Lewis Hamilton Misses Out On Award
Boxers Calzaghe and Hatton Take The Podium From F1 Driver
After a year in the headlines, Hamilton found himself beaten once again on Sunday night, this time by boxing champion Calzaghe as they competed for the coveted BBC Award.
Nobody seemed more surprised by the outcome of Sunday night’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year award than the bookies’ favourite himself, Lewis Hamilton. The Formula One driver, who had been odds-on to win the award after a stunning debut season, found himself sandwiched between boxers Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe.
Emulating his second-place in this season’s Formula One Driver’s Championship, Hamilton seemed momentarily confused before graciously stepping up to the podium to accept his award, missing out on the top spot by 55’000 votes from Calzaghe. Later, Hamilton showed his typically magnanimous personality by being gracious in defeat and praising the boxer for his success over the years. “He’s a worthy winner,” the McLaren driver told BBC Sport after the event. “I just wish he could be here so that I could meet him.” Calzaghe collected his award from Lennox Lewis in Las Vegas where he had been supporting fellow pugilist Ricky Hatton in his fight against Floyd Mayweather on Saturday night.
Lewis Hamilton had been the bookmaker’s favourite after a year spent in the headlines battling team-mate Fernando Alonso and Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen to become the first driver in the history of Formula One to take the coveted crown in his rookie year - a feat he narrowly missed out on in the final race of the year. His season was far from easy and much of Hamilton’s headline news as the year drew on focused on the growing tensions with his double world champion team-mate and McLaren’s part in the Spygate row.
It was his typically British spirit, his sublime driving and his graciousness in defeat, however, that ultimately wooed his fans and he has single-handedly lifted Formula One back to being a popular sporting topic. His unerring politeness, congenial attitude and fun-loving style has made him a favourite amongst the general public as well as motorsport fans and it was this, along with his inspiring sportsmanship, that lead him to the forefront of this year’s Sports Personality Awards, despite losing out on the Formula One Driver’s Championship by one point in the final race of the season to Finland’s Räikkönen.
Hamilton has to wait until February to see if his team’s car will make the grade with the sport’s governing body for the 2008 championship but, if it does and if he can follow in his own footsteps this year, you can expect the 22-year-old Stevenage lad to be front runner for the 2008 Sports Personality award.
