German Car Zone

Lewis Hamilton’s announcement on Monday that he is leaving the country to live in Switzerland met with a mixed reaction from the British press. The 22-year-old rookie explained that he decided to quit Britain because the local press and fans make his life too difficult.

“You lose your ability to go to places,” he told the BBC, referring to his process of becoming a famous Briton in 2007.

“You really struggle to live a normal life. I’ve not been able to spend a lot of time with my friends, my family.

“I can’t go to the cinema. I go to the bathroom in a petrol station and people come in there for autographs,” Hamilton added.

British newspapers, however, corrected the McLaren driver’s account of why he selected Switzerland for refuge.

“(Swiss) people don’t come up to you. They leave you, they give you your space,” Hamilton said.

He failed to mention that Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Nick Heidfeld live in Switzerland also because of the favourable tax conditions for foreigners who work abroad.

The Times headlined: “Swiss allow rookie to swerve high taxes”.

The Daily Telegraph: “Lewis Hamilton flees Britain’s taxing way of life”.

The Guardian: “Goodbye Hamilton Way as Lewis takes Swiss route”.

The latter is an ironical reference to the fact that, just a day earlier, Hamilton’s home town of Stevenage said it would name a street in his honour.

The Daily Express observed: “Lewis Hamilton has proved his ability at tackling bends but today the formula one star showed that U-turns are his speciality.”

To the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag at the weekend, Hamilton had said: “Higher taxes perhaps interests the management, but not me.”


Source: Motor Authority » Hamilton honoured with street name, decides to leave UK

Wow I didn't expect him to movie to $wizzyland this early. Talk about abandoning your country early.

I had no idea that Nick also live there. Hamilton's salary and sponsor money is going to sky rocket next season so I guess he wants almost every penny of it to go into his account.

Still I hope that he remains in the UK until January or so to show his people love. In Switerland he will be very far away from his family and real friends.

Money is all what matters it seems to him,still abit too rearly IMO.

Ah c'mon guys... we would all do it in his position.

Maybe we would all do the same - but I think I wouldn't leave my place!!

Long live Swiss banks and Swiss gentle taxes!

i dont blame him...the one that does is kinda being narrow minded to be honest..

At the least the media has caught on and is not blindly publishing his official reason for moving. At least some articles have talked about the tax savings, which is probably what most people see as his reason for moving. I don't think he even needs to tell anyone about avoiding cameras being his reason. There are plenty of places in the EU where he could live without much publicity, but he would still pay a similar tax to UK. It just looks like an excuse to move to a tax haven.

If he were to stay in the UK, he would pay 40% tax as an individual and about 30% if he created a company to hold his F1 earnings. In Switzerland, he'll pay tax based on living expenses, subject to a minimum.

The high-earners in F1 live in favorable tax regimes, so Hamilton should too.

The people who aren't happy with him are those that live in Switzerland and Britain, but I don't think you can say they are narrow-minded. They probably just feel ripped-off. A Swiss citizen working in the country would not get special tax deals and many Brits have to work hard and pay the 30% tax. The Swiss parliament tried to pass a law to stop the practice of giving sweet tax deals to foreigners. Germans are especially upset about their sports heroes leaving. I don't think they are narrow-minded, just that they have a direct interest because everyday Germans do pay those massive taxes that their beloved stars are leaving to avoid.

I can only imagine the number of German athletes who cross the border to Switzerland.