Lewis Hamilton became the 6th racing driver to receive the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award beating favourite, Rory McIlroy, in a ‘surprise’ victory for the 29 year-old F1 World Champion.
Hamilton was one of 10 shortlisted contenders for the annual end of year awards and he received 209,920 of the total votes, resulting in 34% of the public vote while McIlroy collected 123,745 votes on his way to the runner-up prize, while athlete Jo Pavey, the oldest female European champion in athletic history at the age of 40, was 3rd with 99,913 votes.
Joining a list of sporting heroes as well as racing heroes on the list of Sports Personality winners including British F1 legends Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell and Sir Jackie Stewart, Hamilton said, ‘I think what makes it more surprising, is watching all those great sportsmen and women on the screen and realising that I might be among some of the greatest sporting heroes of my time’.
Of course, Hamilton added his own touch of flamboyance to the evening when his pet bulldog Roscoe accompanied him on the red carpet. Roscoe obviously appeared to enjoy the occasion as much as his owner did. It appears that Roscoe is a lucky charm that Lewis cannot do without!
Check out our Lewis Hamilton quiz and see if you really know the recently crowned F1 World Champion!