Max Verstappen failed to win the BBC World Sports Star of the Year award on Tuesday evening, at the annual BBC Sports Personality ceremony.
After completing the most successful season in the history of Formula 1, Verstappen was one of the favourites to collect the award, which was ultimately won by Manchester City striker Erling Haaland.
Haaland’s 52 goals in all competitions in his first year playing in England was enough for the Norwegian to win the award, whilst Manchester City also won Team of the Year.
Of Haaland’s 52 goals, 36 specifically in the Premier League, which broke the record for most goals in a single Premier League season.
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Verstappen did break significantly more records than Haaland this year but will have to perform well in 2024 to try and be nominated again.
Also nominated for the award was Tennis icon Novak Djokovic, Women’s Ballon D’Or winner Aitana BonmatI, gymnast Simone Biles and South African Rugby World Cup winning captain Siya Kolisi.
Verstappen failing to win is a rarity for 2023, considering that he was victorious in 19 of the 22 completed races in the recent season.
This saw the Dutchman break the record for percentage of wins in a year, as he won 86.4 per cent of the events.
Other notable records destroyed by the 26-year-old include: most wins in a season (19), most consecutive wins (10), most points scored (575) and most laps led (1,003).
He cruised to his third consecutive title by a staggering 290 points over Sergio Perez, with Verstappen having scored so many points that Red Bull would’ve still won the Constructors’ Championship if Perez’s points weren’t included.
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What Verstappen needs to do to win the BBC World Sports Star of the Year award is a great question, as he also failed to pick up the award in 2022 following his second consecutive title.
Last year, Verstappen was denied the award by another footballer, Inter Miami player and arguably the greatest footballer of all-time, Lionel Messi.
Messi beat Verstappen to the award in 2022 after guiding Argentina to World Cup glory, after they beat France in the World Cup Final in Qatar.