Hamilton beats Verstappen and host of legends to key title

Lewis Hamilton has beaten legendary names such as NBA legend LeBron James and Formula 1 rival Max Verstappen to a key sporting title.

Hamilton may trail Verstappen in the F1 drivers' standings, but he leads the Red Bull star in others ways.

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Verstappen is on course for a fourth consecutive world title already this season, while Hamilton's best finish was a seventh place in Bahrain.

But the Englishman has previously won seven titles - a record he shares with the great Michael Schumacher - and it has now emerged that he leads Dutchman Verstappen off the track as well.

Hamilton has been rated as the most authentic athlete by SportsPro Media, who mined specific data as part of their Most Marketable Athletes series.

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Hamilton beats LeBron James and Robert Lewandowski

To measure authenticity, NorthStar analysts tracked and coded athlete social media posts across 17 different themes. The end result was that Hamilton was regarded as the most authentic with a weighted scored of 54, ahead of US alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin in second, and Barcelona and Poland footballer Robert Lewandowski in third.

LeBron James was ranked fifth with 52.69 points, while Verstappen was the second F1 driver in the top 10, in seventh with 51.3 points.

Hamilton has long been outspoken on social issues such as diversity and inclusion in F1 and across wider society.

His social media activity over the last year showed him engage with 13 of the 17 identified authenticity themes, more than any other athlete in the top 125.

Hamilton also won bonus points for his relationship with his dog, Roscoe.

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