Lewis Hamilton has been awarded a knighthood in the New Year’s Honours list after winning his seventh F1 World Championship last season.
UK PM Boris Johnson placed Hamilton on the ‘Diplomatic and Overseas List’ to ensure that his knighthood went through, according to the Daily Mail.
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Hamilton was already an MBE, which he was awarded in 2008 after winning the his first F1 crown in only his second season in the sport with McLaren.
The Mercedes driver will become only the fourth-ever F1 driver to receive a knighthood, joining Sir Stirling Moss and Sir Jackie Stewart, and Australia’s Sir Jack Brabham.
Hamilton comfortably won the 2020 Drivers’ Championship despite him missing a race – the Sakhir Grand Prix – due to him contracting COVID-19 late in the season and having to self-isolate.
Earlier, the Brit revealed that the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement provided him with additional motivation to perform well this year.
“There are many other young kids of colour that deserve the opportunity to progress, have a great education, be an engineer or whatever it is they want,” Lewis Hamilton said last week
“But the fact is, the opportunity is not the same for them,” he added.
Although Hamilton is yet to ink a deal for the 2021 season and beyond, it is almost certain he will still be on the F1 grid next year with Mercedes.
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