It looks like the Boy Wonder may have forseen his first tax bill…
When we saw the headline, we thought: not another one. ‘Monegasques on Pole’ would be a really unwieldy name change for this site.
But, in fact, Lewis Hamilton has decided to follow in the footsteps of Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso rather than David Coulthard and Jenson Button (no snide remarks about on-track performance, please) – and move to Switzerland.
He claims it is to escape the excessive public and media attention he has had in Britain over the last year.
But we think that’s a bit disingenuous. And that it might have more to do with escaping the excessive Inland Revenue attention his accountant’s anticipating during the next one.
He is reported as saying: “Over there people don’t come up to you, they leave you alone and give you space.”
What is he talking about? The people of Stevenage, his well-regarded home town in sunny Hertfordshire, have given him space – or, rather, to be more exact, a space. A parking space, if you recall.
The Stevenage branch of supermarket chain Asda reserved a prime chunk of real estate right outside the store (often during Grand Prix weekends, but it’s the thought that counts) – to the fury of blue badge-holding customers already fighting to park.
In the end, customer dissatisfaction forced them to rescind Hamilton’s privileges – but who knows, maybe supermarkets in Geneva, Zurich or Basel have been able to come up with a more impressive offer. Valeting while he shops? Free coffee and croissants? A factotum to carry his bags to the car?
Got it – they must have done away with that thing where you need to have a pound coin to post in the little slot before you can use a trolley.
Don’t panic, British sports fans. We’re pleased to report that fellow Hertfordshire lad Anthony Davidson (he hails from Hemel Hempstead) is still happily resident in Brackley, Northamptonshire.
But we bet he wishes he wasn’t…