Will Lewis Hamilton attend the 2023 F1 Championship gala?
Even though Lewis Hamilton missed out on the 2021 FIA Prize Giving Gala, he will grace the event this time at the 2023 ceremony.
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The FIA Prize Giving Ceremony will be taking place for the first time in Baku, Azerbaijan to celebrate the Champions in different franchise under the FIA who became victorious in 2023. The event will see the who’s-who of the sports world turn up to celebrate the end of another successful year of racing. And as the crown jewel of motorsports, the highlights of the Formula 1 2023 season will be showcased alongwith a panel discussion amongst the prominent personnel of F1 such as Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
In 2021, Max Verstappen got his first-ever World Championship title after an all-in title fight against Lewis Hamilton. The Dutchman got an advantage over the Briton due to the then FIA Race Director Michael Masi’s wrong decisions and thus he came out victorious at the Abu Dhabi grand finale. Even today, several people believe Masi’s incompetence robbed Lewis of his record-setting eighth World title. In protest of the FIA’s alleged manipulation of the Abu Dhabi GP to help Max win, Lewis Hamilton was a no-show at the Prize Giving ceremony for that year.
Due to his rankings within the top 3 in the Drivers’ Standings in 2021, Lewis Hamilton was bound by the FIA’s regulations to attend the event. As he was absent, he had to pay a penalty of $50,000 after the FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem gave his word that the money would go towards the education of an underprivileged child. In 2022, Lewis was not required to be present at the ceremony since he came sixth and this year, he will again be called upon for being placed third in the Championship.
Mercedes have confirmed that Lewis Hamilton will be present at the FIA Gala 2023
As Hamilton had skipped the keynote event of the FIA in 2021, everyone in the motorsports world has wondered whether he would show up this year. But the official news from the house of Mercedes, as SkySports F1 confirms, says that Lewis Hamilton will indeed be attending the FIA Prize Giving ceremony 2023. This will be the first time Lewis will be spotted at the ceremony in 4 years since he had come here last in 2018. Besides Lewis, the Red Bull trio of Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, and Christian Horner will also be gracing the event.
Lewis Hamilton’s presence at the FIA marks an important event since his team, Mercedes, have been in a conflict with the FIA recently. They blamed the rule-making body for suddenly starting an investigation into their Boss Toto Wolff without prior information regarding the same. Even Toto’s wife Susie Wolff was placed under investigation as the FIA suspected them of having eyes and ears inside in the Formula One Management which made them privy to confidential information.
In other news, 2023 marked Mercedes’ most unsuccessful season in recent years. The team that has the record of winning 8 World Championships consecutively, could not even get a single Grand Prix victory last year as Red Bull took away all the race wins except one. In 2024, the Silver Arrows are expected to come back in thunderous form to compete with Red Bull and vy for the top spot in the Championship once again.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)