Sir Lewis! Hamilton knighted by Prince Charles in Windsor Castle
Racing driver Lewis Hamilton has received his knighthood just days after his F1 championship heartbreak.
The Formula One ace, 36, was awarded the honour by Prince Charles at an Investiture at Windsor Castle Wednesday morning.
He was accompanied at the ceremony by his mother Carmen Larbalestier, who along with his father, Anthony, has been an enthusiastic supporter of his racing career.
Hamilton, a seven time F1 world champion, received the knighthood for services to motorsport.
He joins Sir Jackie Stewart, Sir Stirling Moss and Sir Jack Brabham as the fourth F1 racer to be knighted.
It comes just days after Hamilton lost out on his record-breaking eight drivers title – being pipped by Dutch driver Max Verstappen in controversial style in Abu Dhabi.
The Mercedes driver was cruising to victory in Sunday’s race at Yas Marina – a win which would have secured him the championship – when a crash forced a safety car out onto the track.
Hamilton had held an 11 second advantage over his title rival Verstappen when the safety car was deployed to help remove Williams driver Nicolas Latifi’s damaged car.
Hamilton was unable to pit for fresh tyres because his Mercedes team believed the race would end under a safety car and he would have conceded his first place to Verstappen.
But then race director Michael Masi controversially allowed those cars to pass the safety car to line up Hamilton and Verstappen for a final lap showdown.
Verstappen, on new tyres, easily breezed past Hamilton in the final lap to clinch the race win and the championship.
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While Hamilton appeared gracious in defeat, his Mercedes team were furious at Masi’s decision, and lodged protests in a bid to overturn the result.
The protests were rejected and Mercedes are now considering a further appeal, believing that Masi’s decision contravened F1 rules set out by the FIA. The win would have meant Hamilton claimed his eight F1 world title.