A fan claims that Lewis Hamilton gave him a prize for finishing third in the Drivers’ Championship.
A total of 11 times Lewis Hamilton received an invitation to the FIA gala. The first three riders are invited to the traditional award ceremony. Hamilton has taken the trophy for world champion seven times, three times for “multi-champion” and this year for the first time he received the award for third place.
Actually, we have it wrong. He has only taken the multi-champion trophy twice in 2007 (his first season in F1) and in 2016 when he was beaten by Nico Rosberg. In 2021, he boycotted the gala after the controversial end of the season.
And this year’s trophy presentation in Baku also had a bit of a controversial touch. First, because of the investigation of Wolff and his wife, after which the FIA president alternately appeared and disappeared again (he was absent somewhere because he was not well after suffering a concussion).
Then again for the trophy for Hamilton. A fan named Nihad Nesirli appeared on the Internet and claimed to have met Hamilton, who presented him with the third-place prize. He already has the trophy at home.
Of course, we can’t verify if the photo is actually from his house, but he also shared photos of himself at the gala on his profile.
A Mercedes spokesperson confirmed to RacingNews365 that Hamilton had accepted an offer from FIA officials to ensure the trophy “was sent to the team and therefore left it in their care.”
“We can confirm that he did not give the trophy to anyone ‘as a gift’ as was speculated.”
According to PlanetF1.com, a team spokesperson confirmed that Hamilton had done the same in previous years.
It is not yet clear how the trophy reached the fan.
