Lewis Hamilton, A Vegan Athlete, Bags BBC Sportsperson Of The Year 2020 Award

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Moreover, Hamilton has been runner-up four times in this prestigious section. 

He is one of the most prolific sportspeople in the world and an excellent F1 driver. One of F1's all-time greats, he equaled Schumacher's record of seven world titles by winning his fourth consecutive F1 title in 2020. It has been a year of utter domination in F1, and the 35-year-old has been consistent.

Hamilton has been in the pole position in F1 for a record 98 times. Moreover, he has won 11 of the 17 Grand Prix during the 2020 season, winning the championship. The same season was delayed by four months due to the pandemic. He also achieved three podium finishes apart from the 11 wins. 

In a field that had contenders from five other sports, Hamilton's achievements this year truly made him an undefeated winner.

 Speaking to BBC, Hamilton also paid tribute to Captain Sir Tom Moore, who was honored with the Helen Rollason award. Additionally, the F1 world champion mentioned Marcus Rashford and Tobias Weller, who won special awards for their dedicated efforts in human rights. 

 The 35-year-old had been the favorite to win even before things got underway at Salford. He had crept above a 72% likelihood of winning the prestigious title. However, when voting began, things started fluctuating a little. There was a slight chance that Jordan Henderson might steal the show.

 That wasn't a surprise, though, since F1 has always struggled to gain interest from the general public. Only the people who are entirely immersed in it genuinely appreciate its importance. They truly understand the relevance of the sport within the community and the drivers' efforts apart from getting inside fast cars. 

Numerous people also claim that Hamilton has always been a peripheral figure. Moreover, the most dangerous assumption made by people is that he doesn't care at all.

 Hamilton’s support for the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement

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Hamilton has been a key figure and known for his varied efforts outside the car. He dragged F1 to a better place by being Britain's most prominent Black Lives Matter advocate. 

He has expressed his voice for equality on and off the grid. Additionally, the Hamilton Commission has been working tirelessly this year to bring about a change in people's perspective. The money raised by his foundation shot up massively after his F1 triumph this year. 

In numerous ways, he most definitely deserved to win this title in 2020. After all, athlete activism is a significant theme of 2020, and it showed in the award ceremonies. 

Marcus Rashford won a special award for his efforts in raising awareness about child food poverty in England. 

Apart from BLM, Hamilton has also made it public that he is an animal lover. 

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Moreover, the fact that he promotes veganism and plant based products is a statement in itself. 

On his instagram handle he shared his thoughts against animal cruelty.

He said “this is the world we currently live in, where humans believe that an animal’s life is worth less than one of our own.”

“The food you buy and eat today, at home or in restaurants, is coming from places like this,” he added. “This is why I went vegan, to not support this barbaric behavior and slaughtering of millions of animals.”

He continued, “to me, this is no different to the slaughtering of millions of people over the years during the war, it is unacceptable and we have to work together to change this.”

However, numerous people still criticize him for no reason. As much as he is a great driver, he is also a very generous human being and a responsible citizen of the world. 

 Hamilton also used the ceremony to reignite the debate about the lack of diversity in Formula One. 

 He said: "Our sport, it shouldn't be a matter of where you come from. We've got to fight for gender equality. It shouldn't matter what your socioeconomic background is or your religion.

"We've got to work together collectively, and that's really why I put the Hamilton Commission together, to try to find out really what the barrier is, break those down – it does go down to education.

"There are so many jobs within this industry. And it's not about seeing the next 'me' come through mainly, and it's really about creating opportunities, equal opportunities, and reflectiveness of the outside world." 

For most people, this year hasn't been the best. The pandemic has changed numerous things about the world for the worse. Moreover, people have struggled a lot due to the entire pandemic situation. Almost all the sports were postponed and delayed due to the lockdown. 

Thus, it is encouraging to see 2020 end on this beautiful note. Lewis Hamilton is clinching the SPOTY 2020 after a stellar year of F1 madness and athlete activism.

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 It is now the sixth time Hamilton has crept up in the top 3 for this prestigious award. He was runner-up four times and won the prize once back in 2014 when he had won his second championship. 

Hamilton was always a winner in every front. And this year, everyone present at the award ceremony backed that up with their votes.