Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Istanbul Park, 2020

Official: Lewis Hamilton to receive knighthood in new year

2020 F1 season

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Lewis Hamilton is to be given a knighthood in recognition of his achievements after winning his seventh Formula 1 world championship this year.

The 35-year-old from Stevenage will become “Sir Lewis Hamilton” following following his inclusion in the 2021 New Year’s Honours List.

He equalled the record for most championships won by a Formula 1 driver this year and set a new record for most race victories, scoring his 95th career win in the Bahrain Grand Prix. Both records were previously held by Michael Schumacher.

Hamilton is the fourth Formula 1 driver to receive a knighthood. He joins Sir Jackie Stewart, 81, Sir Jack Brabham, who died in 2014, and Sir Stirling Moss, who passed away in April.

Hamilton was made a Member of the British Empire in 2008 for services to motor racing following his first world championship success.

Should Hamilton decline his long-awaited knighthood?
Stefano Domenicali, who has taken over from Chase Carey as CEO of Formula 1, congratulated Hamilton on his achievement.

“Lewis is a true giant of our sport and his influence is huge both in and out of a car,” said Domenicali. “What he has achieved is phenomenal with still more to come.

“All of us at Formula 1 congratulate him on this well deserved recognition of his achievements and look forward to seeing more of his brilliance in 2021.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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49 comments on “Official: Lewis Hamilton to receive knighthood in new year”

  1. I think we can all be thankful we have a nice non-controversial article on here to enjoy

    1. Couldn’t agree more!

    2. Non-controlversial? Give it another few hours and check again….lol
      Congratulations to Lewis. I don’t know if one can “deserve” a knighthood or such honours, but if so, then he does.

    3. Spot on mate

    4. Indeed. A well deserved honor for Hamilton. Just saying !!!

  2. Congratulations Lewis.

  3. Congrats, Sir Lewis.

  4. Thoroughly deserved & no brainer. We should be proud of British motorsport & he’s one of Britains finest world champs with what he’s done over the years. He still pays Taxes in UK (Top 5000 taxpayers per Parlimaent) but clearly works all over the world so don’t get the ‘tax exile’ gripe people have…Do British expats in Singapore/Hong Kong/Dubai also pay taxes in UK on their foreign income?? Hell no they don’t, nor should they. Arise Sir Lewis, He clearly loves the queen/royals & has proudly carried the union jack more than any athlete. Don’t forget how dry F1 would’ve been with him being the sole Brit for many years after Button we only had Max Chilton/Jolyon Palmer until 2018 rookies.

  5. I thought the other article was well put. I do think he’ll accept it.
    Although English I’m not a vast fan of the trappings of Empire etc, but I think knighthoods and other honours have been somewhat sanitised from their past in current culture, which is not a terrible thing.

    Regardless, well deserved for Hamilton and seriously, if we don’t give one to him why even have them?

  6. so he will accept this from an institution that has been responsible for so many horrible deaths around the world… so many countries enslaved..

    For all his activism, i hope he rejects this… i really believe this system of “Sir” by the queen should go away..

    on the contrary.. im just a keyboard warrior :) lol

    not that i will ever call him “sir”.. as much as i respect and love him for his achievements! (0.1% of which i will never achieve in my lifetime)

    1. Not so very BLM indeed. I guess his equality or black supremacy facade is just that. Marketing and nothing else

      1. geoffgroom44 (@)
        31st December 2020, 1:33

        since when has being black been a facade? So you don’t like him, well, just say so.As for ‘marketing’, well, the integrity he is marketing is markedly more appealing than what you are marketing,huh?

      2. Why must we crucify every institution, every idea and every historical figure for what was done 100, 300, 500 years ago? And with not ONE pittance for any of the good it has achieved?? For all the evil done around the world over the last millennium, you and I owe our gratitude for the right to express ourselves stand up for what we believe in and our very lives to those people. I’m thankful that Sir Lewis can see past such indiscretions of centuries past and desire to work TOGETHER. Yes very unlike BLM indeed.

        1. what good has enslaving any country has achieved except for the country that enslaved it… so please.. lets not go there…

          im not saying britan is bad blah blah blah.. im just saying this concept of royalty should go away. us common keyboard warriors cannot do it. its when people like LH decline(and many more) it , will it be helpful.

          but then again i fully realize, its upto the people of britan to decide what to do with their royalty! :)

          im just a guy with an opinion and a Keyboard :) with some time to spare

      3. Its great to see a black man receive a white man’s award, this should be used positively to show the world is changing, even old racist england.

        1. Which could be applied to every single European and north American country also.

  7. I don’t really like sportspeople getting them while still actively participating in their sport (it seems odd, but probably just me), but very well deserved and a rare bit of good news to end the year.

    1. @neilosjames
      I also think it seems a bit odd that given he is in the sport, they could wait until he has also got the most championships given the chance he still has. Not that he doesn’t deserve this in the future even without getting more than 7 titles. It’s just that he isn’t yet the driver to win the most WDCs.

      I somehow think it would be far more appropriate to get in the future as you say, or at least wait until he has beaten all the statistics to give it this early.

      1. I can see the point of waiting until an athlete retires, not because of what one might still achieve, but because of the very unlikely prospect of doing something disgraceful in the later part of one’s career. I really don’t believe it’ll happen to Hamilton, it’s just a case of “it ain’t over till it’s over”.

        That said, Lewis is probably the greatest sportsperson of the 21st century so far, so it’s not early at all to recognize his work. In sporting terms, it’s long overdue since he became Britain’s most successful driver, a few years ago, but the timing is perfect in terms of praising the leading figure he became in 2020: painting the silver arrows black, starting a commission to pursue diversity in motorsport, speaking out loud against racism.

      2. geoffgroom44 (@)
        31st December 2020, 1:36

        ah, yes, statistics.
        Sir Stirling Moss, 0 F1 world championships’Sir Jackie Stewarts, 3 F1 world championships
        Sir Lewis Hamilton, 4,nope. 5, nope. 6,nope. It needs 7 for him to get a knighthood.
        Could it be the ‘facade’ that @cdfemke talks about that caused the…hmmm…delay ?

        1. Like @neilosjames said, it is getting it so soon that feels odd. Your other examples all got it far later. As I said, Hamilton does deserve it, but I personally think that if he is getting it this early, it would be more impressive if the some of the reasoning behind it was being the most successful driver in all areas, which Hamilton isn’t just yet in terms of WDCs.

      3. @thegianthogweed So – Sir Lewis now, and when he retires Lord Lewis?

    2. I think he’s earned it – I wonder if this marks his retirement. This will give him more leverage in moving his causes forward, though obviously begs the question of why he would accept it.

      Hopefully we’ll see him for one more season at least. Kind of agree that you shouldn’t get this kind of honour until you retire, which makes me question if he’s actually done. Russell/Bottas anyone?

    3. As far as I can tell there isn’t an expectation on other recipients of a New Year’s Honours list to have retired from what they do, for example have Lieutenant General Tyrone Urch and Lieutenant General James Richard Hockenhull retired from military duty? And what about Professor Sally Davies, Sir David Chipperfield, Alison Saunders, Melanie Dawes, Jonathan Jones, etc? Have they given up doing what they did that was considered so outstanding as to warrant a knighthood?
      Since it isn’t expected of others, then it shouldn’t be expected of Lewis … sorry, Sir Lewis either.

  8. Finally credible response and recognition to this truly special human. Arguably the team is only as good as the driver or maybe the other way around the driver is only as good as the team. But in this case they merged together to become the all time dominant team whose number one is now the most successful Grand Prix driver period. That combo is rewarded by giving the man himself with a name change.
    Is their any financial support from being called Sir? I would image he already lives life like a famed movie star. Saw his personal car he keeps in Monaco. It’s like Jesus have you seen it. Serious stuff ultra rare mind numbing automobile in Monaco it’s hilarious to see but super cool. Have there ever been anyone knighted any in the end became a truly stupid pick?? Stupid like the American President??
    Over the years many of you have been mean to those of us who love the man for what he can do with racecars. The denials of Sir Hamilton’s accomplishments by you who write about him cracks us up, often so odd like what’s the matter with you ?
    Now it’s enough of an Englishman’s accomplishments that gift him forever a new first name SIR. How long will it take for Lewis to play down the SIr business?? Cant imagine hearing sir Lewis all of the time. But we will and why? Because he’s that damn good.
    Celebrate 100/100 with Sir Lewis Hamilton defense of the title in 2021.
    With 100 Pole positions and 100 Grand Prix Victories. Numbers the great one will surpass both during this coming season.

  9. Oh gosh. Brexit Brits happy he has beaten Rosberg, Vettel plus Schumacher’s records. Shall we remind them if it wasn’t for a German manufacturer he would be stuck on one title. Are the Brits going to give any credit to the foreign team he drives for that effectively turned the sport into a two car championship for the last seven years? Thought not.

      1. Bitter!

    1. I consider myself as a world citizen. Maybe therefore I hate those nationality based argumentations.
      Anyway, it might be true that Mercedes is a German company but the truth is also that Mercedes has to wait until moving to UK in Brackley and Brixworth (with probably the majority of engineers working there being *Britains*) before becoming a winning team. With all respect which I have for German engineers, then I am also one of them, when Mercedes was based in Stuttgart in Germany, I think Mercedes was fighting for places out of the podium :(

    2. Did Vettel and Schumacher win championships in a best car also? Short memory. Lewis has won 7 championships and a knighthood, let that sink in slowly.

      1. Not a fair comparison, his Mercedes were more dominant than those Ferraris or Red bulls. Congratulations to him on being knighted, fast tracked by PM Bozo. Like much of Bozo’s chums Hamilton also doesn’t pay his full share of tax so he’ll fit in well with the rest of the elite.

    3. So you have come on here to address the Brexit gammons (who have little time for Hamilton, or what he stands for) to make the point (is there one?) that Hamilton beat F1s three top Germans in a German car.
      I counter that with; its a British car. We just slapped a German badge on it and put an Austrian in charge. Then we surveyed our vanquished lands (the Commonwealth) for our best Olympic quality athletes and sat the most suitable one in the driving seat.
      Rule Britannia! (Now where’s my flag)

      1. If it’s a British car than where does the engine come from? And why did this team before being bought by German car manufacturer Mercedes, struggle so often in the championship to the point of them being close to going to administration?

        1. Where does the engine come from? Well Brixworth. And the last time I looked that was in the UK. Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains is a British F1 engine manufacturer owned by Mercedes Benz.
          And the team Mercedes bought in 2009 was called Brawn. You know, the F1 2009 WCC.

          1. Well said, amazing how few people actually know the facts.

          2. @riptide @malc1110 Amazing, so I am assuming you believe that Apple is a Chinese company as that is where the phones are produced? And is Nike now a Bangledeshi company too?

  10. Damn. What a bonus this is for his life. How to be you Lewis? LOL

  11. To be honest it has a ring to it.

  12. As much as I think Hamilton is an excellent driver (somewhere in the top four drivers of the last twenty years) and that he engages in valuable social activism I also think the tax avoidance should preclude him being knighted. If he pays it all back with interest then fair enough, but until then he (or anyone else (including any other F1 driver)) who engages in tax avoidance should not be rewarded in this manner.

    1. Tax avoidance is completely legal and is totally different from tax evason which isn’t. 99.9% of normal people on this planet will avoid paying tax if they could. The more you earn the more you a liable for tax, the best bit if you EARN a lot is that you can employ the best financial and legal brains to help you pay only what you NEED to, that is all that people who AVOID paying taxes are doing. Criminals hide their monies so they EVADE tax. Paying “Cash in hand” is evading taxes but most people are quite happy to do it. Good luck Sir Lewis keep as much as you EARN as you can.

      1. Should have read “keep as much of what you EARN”

      2. The question is not whether it is legal, rather, the question is whether it is moral.

    2. Tax avoidance is legally reducing your income. For example an electrician might reduce her tax bill by claiming she has to buy petrol for her van so she can drive it from home to the work site. She might also have to carry some sort of insurance and have certain trade certifications without which the builder she works for might fire her. Or an accountant or lawyer might claim membership fees of some professional society, without which they might get barred from practising.

      1. Some types of tax avoidance benefits the wider society (as well as benefiting the individual) whereas other types does not benefit the wider society.

  13. Thats a fair enough take if you think it should apply to everyone. Good day!

    1. This was meant for Sam’s comment above. Happy new year all.

  14. Well deserved no doubt about it. However a bit odd that it’s given during his racing career, straight after retirement would be more fitting.

  15. Congrats, Sir Lewis!

  16. Where have all my comments gone? 3, factual, well reasoned and non controversial comments in debate with another member – gone

    Did I miss something @keithcollantine ?

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