5 great sportspersons and their biggest weaknesses

Lewis Hamilton: poor sportsmanship

The Briton is fresh off winning his third world drivers’ championship – a second in a row, and has ranked with the best in the sport. At last week's Chinese Grand Prix, Hamilton all but silenced naysayers who believed his victories were down solely to a superior car.

After an ERS failure led to him setting no time in qualifying and Hamilton beginning the race at the back of the grid, the Mercedes AMG Petronas driver taxed car, tyres and engine to move up the grid drastically enough to come as close as fifth before eventually dropping to a still-respectable 7th to finish the race.

Plenty of drivers have not even managed a seventh-place finish from seventh position on the qualifying grid, so for Hamilton to pull off that finish was a commendable feat. But last year, the 28-year-old made news for his off-track antics.

Hamilton has had his disputes with teammate and childhood friend Nico Rosberg, and unfortunately has played those out publicly, making references to what he alleged were the team’s favouritism towards the German in the latter half of the season.

Apart from his Formula One antics, Hamilton came under fire at Wimbledon for not adhering to the dress code, a violation that saw him ejected from the venue.

Things got so bitter between the former teammates, who were seen visibly distant from each other on the podiums they shared during the year, that team boss Toto Wolff admitted publicly that Mercedes AMG Petronas were looking to deal with the issues.

This year, with Rosberg appearing to run away with the championship title, Hamilton has not been entirely happy, with Rosberg, who has a 36-point championship lead, capitulating to his teammate and saying he could “still win the championship,” and he wanted to “take nothing for granted.”

The two, who have been friends since their karting days, fell out in 2015 – but remain teammates, so it will be interesting to see how Hamilton’s off-track behaviour – and the season – play out.