Russia’s Sirotkin tops poll for F1 driver of the year – but award still given to Lewis Hamilton
Williams driver Sergey Sirotkin was the overwhelming winner of a fan poll to determine the year’s best Formula 1 driver, but Sky Sports, which oversaw the public vote, opted to award the honor to F1 champion Lewis Hamilton.
Sirotkin finished rock bottom of the drivers' standings, gaining just a solitary point from this season's racing, which concluded in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
However, the lowly Russian benefited from a social media campaign to propel his candidacy hosted on news aggregator website Reddit, as well as on social media, to record almost 80,000 votes - nearly double that of second-placed Hamilton, who won his fifth drivers’ championship following Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Despite the overwhelming winning margin enjoyed by Sirotkin in the voting, UK broadcaster Sky Sports determined that Hamilton was the more worthy winner.
Instead, Sirotkin is named by Sky Sports as the ‘Alternative Driver of the year’. “Well, you voted for Sergey Sirotkin!” Sky Sports says in its explanation of the decision for the ‘alternative’ award.
As Sirotkin soared in the polls, some even accused nefarious Russian hackers of being behind the poll.
Sirotkin had a disappointing campaign for Williams, scoring just one point in his 21 races. Hamilton, meanwhile, won 11 races on the calendar en route to a record-equaling fifth drivers’ championship.
Sergey Sirotkin is a bright, young, talented driver who doesn’t deserve to retire a rookie! We need to give him the faith he deserves! In fact, i’ll be my life he becomes champion!Dreams can come true, so lets be the ones to keep his alive!! Please RT this! #f1#sergeysirotkinpic.twitter.com/6SW6WeJ4OS
— Markus (@formulahwan) November 26, 2018
Trolling for fun in the world of motorsport: Sergey Sirotkin, in his potentially one and only season of @F1 , only scored 1 point in 21 races, was voted driver of the year on @SkySportsF1 's poll. r/F1 on @reddit took complete control of the poll. @interwhut#CA346pic.twitter.com/G2u9vvG9kB
— hcehce419 (@hcehce419) November 25, 2018
This isn’t the first time that a fan-led campaign has undermined a public vote. In 1999 unheralded Irish footballer Ronnie O’Brien came top of a Time magazine poll to determine their ‘Person of the Century’, finishing above the likes of Albert Einstein and Martin Luther King.
Time would later withdraw O’Brien’s candidacy, saying that “whimsical candidates will not be counted.”
Sirotkin will take the award as some consolation after his disappointing season was capped by Williams informing him that they will not retain his services next season.
Дорогие друзья, к большому сожалению, в следующем году я не буду выступать в Формуле 1./Dear friends, unfortunately, I won’t be racing in Formula 1 next year.#SMPRacing#WeAreRacing#F1#AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/YNoshHXVn3
— Sirotkin Sergey (@sirotkin_sergey) November 22, 2018
Instead they have handed a sensational return to Polish driver Robert Kubica, nearly eight years after he was almost fatally injured in a rally crash.
Elsewhere in the poll Max Verstappen placed third, while Charles Leclerc and Kimi Raikkonen round off the top five.
