Sunday 14 July 2019 will go down as one of the greatest days in British sporting history.
England won the Cricket World Cup in memorable fashion against New Zealand at Lord’s, Novak Djokovic came through a five-set epic against Roger Federer at Wimbledon and the European Tour’s Scottish Open title was secured by Austrian golfer Bernd Wiesberger.
Also on the agenda was the Formula 1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone – a major UK sporting event that arguably took a back seat to the dramatic cricket and Wimbledon finals.
More than 140,000 fans attended the 2019 British GP but for world champion Lewis Hamilton he felt that this year’s scheduling of the race denied sports fans the chance to embrace F1’s biggest race because of the TV competition with the cricket and tennis.
Speaking ahead of the grand prix, which he won for a record sixth time, Hamilton said: “What I don’t understand is why the organisers put the race on the same day as all these other big events.
“This is such a special weekend and it needs all the focus of the country and not a small amount.”
New British GP date for 2020?
It was confirmed last week that Silverstone will remain on the F1 calendar for at least another five years after a new deal was struck for the historic circuit.
With Silverstone now on the schedule it looks like F1 bosses are going to listen to Hamilton’s criticism of the 2019 scheduling.
Press Association (PA) reports that the 2020 F1 British GP could be set to move dates because of more potential clashes with other major UK sporting events.
The same Sunday next year – 12 July 2020 – would see the European Championship football final take place at Wembley Stadium in London, the men’s singles final at Wimbledon and potentially the British GP.
PA says that two dates have been discussed by F1 for the 2020 race at Silverstone – the final weekend in June and the week after the end of Wimbledon and the Euro championships.
However, should the F1 British GP be scheduled for 19 July 2020 it would clash with the final round of the 149th Open golf major at Royal St George’s in England.
With Hamilton calling for the British GP to be a standalone event, Silverstone MD Stuart Pringle told PA: “Whilst Silverstone would prefer not to clash with the Wimbledon finals weekend, scheduling decisions are made by F1, not the circuit.
“The championship has an increasingly busy calendar and logistical challenges to accommodate, so it is never easy.”
Image: SilverstoneUK/Twitter