Autosport Awards Summary

Last night, the annual Autosport awards took place at London's Grosvenor House Hotel.

F1 team members and fans were present at the event and here is a summary of 'who won what.'

International Racing Driver of the Year: Lewis Hamilton- Formula One World Champion

Rookie of the Year: Sebastian Vettel- Youngest Ever Formula One Grand Prix Winner

Racing Car of the Year: McLaren Mercedes MP4-23. Winner of six Grand Prix

McLaren Autosport BRDC Award: Alexander Simms- British Formula Renault star

Lifetime Achievement Award: Sir Stirling Moss- Winner of 16 Grand Prix

Turn over to page two for more detail on the winners.

International Racing Driver of the Year

Lewis Hamilton won this award for the second year running after winning his first Formula One Championship in 2008.

The Brit was overwhelmed by the award saying "To receive an award, any award, is always a major privilege."

Rookie of the Year

Without much surprise, the honours went to young German Sebastian Vettel.

After a poor start to the season, Vettel came alive toward the end of the year, reigning superior in the wet at Monza to win his first Grand Prix and in the meantime became the youngest driver to do so.

Vettel finished the season in 8th place.

Racing Car of the Year

After close contest, the McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 beat the Ferrari F2008 to this prestigious award.

The car won six of 18 races in 2008 and kept a 100% reliability record in the hands of Lewis Hamilton.

Paddy Lowe praised the McLaren team and said, "These days F1 is such a team effort, literally hundreds of people, and for them to all feel that they played a part is fantastic."

McLaren Autosport BRDC Award

This award went to Alexander Simms, a rising star in the world of motorsport who also gains a test drive for McLaren after winning the coveted prize.

Simms finished runner up in the British Formula Renault Championship with Manor Motorsport, a team that guided both Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton on the road to F1.

The young talent was extremely pleased with his award. "It's a fantastic achievement."

Lifetime Achievement Award

British Formula One legend Sir Stirling Moss received the Gregor Grant Award for lifetime achievement.

Moss raced in 529 races in over 80 different pieces of machinery and dubbed his greatest ever race as either the 1955 Mille Miglia or the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix.

'The greatest driver never to win the championship' said he had no regrets from his career.

Turn to page three for the list of all other auto racing winners.

Here is a list of all other award winners at the event. Most are from other classes of motor sport but there are a few more Formula One awards.

British Club Driver: Adam Christodoulou- British Formula Renault Champion

National Racing Driver: Oliver Turvey- British F3 Runner-up

Special Recognition: David Coulthard- Formula One Grand Prix Winner

Moment of the Year: Brazilian GP- Final race of the 2008 Formula One season

Int. Rally Driver: Sebastien Loeb- WRC Champion

Rally Car of the Year: Citroen C4- WRC Teams Champions

Gregor Grant Award: Ari Vatanen- WRC Legend

John Bolster Award: Carl Haas- Co owner of the Newman/Hass/Lanigan IndyCar racing team.  

Pioneering and Innovation: Singapore GP- First ever Formula One night race 

British Comp. Driver: Allan McNish- Le Mans 24 Hours Winner