Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri among the winners in 2023 FIA Prize Gala in Baku where champions from various championships were rewarded.
The 2023 FIA Prize Giving Gala was held in Baku in Azerbaijan this time as apart from the champions and runners-up getting their trophies, there were some other special awards, whose recipients were only revealed during the ceremony.
The F1 side had Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton take his third place trophy as he returned to the FIA Gala after missing out in 2022. After his first-ever trophy last year, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez stepped up to pick up a second place trophy as Christian Horner and Max Verstappen then followed to take the constructors’ and drivers’ winning trophy respectively.
Before the F1 drivers had their honour, the night saw champions and runners-up from karting, Cross-Country championship, WRX, WRC, WEC, F3, F2 and Formula E pick up their respective trophies. It included GT and F3 winners in Macau GP as well.
Among the separate awards, the FIA Rookie of the Year went to McLaren’s Piastri – as chosen by the Divers’ Commission – for his good show in his first year in F1 where he finished ninth in the standings with two podiums and a sprint win.
Piastri became only the second driver to have won the Rookie trophy for the second time after he did so in F2 joining Charles Leclerc. Other winners include Daniil Kvyat (F1), Max Verstappen (F1), Alex Albon (F1), Charles Leclerc (F2 & F1), Yuki Tsunoda (F2), Zane Maloney (F3) and Kevin Hansen (European Rallycross).
Moving on to the FIA Action of the Year, it went to Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso for his fine move on Red Bull’s Perez to finish third in Brazil GP by 0.053s on the line. He was voted as best by the fans as he beat two other moments from in the Top 3.
He took his second Action of the year trophy. Previous winners include Kimi Raikkonen (F1), Verstappen (four times, three in F1 and one in F3), Esapekka Lappi (WRC) and Teemu Suninen (WRC). The FIA Personality of the Year award was dropped for 2022 but two relatively new awards were brought up to reward non-racers.
First up was the Outstanding Official of the Year award which was selected by the FIA Volunteers and Officials Commission (VOC), who honoured Bahrain’s Sadiq Kalawadh. The second was the FIA President Innovation Medal which Mohammed Ben Sulayem has created to reward people coming with ideas helping not only the sport but also in worldwide context. Automotive car designer Christian von Koenigsegg won the award for his innovation with the Koenigsegg machinery.
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