It was a shock for Lewis Hamilton’s fan when despite winning his sixth Formula One world championship this year to move within one of the records Lewis Hamilton has been omitted from the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list.
Hamilton was the winner of the OBE award for winning his first world championship 11 years ago, though it has been one of the most shocking omissions throughout the last decade despite his dominance in the sport.
Following their World Cup victory, England’s cricketers have been named with four of the team picking up honours and other sporting stars 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 is a growing debate for Hamilton to be honoured given his success in sport and also he is the second-most successful driver of all-time after claiming his sixth world championship this year in dominant fashion, putting him one behind Michael Schumacher’s.
Now leading figures from the sport are coming up and are expressing 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 person who deserve honour for their exceptional performance.
Lewis is considered to be remarkable because he did not come from a privileged background and he and his father worked incredibly hard to get into karting and to make Hamilton successful. It was sheer hard graft and the success was not gifted to him on a plate. He made huge sacrifices and that makes his achievements even more extraordinary.
The argument that is being put forward for Hamilton’s omission is that further recognition could come once his career comes to an end and the other one is that Hamilton resides in the tax-haven of Monaco and that just like David Beckham, is being overlooked as he is not a UK resident.
But for Hamilton, the honours list is not too much of a concern which is clear from what he said last month: “I don’t really like to think too much about it. Just the fact that people have mentioned it, it’s already an honour, but it’s not been something that I’ve been chasing in my life”, which itself proves his legendary.