It was a shock for the fans of Lewis Hamilton when despite winning his sixth Formula One world championship this year to move within one of the all-time records, he was omitted from the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list. Hamilton was the winner for the OBE award when he became the first world championship 11 years ago, it has come as a great shock for the racing world despite his dominance in the sport at the highest level.
Following their World Cup victory earlier in the year, England’s cricketers have been named with four of the team picking up honors and also other sporting successes saw former Olympic and world taekwondo champion Jade Jones awarded an OBE, with MBEs given to footballers Jill Scott of England and Loren Dykes of Wales.
But there has been a growing demand for Hamilton to be honoured due to his success in sport, after claiming his sixth world championship this year in the dominant fashion he become the second-most successful driver of all-time, putting him one behind Michael Schumacher’s all-time record.
Leading figures from the sport are coming forward in support of Hamilton and expressed their condemnation for Hamilton’s continuous omission from further recognition, with former F1 team owner and current Motorsport UK chairman David Richards claiming there is not another current sports star like Hamilton who deserves honour for their performances.
He added that there is no one more worthy of that recognition than Lewis and it would be a major oversight if that is not recognized in the New Year honours. Lewis did not come from a privileged background, he and his father worked incredibly hard to get into karting and up the steps of the ladder to make him successful.
The argument that is coming up for Hamilton’s omission is that further recognition could come once his career comes to an end. Others are putting forward the fact that Hamilton lives in the tax-haven of Monaco, and that just like David Beckham is being overlooked because he is not a UK resident.
But for Hamilton, the honours list has never been too much a concern which proves that he is a true legend. He said: “I don’t really like to think too much about it. Just the fact that people have mentioned it, it’s already an honour”, which proves his legendary.
