Lewis Hamilton has been an influential British sports star for much of the 21st century so it was expected he would rank high when compared to other greats.
Since his Formula 1 debut with McLaren in 2007 he has racked up a joint record seven world championships and countless other achievements in motor racing to become one of the all-time legendary sports stars.
However, his powers have waned in the first part of this decade after his domination was ended in dramatic fashion by Max Verstappen who snatched the F1 title away from the Mercedes star on the last lap of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in highly controversial style.
It kicked off a three-year wave of Verstappen ruling the F1 roost and it wasn’t until the British Grand Prix in July that Hamilton managed to win a race again after the chaos in Abu Dhabi.
Since then though Hamilton has been on a revival and was back on the top step at the end of July too after triumphing at the Belgian Grand Prix following the disqualification of his team-mate George Russell.
But the wins keep on coming for the 39-year-old who has now been voted the United Kingdom’s greatest athlete of the 21st century.
In a ranking compiled by ESPN, Hamilton was the only grand prix driver to feature among the 25 names as he emerged top in front of legendary cricket star James Anderson and tennis favourite Andy Murray.
But while Anderson has just retired from Test duties for England after over two decades and Andy Murray also winding down his career, we can expect to see plenty of fireworks still from Hamilton this season and beyond.
After signing a sensational deal to join Ferrari ahead of the 2024 campaign, Hamilton’s first race for Ferrari will be at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix to kick off next year’s F1 season in a race he will hope to be the start of a journey towards landing an unprecedented eighth world championship.
For now though he will continue what is blossoming into a sensational Mercedes farewell as he targets more victories after the F1 summer break, returning to the track at the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of the month.
