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Mercedes picks up Laureus 'Team of the Year' award

The Mercedes F1 team has been named as the year's best team in all of sports at the prestigious 2018 Laureus World Sports Awards.

The team was handed the Laureus World Team of the Year award at this year's prize-giving event in Monaco on Tuesday.

The team had been nominated after sealing the 2017 constructor's championship. It was their fourth consecutive title success.

Among Mercedes' rivals for the accolade were NFL franchise New England Patriots and Champions League-winning soccer team Real Madrid.

Also in the running were NBA team Golden State Warriors, France’s Davis Cup tennis team and New Zealand’s America’s Cup champions.

The award has previously gone to two other Formula 1 teams in the past. Renault were winners in 2006, while Brawn GP picked up the award in 2010.

However the team's world champion Lewis Hamilton missed out in the individual World Sportsman of the Year category. Michael Schumacher had previously won the award in 2002 and again in 2004. His compatriot Sebastian Vettel came out on top in 2010.

Raikkonen nominated for a Laureus World Sport award

This year the honour went to Swiss tennis superstar Roger Federer for the fifth time. Cristiano Ronaldo and Rafael Nadal had also been in the running.

Serena Williams won the Sportswoman of the Year award. Sergio Garcia took home the Breakthrough award after his Masters success.

Last year's Breakthrough winner was Nico Rosberg, who had just won the F1 world championship.

Francesco Totti claimed the Academy Exceptional Achievement Award for his services to Roma and Italy. Former track athlete Edwin Moses won the Lifetime Achievement award. Swiss triple-world champion wheelchair racer Marcel Hug clinched the Disability award.

Chapecoense, the Brazilian football club hit by an air disaster in 2016, were winners of the Laureus Best Sporting Moment of the Year award.

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen consoling a distraught young fan at last year's Spanish Grand Prix had been an early frontrunner for the award.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.