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The Briton this year became the second most
successful F1 driver of all time, and is poised to overtake
Germany's seven-times champion and Ferrari great Michael
Schumacher in the record books.
The 34-year-old Mercedes driver has come from an
under-privileged multi-racial background to become an all-time
great but team boss Toto Wolff has long felt the Briton deserves
greater recognition from his compatriots.
December will not have made the Austrian think any differently.
World Cup-winning cricketer Ben Stokes was 2019 BBC Sports
Personality of the Year, after Tour de France winning cyclist
Geraint Thomas in 2018, and also won the Sports Journalists'
Association Awards.
Hamilton, who won the BBC award in 2014, was European
Sportsperson of the Year -- beating tennis number one Rafael
Nadal and Austrian Alpine skier Marcel Hirscher in a vote of 27
of the continent's news agencies.
England's cricketers also led the sporting honors list, with
World Cup captain Eoin Morgan made CBE and Stokes OBE -- a
higher award than the MBE Hamilton received in 2008.
Double Olympic judo gold medallist Jade Jones, now OBE, also
ranks higher than Hamilton.
Those who question Formula One's credentials as a sport, given
the role of the car in making the star, or its carbon footprint,
might have no problem with that.
Hamilton's Monaco residency, and his tax arrangements, also crop
up frequently as likely negative factors in social media debate
about him.
"I fear motorsport is regarded as a privileged sport. It may
even be considered an anti-social sport by many," commented 1996
world champion Damon Hill, who has an OBE, on Twitter.
"That said, I think they are wrong and missing the contribution
@LewisHamilton and the sport has made for GB Plc globally over
many years."
Most of the 10 teams are based in Britain, and the country's
race at Silverstone is the best attended of any on the calendar,
but Formula One's audience is mainly on pay TV.
While Britain has produced more F1 champions than any other
country, only triple title holder Jackie Stewart has been
knighted -- nearly 30 years after retirement.
Stirling Moss, the nation's only other racing knight, had to
wait until he was 70.
Hamilton's fans can point to a lack of consistency with
Wimbledon tennis champion Andy Murray, Olympic athlete Mo Farah,
Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins and cricketer Alastair
Cook all knighted while still active.
Hamilton may be less concerned, however.
"I don't really like to think too much about it," he said in
November. "Just the fact that people have mentioned it, it's
already an honor, but it's not been something that I've been
chasing in my life."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Christian Radnedge)
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