Lewis Hamilton became only the fourth Briton to win two world F1 championships with victory in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

But that achievement doesn’t look like being enough to crown him Sports Personality of the Year for 2014.

The shortlist for the top 10 contenders for the BBC Crown was announced this week and while Hamilton has certainly shortened from his price of around 6/1 in September to 5/2 since his latest F1 title, Rory McIlory remains the strong favourite with the bookies.

Spreadex have the golfing world number one at 2/7 after his dominant season, including two major wins with the Open and PGA Championship and of course being part of the Europe team that retained the Ryder Cup in September.



Indeed it’s been Rory all the way since he lifted the Claret Jug at Hoylake by two shots back in July. He shortened from 18/1 to 6/4 after that victory and when he then claimed the PGA Championship three weeks later, his price fell to 1/3.

Europe’s dominant success over USA at Gleneagles in September saw McIlroy’s price tighten to 1/9 and although he has moved out slightly since then as Hamilton has come into the equation, the odds suggest the Irishman is the standout candidate to be crowned Sports Personality of the Year in Glasgow on December 14th.

Spreadex punters, however, seem to see more value in Hamilton potentially rallying support from the ‘Top Gear crowd’ and we’ve seen some chunky bets backing the 29-year-old.

As for the rest of the line-up, Gareth Bale and Jo Pavey look to be the two battling for third place at 33/1 and 40/1 respectively while Charlotte Dujardin, Lizzy Yarnold, Carl Froch, Adam Peaty, Max Whitlock and Kelly Gallagher are all into the hundreds.

I'm A Celebrity betting

If it’s a real sports personality you’re looking to back, then former Fulham and Hull man Jimmy Bullard has been attracting punters with his sparkling wit in the Jungle in I’m A Celebrity.

The 36-year-old was the initial 15/8 favourite and has led the betting throughout most of the trials, apart from a brief spell when he fell to 5/2 and Melanie Sykes shortened to 21/10.

Now he sits as 8/11 favourite ahead of Sykes at 12/5 and Jake Quickenden at 7/1 and the rest of the camp lagging behind.

At Spreadex the money from punters still sits with Bullard and Sykes but we’ve already had a few disappointed betters who had backed Craig Charles only for the funnyman to pull out after the death of his brother.

Strictly Come Dancing and X-Factor betting

As for other TV special betting, Strictly Come Dancing appears to be a three-way battle between Pixie Lott (15/8), Frankie Bridge and Jake Wood (both 5/2) while Fleur East lead the betting in the X-Factor at 5/6, strongly ahead of Ben Haenow (7/2) and Andrea Faustini (9/2).