F1 at the Laureus Awards
Formula 1 is once again a major player at the Laureus World Sports Awards, the global sports Oscars. The event organizers, which will be held in Madrid on April 21, have announced the athletes and teams vying for the coveted trophy: among them are Max Verstappen and McLaren, as well as Marc Marquez for MotoGP.
Verstappen Among the Sportsmen of the Year
Motorsport is well represented, starting with the “Sportsman of the Year” category: current F1 world champion Max Verstappen – who won the award in 2022 – will face a tough quartet composed of pole vault champion Mondo Duplantis, tennis player and winner of Roland Garros and Wimbledon Carlos Alcaraz, cyclist Tadej Pogacar, who triumphed at the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and the World Road Championship, and swimmer Leon Marchand, a four-time gold medalist at the Olympics.
Is McLaren the Best Team?
McLaren is also present, competing in the “Team of the Year” category. The Woking-based team, which won the Constructors’ title after 26 years, will face off against the NBA’s Boston Celtics, the Barcelona women’s football team, Real Madrid men’s football team, Spain’s national football team, winner of the European Championship, and the USA men’s basketball team, gold medalists at the Olympics.
Marc Marquez‘s Return
Marc Marquez, fresh from dominating the MotoGP weekend in Thailand, is competing in the “Return of the Year” category, which honors athletes who have overcome adversity to return to the top of their sport. The Spanish champion will face gymnast Rebeca Andrade, swimmer Caeleb Dressel, skier Lara Gut-Behrami, cricketer Rishabh Pant, and swimmer Ariarne Titmus.
Motorsports in the Laureus Awards Hall of Fame
The most decorated athletes at the Laureus World Sports Awards, with five wins each, are tennis players Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. For motorsport champions, noteworthy are Michael Schumacher’s two wins in the “Sportsman of the Year” category (2002 and 2004), as well as Lewis Hamilton’s (2020) and Max Verstappen’s (2022) single wins.
Among the teams, while it’s surprising that Scuderia Ferrari is missing from the winners’ list – the event has been held since 2000, and thus the awards were given even during Ferrari’s golden period in F1 – there are victories for the Renault team (2006), BrawnGP (2009), and Mercedes (2018). Several appearances have been made in the “Breakthrough of the Year” category, with wins for Juan Pablo Montoya (2002), Lewis Hamilton (2008), Jenson Button (2010), Marc Marquez (2014), Daniel Ricciardo (2015), and Nico Rosberg (2017). In 2020, driver Sophia Floersch won “Return of the Year,” while Valentino Rossi was awarded the special “Sport Icon” prize in 2022. Could it be time to update the list?
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