Verstappen can equal Lauda and Vettel if he wins prestigious award

Max Verstappen is one of six contenders for the BBC SportsPersonality World Sports Star of the Year - and can match NikiLauda and Sebastian Vettel if he wins. The newly-crowned three-timeWorld Champion is up for the award for the second time, after beingbeaten by Lionel Messi in 2022 after the Argentina captain guidedhis team to FIFA World Cup victory in Qatar. Verstappen improved onhis 2022 efforts by taking 19 wins from 22 races, recording 575championship points, becoming the first driver to lead over 1,000laps in a season and recorded the highest difference in pointsbetween first and second, finishing 290 ahead of team-mate SergioPerez. Should Verstappen win the award, voted for by fans, he willbecome just the third F1 driver to win the World Sports Star of theYear award, following on from Lauda in 1977 and Vettel in 2013.Remarkably, Michael Schumacher never won the award, with the likesof Tiger Woods, Ronaldo, Lance Armstrong and Roger Federer winningduring his five-year Ferrari heyday - although Armstrong's awardwas later cancelled. Below is a table of the six contenders for theBBC World Sports Star of the Year for 2023, with the result set tobe announced during the show on December 19th. BBC World SportsStar of the Year nominees The other contenders Verstappen is upagainst two previous winners of the award in Simone Biles and NovakDjokovic. Biles returned to competition in gymnastics after amental health break, claiming four golds and a silver in the WorldChampionships and is now also the most decorated female gymnast inhistory. Djokovic broke Rafael Nadal's men's record of 22 GrandSlams with victory in the French Open, having also secured a record10th Australian Open earlier in the year. He also won the US Openbut lost in the Wimbledon final to Carlos Alcaraz as he narrowlyfailed to win all four titles in the same year, and also passedSteffi Graf's record for most weeks spent as World Number 1.Elsewhere, Women's World Cup player of the tournament and BallonD'Or winner Aitana Bonmati is nominated alongside fellow footballerErling Haaland whose record-breaking goal tally propelledManchester City to the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions Leaguetreble. The other contender is South African Rugby captain SiyaKolisi who led his side to a fourth World Cup, defending the trophythey won in Japan in 2019 to become the most successful team ofall-time after defeating fellow three-time winners New Zealand in atitanic final.