Brit Receives Fourth F1 World Title

Britain’s Lewis Hamilton was handed the Formula One world championship trophy for the fourth time on Friday at an award ceremony in France.

With Formula One chairman Chase Carey looking on, newly-re-elected International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Jean Todt handed the 32-year-old Mercedes driver the silverware he won in Mexico with two races to spare, Reuters reported.

“This has been an amazing year,” Hamilton told the audience of champions and FIA members at the event. “I hope that next year’s an even better year for all of you. I know for me that I‘m going to try to do better.”

Hamilton won nine of 20 races in 2017 and set an all-time record of 72 career pole positions as well as scoring points in every grand prix.

Asked earlier for his highlight of the season, Hamilton singled out his home British Grand Prix at Silverstone because of the support he received after the ‘negativity’ surrounding his failure to take part in an earlier London event.

Mercedes won both championships for the fourth year in a row but team boss Toto Wolff said 2017 had been particularly difficult.

Red Bull’s 20-year-old Dutch driver Max Verstappen beat a field that included Hamilton and his own Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo to the “Personality of the Year” award for the third successive year.

The award is selected by permanently accredited media from all FIA championships.