The revelation about Lauda comes after comments made by Lewis Hamilton that Formula One racing trophies are “ugly.” In many cases, the Daily Telegraph reports, garish plastic awards have started to be used in place of traditional gold cups.
The paper quotes Hamilton as saying: “We just need to make better trophies – it’s shocking how bad the trophies are.” The British champion adds: “they are just terrible man. They are so bad.”
Hamilton has received support from Jack Carr, design and production manager at Creative Awards who has been involved in putting some of the motor racing trophies together. Speaking with The Independent, Carr has indicated that the two-time world champion “does have a point” and that Hamilton could raise his concerns with the heads of Formula One, including business magnate Bernie Ecclestone. Ecclestone is the chief executive of the Formula One Group, the body that manages Formula One and controls most of the commercial rights.
Support has also come from ex-champion Niki Lauda. Lauda was Formula One world champion in 1975, 1977 and 1984. Lauda has admitted he hated most of the trophies that he was given, telling a news conference “I binned them all, you’re absolutely right, because in my time they were most of them ugly and for me useless.” He also confessed that he had traded some of them for free car washes for life, at a garage near to his Austrian home.
