Weekend Review: British events bounce back in a post-Euros world
Bettors and layers lock horns as Lewis Hamilton takes a win-at-all-costs approach to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone
A stellar weekend of British sporting action fell the way of the layers as bettors flocked to fill the football-shaped gap in a post-Euro 2020 summer.
Formula 1’s British Grand Prix saw home favourite Lewis Hamilton steal the win from under the nose of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc after being involved in an intense crash with title rival Max Verstappen.
Hamilton has come under fire for his risky takeover at Silverstone, which saw Verstappen spin off into the side hoarding, with the Brit being slapped with a 10-second penalty for his actions.
The Dutchman was rushed to hospital but found time to take to Twitter to scold Hamilton for his “unsportsmanlike behaviour”.
Glad I’m ok. Very disappointed with being taken out like this. The penalty given does not help us and doesn’t do justice to the dangerous move Lewis made on track. Watching the celebrations while still in hospital is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike behavior but we move on pic.twitter.com/iCrgyYWYkm
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) July 18, 2021
Kindred Group’s Ali Gill said Verstappen’s failure to finish was a positive result for the layers after punters had heavily backed the Red Bull driver.
He said: “A fascinating British GP at Silverstone saw Lewis Hamilton take the checkered flag from Charles Leclerc who led every lap except the final couple.
“With Verstappen seemingly the driver in form and starting in front on the grid, he was the man the punters were for and despite Hamilton’s fantastic record at Silverstone, his win coupled with Verstappen’s huge crash and DNF allowed us to squeeze out a small profit on the race,” he added.
Elsewhere, 24-year-old Collin Morikawa won golf’s Open Championship in Kent after ousting fellow American Jordan Spieth by two shots at Royal St George’s.
Morikawa was competing in the Open Championship for the first time and in doing so became the only man to win two different majors on his debut, having won the US PGA Championship last August.
The greatest walk in golf.#TheOpen pic.twitter.com/EyfzPzgZxU
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 18, 2021
Betfred’s Alan Firkins said: “Collin Morikawa went from tailed-off in Scotland to number one in Kent, as he thrillingly secured the Open Championship at Royal St George’s. At just 24, he’s now got two Majors neatly tucked away in his bag.”
Gill added: “After a fine run of form in the ‘behind-closed-doors’ part of the golfing calendar, Collin Morikawa followed up his win in the PGA last year with a dominant display of links golf.
“He was certainly not friendless in the market beforehand and the final result was so close between backers and layers it could probably be declared a draw.”
On the daily fantasy golf front, Brian Jester with the screenname IGETMONEY651 certainly lived up to that moniker as he took the first prize of over $1m in DraftKings’ headline contest with $2.5m guaranteed for a $10 entry.
In fact, he also took second, third and a number of other positions for a total score of $1.2m, although he did enter the maximum 150 line-ups, which cost him $1,500.
Finally, Firkins championed two Betfred-sponsored events over the weekend in the worlds of rugby league and darts.
He said: “It was a fantastic weekend for the brand too. The Betfred Challenge Cup Final at Wembley saw Saints eventually repel a very gutsy Castleford and the Betfred World Matchplay darts regally entertained us all from sunny Blackpool, with more to come this week.”