The England striker is favourite to win Sports Personality of the Year but footballers do not have a great record in the eventEver since England reached the semi-finals of the World Cup, Harry Kane has been a smouldering favourite for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. The Spurs striker has already won the golden boot. No wonder many believe he is a shoo-in to lift the famous silver-plated trophy of a four-turret lens camera engraved with many legends of British sport.Yet history reminds us that footballers and Spoty do not always mix. For while 18 track and field stars have walked away with the award in its 64-year history – with Formula One drivers claiming it seven times...
Champion wants the sport to develop in established nations and overhauling Schumacher’s records appears part of the planLewis Hamilton believes Formula One should be looking to the European heartland if it is to add new races. It is an understandable viewpoint given he takes huge pleasure in racing on classic circuits packed with fans but much less so in front of empty grandstands. Yet that he should express his feelings having recently claimed a fifth title suggests a possible subtext. Hamilton is considering F1’s future and therein lies his final challenge: matching or beating Michael Schumacher. Related: Mercedes tribute to ‘exceptional’ Lewis Hamilton after F1 constructors’ title win Hamilton has never chased records but takes obvious pleasure in them once...
Five-times champion is the dominant force in grands prix and on social media, with no other driver coming close to his publicity generating profile in the wider worldTwo years into their tenure as the owners of Formula One and Liberty Media have known only one champion. With Lewis Hamilton taking the title in four of the last five years Liberty have inherited a period of singular supremacy by the British driver. Ordinarily this might be cause for concern as they seek to expand the sport but right now they must be positively relieved that if there is to be a dominant star, it is Hamilton.Hamilton and his Mercedes team have been the pre-eminent force in F1 since 2014. They have...
Mercedes maestro has complimented his adherence to grand prix track etiquette with a trail-blazing love of rap music and fashion designAs Lewis Hamilton has just discovered, five is a magical number in motor racing. It means one thing and one thing only. It is the number of times Juan Manuel Fangio won the drivers’ world championship in Formula One between 1951 and 1957. For almost half a century, that feat looked as likely to be equalled as Don Bradman’s Test average. Like the Australian genius, the Argentinian maestro enjoyed an eminence setting him apart not just from his contemporaries but from those who preceded and those who followed his era.Then along came Michael Schumacher, who rewrote every significant record –...
The reigning champion is already the third British driver to clinch the crown in Mexico, following Surtees and Hill, but he will hope to do it in finer style than he did last yearIt seems almost certain that Lewis Hamilton will finally close out his fifth world title in Mexico City on Sunday, seven days after being denied in Austin. He will take huge pleasure in having done so regardless of where it is secured yet it is not hard to imagine that he will want to give this remarkable achievement a fitting finale, one of panache, confidence and control to reflect a superlative season.John Surtees, without doubt among motor sport’s greats, won his championship here in one of F1’s...