Mystery as Lewis Hamilton’s trophy goes missing and F1 fan claims he was given it as a ‘gift’

AN F1 fan has claimed he was given Lewis Hamilton’s missing trophy as a “gift”.

The seven-time world champion received the award for finishing third in this year’s Drivers’ Championship.

A fan has claimed he was ‘gifted’ Lewis Hamilton’s missing FIA trophyRex

Hamilton was presented with the trophy by the FIA at their end-of-season gala in Baku on Friday.

However, it later surfaced on X, formerly Twitter, that his award had gone missing.

Fan Nihad Nesirli posted pictures of the gong online, claiming Hamilton had “gifted” it to him.

Mercedes later insisted this was not the case, though, with the British driver instead leaving it behind on purpose.

They added he had believed he was handing it over to an FIA official following the presentation.

A statement released on Sunday read: “Immediately after leaving the stage, and as has been done at previous prize-givings, Lewis accepted the offer from officials for the trophy to be sent on to the team and therefore left it in their care.

“We can confirm he did not give the trophy to anyone ‘as a gift’, as has been speculated.”

Nesirli himself responded by explaining: “Hello, good evening. I am very disappointed to see messages written to me like thief or something.

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Hamilton was presented with the award for finishing third in the Drivers’ ChampionshipRex

“First of all I want to say I didn’t steal anything from anywhere.

“This is just a misunderstanding. Lewis Hamilton put the award on the table. I asked him if I could take the prize.

“He said to me, yes, you can take the prize. And I thought he gifted me the award.

“But now, after seeing the statement from Mercedes, I understand that Lewis did not gift me the award.

“He mistakenly thought I was the FIA official in charge of the award.”

Despite the statements, it remains unknown exactly how the trophy got into the fan’s possession as well as its current whereabouts.

Nesirli has since deleted his account on X after responding to Mercedes.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez also collected their first and second place award during last week’s ceremony in Azerbaijan.

Hamilton praised the Red Bull duo after a dominant season for the constructor, which saw Verstappen claim a third-straight world title.

The 2024 season is set to get underway in Bahrain on March 2 with a record 24 races scheduled.