Lewis Hamilton speaks ahead of the vote for BBC Sports Personality 2020
F1 News
Lewis Hamilton is a contender to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2020. Speaking ahead of the Sunday evening vote, Hamilton says he is grateful to be nominated for the award.
Update | Hamilton wins Sports Personality - click here to see the story
Hamilton is shortlisted along with Stuart Broad (Cricket), Jordan Henderson (Football), Hollie Doyle (Horse Racing), Ronnie O'Sullivan (Snooker) and Tyson Fury (Boxing). The winner will be selected from a public vote.
Hamilton previously won the award in 2014. He was runner up in 2007, 2008, 2018 and 2019.
Grateful to be nominated
"Good evening, congrats to nominees I'm so grateful to be among then. I've been racing 27 years it's been a long time, there were so many sacrifices for my family. Those last few laps building up to the world title and the dream becoming a reality I thought about all my family gave and it bought out a lot of emotion," Hamilton told BBC One.
"I couldn't of done it without a great group of people behind me, it's a collaboration we have to raise the bar every year and working with a group of people who are raising the bar collectively. I love what I do I've been passionate about it since I was five years old. I'm already back in training and focusing on what I can do next year."
As well as winning a seventh world championship and taking Michael Schumacher's F1 career wins record, Hamilton has been a key supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement and is fighting for further equality and diversity within Formula 1 and around the world.
"It's never been a diverse sport this year you've seen so many inspirational individuals, our sport shouldn't matter where you come from. We have to fight for gender equality and it shouldn't matter where you come from. We have to break the barriers down and it comes down to education," Hamilton added.