Lewis Hamilton, a British racing driver, was named the BBC sports personality of the Year, putting the seal on a year of exceptional professional achievement and political activism that sought to change the shape of the sport he has dominated for a decade.
Hamilton, who most recently competed in formula one for Mercedes, having previously driven for McLaren. He has won a joint-record seven world drivers championship titles, while he holds the outright records for the most wins pole positions and podium finishes amongst others.
Hamilton, who won this same award in 2014, won the overall vote ahead of Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson. In November he won his seventh world title, a record shared with Michael Schumacher, he was also staunch in his support for the ‘black lives matter‘ movement.
“I am so so grateful to the British public, I think it’s been a long journey together. I know there’s been a huge amount of support particularly in the UK but also around the world with Brits going across all these different races, and so for them to call in tonight and award me this great honour, I’m really just so grateful.
“This year has been such a year of growth amongst the difficulty that we’ve been faced with, but I feel like I’ve really found my compass this year.
”I feel like there’s this huge amount of work to do in so many areas and this is probably one of the first years I felt like I’ve had something different driving me at the core, pushing for diversity within our industry, using my voice for something far bigger than myself.
Due to the disruption caused by Covid, there were a number of changes to Spoty’s usual glitzy production values, while some of the six nominees for the main prize were in attendance, there was no studio audience. Instead, a video wall of 1,000 screens showed former winners, members of the public and NHS staff.
