Lewis favourite to win BBC gong, but does he deserve it?
Lewis Hamilton was favourite to win last year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year, despite throwing away the world title in his first season in F1. In the end Lewis lost out to Joe Calzaghe, a boxer from Wales who is yet to taste defeat. So, two agonising second places in one year for Lewis - although losing out on the drivers’ title was, we imagine, slightly more galling than losing out to Calzaghe (and at least he didn’t lose out to Zara Phillips).
This time around, with the world title tucked into his racing overalls, Lewis is an even stronger favourite to win the Beeb’s annual award. But there is even stiffer competition in 2008, in the form of several gold medal-winning Olympians from Beijing (Chris Hoy and Rebecca Adlington offer the biggest threat), not to mention tennis star Andy Murray, who has had a fine year (see the full short-list here).
Does Lewis deserve to win the award? Does he have more personality than a daffy blonde swimmer or a dour Scottish tennis player? What constitutes personality anyway? So many questions, which you can answer by leaving a witty comment. If you can’t be arsed to leave a comment, you can just vote…
Lewis, still not able to take off his racing overalls, does his bit for company morale by claiming that McLaren were the best team this season - even when Ferrari won the constructors’ championship. Oh well, at least he was the best driver in 2008 - yes, even better than big-nosed Bobby Kubica (titter).
Fernando Alonso was toying with the idea of decreasing time spent on the podium in 2009 by joining Honda, and was also tipped to replace Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari, but has today confirmed he will stay in Flavio Briatore’s pocket:
“After a difficult start to the season, we have overcome our difficulties and constantly improved our performances.”My back-to-back wins in Singapore and Japan, and my recent second place podium finish in Brazil, have proved how competitive we can be.
First things first: Brazil produced a wonderful, scary, thrilling, unpredictable, dramatic race. If ever it felt like a good time to dust off the old “sport is the real winner” cliche, now is that time. Bernie Ecclestone couldn’t have asked for a better climax to an already memorable season.
Was it the greatest grand prix of all time? Yes, without a doubut, especially given what was at stake. The last few laps, when the rain started to fall again, were some of the most tense minutes in sporting history. For Hamilton fans, never has a scratchy fifth place felt so good. For Massa fans, their man drove the perfect race, but what a hollow win it was.
So, congratulations to Lewis Hamilton, who deserves to be crowned world champion… just. He made mistakes throughout the season (Montreal, Spa, Brazil), but then every driver did - and it’s too easy to forget that this is only his second season in F1. More importantly, he also drove quite brilliantly at times (Monaco, Silverstone and Shanghai), making his peers look mediocre.
Gridcrasher bonus! Watch the nail-biting final lap below (if you dare):
