Lewis Hamilton snubbed by fans in F1 popularity poll

Updated 03/07/2015 at 12:05 GMT

The British Grand Prix is expected to draw a record crowd this weekend, so it came as quite a shock to discover that world champion Lewis Hamilton did not even feature in the results of a Formula One fan poll on driver popularity.

Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton arrives at Leicester Square in London

Image credit: Reuters

The reigning F1 champion and BBC Sports Personality of the Year was beaten by Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button in the fan survey, which was conducted by the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, and which collated results from 215,000 voters.

The survey did not say exactly where Hamilton finished on the list, but considering that more survey responses came from the UK than any other country it was a surprise to see him not finish in the top three.

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The Mercedes driver, who has been praised by F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone recently for his personality and appeal as a champion, may not be quite as popular as the sport’s chief clearly believes.

The global survey, which was conducted in 194 countries and 15 different languages, saw fellow Brit Button finish third in popularity ahead of his compatriot.

Controversial Finn Raikkonen was voted the most popular driver on the F1 grid ahead of Spain’s much-loved Alonso.

Fernando Alonso und Kimi Raikkonen

Image credit: Eurosport

There was also a double blow for Hamilton as Mercedes were ranked outside the top three of the teams’ popularity list with Ferrari, McLaren and Williams making up the podium.

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Hamilton, who has racked up seven poles in eight races and leads the Championship by 10 points, will be looking to further consolidate his advantage in chasing a second successive title at Silverstone.

In their damning verdict of the sport in the poll, which was hosted on motorsport.com, fans said F1 had gone from “exciting” to “boring” in just five years.

The three words used to describe the sport this year were 'expensive', 'technological' and 'boring'; back in 2010, however, the words used to summarise the sport were 'technological', 'competitive' and 'exciting'.