Lewis Hamilton: Furious backlash after BBC sports award win

Many of the back page sporting headlines covering the emphatic public support for Lewis Hamilton winning the BBC sports personality of the year award read, ‘It’s a complete joke’, conveying the anger and disappointment of the golfing world that bookies favourite Rory McElroy didn’t win.

That Mcllroy’s golfing friends were upset the Open Champion didn’t win is somewhat understandable, but the comments from golfers making the headlines completely undermine the simple fact that the voting public warmed to Hamilton and he beat the golfer by more than 80k votes.

The fact is of course Lewis Hamilton has become only the 2nd British Driver to win two world championships in the last 40 years. And this season alone he won 11 out of the 19 races and had to come from behind his team mate because in the earlier part of the season his car was unreliable. Lewis Hamilton is also compelling because before, during and after the races he wears his emotions on his sleeve.

The other sad truth of course is that there have always been those who are ready to knock Lewis Hamilton.  Some reasons are more obvious than others, but once the golfers put the boot in, the Hamilton haters joined in with their usual cries that, ‘he’s not truly British because he lives in Monaco’, etc.

I don’t usually vote in TV polls but I did this time around, and I’m pleased that many tens of thousands agreed that this mixed heritage working class kid who once again beat the rest of the world within a sport for the rich and privileged is rapidly becoming a Brit we are immensely proud of.

Well done Lewis.

Simon Woolley