British media gaga over Hamilton

UPDATE Lewis Hamilton’s fifth place finish in the Brazilian Grand Prix – allowing him to clinch the title by a single point – is likely to see him become a $1 billion sportsman.

According to UK newspaper, The Times, the youngest ever world champion in the history of Formula One could become the only person who could knock Tiger Woods from the top of the podium as the world’s highest-earning sportsman. The golfer is on course to become the first person to accumulate $1 billion from sport by 2010, according to Forbes magazine, pocketing an estimated $115 million (£71 million) in the year to June.

Hamilton’s contract with McLaren contract is worth an estimated £75 million over five years and a sponsorship deal with Reebok will add a further £20 million or so.

That could surpass the estimated career earnings of Schumacher, who at his peak was a one-man business empire, complete with branded dolls, sunglasses and a vacuum cleaner, and David Beckham, Britain’s highest earning sports star to date, whose lucrative sponsorship deals earned him £20 million a year at the height of his career.

Then again if Alonso signs with Ferrari Hamilton's winning days will most likely be over and his earning power greatly diminished.

Hamilton is the darling of the British media

11/02/08 Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton wakes up this morning as the youngest world champion in the history of Formula One – and well on the road to becoming a $1 billion sportsman.

His nail-biting fifth place in the Brazilian Grand Prix – allowing him to clinch the title by a single point – will go down as a key moment in the annals of the sport.

For most people it would undoubtedly be the pinnacle of a life’s work. But the man who is named after Carl Lewis, winner of nine Olympic gold medals, is not most people.

Having conquered Formula One by the tender age of 23, and in only his second season, Hamilton could have more than a decade left at the top of his sport – plenty of time to surpass Michael Schumacher’s record of seven world championships.

That, in turn, means that he is also perhaps the only person who could knock Tiger Woods from the top of the podium as the world’s highest-earning sportsman. The golfer is on course to become the first person to accumulate $1 billion from sport by 2010, according to Forbes magazine, pocketing an estimated $115 million (£71 million) in the year to June. More at London Times