Max Verstappen and Lando Norris top list of winners at Autosport Awards 2021 – Motorsport’s talents, innovators and shapers honoured
Formula One stars Max Verstappen and Lando Norris were honoured with the top awards at the 36th Autosport Awards in London on Sunday night. The gala dinner celebrated the successes of the dramatic 2021 motorsport season. Over 700 guests attended the prestigious event. It was a welcome return after the 2020 edition of the Autosport Awards had to be held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen was voted International Racing Driver of the Year by Autosport readers, while Lando Norris took the award for British Racing Driver. McLaren driver Norris, like Mercedes driver George Russell, is a former winner of the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award, which is determined year after year in a fiercely contested test session at Silverstone.
Zak O’Sullivan joined the two current Formula One stars and other previous winners, such as David Coulthard and Jenson Button, on the roll of honour for this prestigious award. O’Sullivan will receive 200,000 British pounds (the equivalent of around 237,000 euros) towards his 2022 racing budget and will also get a test drive in an Aston Martin Formula One car.
The Autosport Awards ceremony was traditionally held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London and was attended by some of motorsport’s best known personalities.
Winners at the 2021 Autosport Awards:
Race Driver of the Year: Max Verstappen
Race Car of the Year: Red Bull RB16B
Rally Driver of the Year: Sebastien Ogier
Rally Car of the Year: Toyota Yaris WRC
Rookie of the Year: Oscar Piastri
British Racing Driver of the Year: Lando Norris
British Racing Driver of the Year: Ash Sutton
Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award: Zak O’Sullivan
E-Sport Driver of the Year: Frederik Rasmussen
E-Sport Team of the Year: Coanda Simsport
Pioneering and Innovation Award: Alejandro Agag
Gold Medal Award: Jean Todt
This year’s Pioneering and Innovation Award went to Alejandro Agag for his decades of work in introducing and developing electric racing. Agag launched both Formula E and Extreme E. Formula E is now in its eighth season and has achieved the status of an FIA World Championship.
Both championships – Formula E and Extreme E – promote electric vehicles and drive the technological development of batteries and electric motors. Extreme E exposes the truths of climate change. It races in remote locations that are vulnerable to global warming.
New at this year’s Autosport Awards was the Gold Medal Award, given for lifetime service to motorsport and a lasting legacy. The first award of its kind was presented to now former FIA President Jean Todt for his services to motorsport history.
Specifically, Todt was honoured for three chapters: successes in rallying as well as the Le Mans 24 Hours with Peugeot, dominance of the Formula One World Championship in the 2000s with Ferrari and Michael Schumacher, and his twelve years as FIA President.
The Autosport Awards 2021 will be broadcast on Sky Sports F1 on Wednesday 9 February. The 2022 Autosport Awards will take place on Sunday 4 December.
“A big thank you to all the fans who voted me International Racing Driver of the Year,” said Max Verstappen. “It has been an extremely intense year, but the support I have received throughout the year has been incredible. I would also like to thank Red Bull Racing and Honda for providing me with a winning car. The ultimate goal was to win the world championship. To have achieved that feels incredible. “
Oliver Ciesla, CEO of Motorsport Network, the parent company of Autosport, says: “Congratulations to Max, Lando, Jean, Alejandro and all the other winners. What an amazing evening we had at the Autosport Awards. It’s great to see so many of the best in the industry come together to celebrate a strong year for the sport.”
“With the constant uncertainty of the pandemic, it was a huge effort to put this event together. Thank you to everyone who made this event a reality. Our vision at Motorsport Network is to be the leading independent voice of the motorsport world and this prestigious evening demonstrates once again that we are a unique voice across the industry,” said Ciesla.