John Griff: Perseverence in pursuit of perfection...

Politically incorrect as it might at first appear, twice on Sunday I witnessed in short succession the truth of my words. One instance has a national perspective – the other a global one. In both instances it was teams who won as much as the individuals in them.

The first instance came at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. A record crowd witnessed a British driver winning with a British team behind him as Lando Norris crossed the line and took the chequered flag ahead of fellow McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in what was a hugely chaotic, weather-affected race.

In the same instant that the first three cars came home ahead of him, Sir Lewis Hamilton’s run of twelve consecutive visits to the podium – nine times as the winner – came to an end. During the celebrations, Norris had the Grand Prix trophy pushed into his face by a falling photographer, eager to get his shot. It didn’t matter though – the euphoria of the moment carried the day for Norris who mentioned that he had started watching Grand Prix racing when the likes of Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were duelling on track – and with each other at the self-same Woking-based McLaren team. As a child Lando would wait with a Sharpie pen and his junior kart racing helmet outside the pit garages to get autographs from the then F1 stars, little thinking that just a few years later he’d be doing the autographing, rather than seeking them.

Norris’ win on home soil to some extent proved Hamilton’s words from when he won his seventh world championship title. "That's for all the kids out there who dream the impossible. You can do it too, man!" Without a doubt there will now be hoards of potential world champions, male and female alike, converging on kart tracks all over the country to try the sport their idols have made big headlines and big money from. None of them will succeed without a sense of – and respect for – any teams that they might one day work with. Nobody wins alone, just as nobody loses alone either. It has always been and always will be a team experience. Good luck to them all.

The second instance of the importance of winning came just a couple hours after the papaya-coloured Grand Prix celebrations began at Silverstone. In the gladiatorial stadium of the O2 in London – the former Millennium Dome – netball played host to the 2025 Grand Final of its Super League. Positioned between county leagues and the national squad, the NSL pitches teams from cities all over the country against each other until the final.

Lois is a former player as was her mother – both were accomplished in their skills with the ball as with their agility on the court. It was Lois who introduced me to the sport when we went to the World Finals in Liverpool a few years ago - we then took in the finals of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. This, then, would be a true test of the mettle and strength of both teams from London Pulse and Loughborough Lightning in front of a sold-out venue. After an hour’s play broken into four quarters it was the Pulse players who ended up victorious – and deafened by tens of thousands of mostly female supporters either just into or just approaching their teens.

We were no less deafened ourselves as entirely neutral spectators. My ears rang after the game and we drove home tired, but full of admiration for the sportsmanship with which the game had been played and the spirit of the supporters. Unlike some sports where opposing fans view the game as some kind of war both on and off the pitch/court/track/space, here there was good natured and respectful cheering of both sides and by all.

Of course, there was rightly a partisan element to the proceedings – if there hadn’t been SKY TV probably wouldn’t have picked up the rights to screen the tournament. But what we saw being played out was more than a final – it was a national final, a showcase for each of the players looking towards perhaps a professional career across the world or a place in the national squad – and a potentially priceless recruitment drive to encourage new players into the sport. In every regard I hope it succeeds. It is a sport which should be getting way more media attention than it currently does. There are stars waiting to emerge – and we need them as the next role models

Consider the five and a half thousand days since his F1 debut that Nico Hulkenberg, driving for the Sauber team, had waited to visit the Grand Prix podium as the third placed driver on Sunday, but as a visitor for the first time. Ever. For him, the adage came true.

Try, Try, Try again – and one day, in whatever field, you might succeed.