Verstappen secures prestigious sports award won by Hamilton, Messi and Bolt

Max Verstappen capped a superb weekend by following up his Emilia Romagna Grand Prix with winning the 2022 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award.

The 24-year-old Dutchman was honoured after securing his maiden Formula 1 world championship in December, beating Lewis Hamilton at the controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to take the title after battling the Briton in one of the most intense rivalries the F1 has produced in its seven-decade history.

Now he has become the fourth F1 driver to win the award, following in the footsteps of Hamilton, former Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel, and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.

Verstappen spoke afterwards of his delight in the winning the award and reserved special praise for his father Jos, a former Formula 1 driver himself with the likes of Arrows and Minardi.

‘I was very happy, of course, but it was a lot of hard work and years of preparation,’ Verstappen explained. ‘I’m incredibly proud. Since I was a little kid I dreamt of being on the top step and winning the championship.

‘I said to my dad [former Formula 1 driver Jos Verstappen], “We did it, this is what we worked for all these years and now we are here, the two of us, all the memories, all the years of travelling all over Europe, going for that one goal and we achieved it.”‘

The award was first handed out in 1999, with Swiss tennis star Roger Federer holding the record for most wins, with five. Lionel Messi became the first footballer, or indeed athlete from a team sport, to win it in 2020. Other winners include Usain Bolt, Rafael Nadal, and Tiger Woods.

Verstappen says that adding this award to his world championship ‘means a lot.’

‘I’m the first Dutch driver to win the world championship, so the reaction