The only black driver in Formula One stunned the world when he made a string of nine straight appearances in the podium last year. Thus, it is not surprising that Lewis Hamilton won the Laureus for the World Breakthrough of the Year.
Hamilton showed class saying that he is humbled just being nominated for the award. Fellow nominees are Tyson Gay, American athlete; Oscar Pistorius, double-amputee sprinter; and Casey Stoner, MotoGP champ.
“I feel a bit overwhelmed. Looking around at the nominees, I didn’t think I deserved it as much as the others,” said Hamilton. The Briton would have had rewritten the Formula One record books if he had won the championship last year.
Hamilton was leading the championship standings and had the chance to win it all with two races still to go. Unfortunately for him, in the penultimate race of the 2007 season, he did nit finish and at the last race of the season, the Brazilian Grand Prix, his car malfunctioned and finished just seventh, not enough to give him the championship.
This year, the Briton once again made the news when he fall victim to racism. In a winter testing session in Barcelona, the Formula One star saw fans taunting his color. This has resulted to the FIA mounting a campaign against racism.
Despite being taunted, Hamilton just said that he is just looking to get back on his car and race. It just shows Lewis’ class as he did not even made any snide remarks about a black man winning the Laureus.
The Briton will be paired by former Renault driver Heikki Kovalainen this season after Fernando Alonso opted out of his contract with McLaren.
