

[CMOTD]

Yellow flags and 2x2 restarts bunch the field up but yes they are very evenly matched and perfectly capable of racing that close for many laps. At the superspeedways they run 3 wide and 8 deep a foot apart at 200+mph for 50+ laps at a time. NASCAR keeps a very tight rein on the specifications so it is rare for anybody to run away from the rest of the field. Only about 5 of the drivers in that clip were a lap down and anybody in the top ten at the final restart could have won. There have been 9 different winners in 19 races so far this year and at least half the field are more than capable of winning. Make no mistake these are world class drivers who would excel in any form of motorsport. Remember Juan Pablo Montoya? He only ever won a single NASCAR race in many years of trying despite being a top F1 driver.

They have a fair degree of downforce and suffer from turbulent air just like F1 so overtaking is not easy but there are more overtakes in a single race than a whole season of F1.

Freesports channel on Sky or Freeview show highlights of some races. Why not give it a try? You never know you may get to like it.