Hamilton and Verstappen nominated as Racing Driver of the Year

On Sunday 19 December, for the 36th time the Autosport Awards awards. The prizes are awarded annually by the British magazine Autosport and determined by the readers. The nominations are known and the voting can begin.

Verstappen and Hamilton nominated

The most important award of the Autosport Awards is probably the award for International Driver of the Year. Last year this award was won by Lewis Hamilton who became world champion in Formula 1 for the seventh time. This year the Briton has been nominated again.

Hamilton is up against two Dutchmen this year. Max Verstappen and Nyck de Vries are both nominated. De Vries became world champion in Formula E this season. Verstappen has a chance to win the world title in Formula 1 for the first time in his career. The Dutchman is 19 points ahead of Hamilton with four races to go. The fourth nominee is Alex Palou, who won the IndyCar title this year.

Red Bull and Mercedes in battle for best race car

In the International Racing Car of the Year category, we also see this season's two big Formula 1 rivals. The Red Bull RB16B and the Mercedes W12 have been nominated and will compete against the Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02, the car in which De Vries won the world championship in Formula E, and the Toyota GR010 Hybrid (Le Mans).

Other Formula One drivers nominated include Mick Schumacher (Rookie of the Year), Lando Norris (British Competition Driver of the Year) and George Russell (British Competition Driver of the Year). Romain Grosjean has also been nominated as Rookie of the Year for his first season in IndyCar. You can vote for the different categories here.