Lewis Hamilton has signed a new three-year deal with Mercedes worth an astonishing £100m, making him the highest paid sportsman in Britain.
Lewis Hamilton, 30, has ended months of speculation by agreeing a new three-year deal with Mercedes. His new contract will take him up to 2018, netting him an incredible £1.5m per race.
The announcement was made from the glitz and glamour of Monte Carlo. The numbers add up to over £32m per year, or £640,000 per week, and not a penny of that will head into UK tax coffers as he currently resides the tax exile of Monaco.
The youngest-ever F1 champion will draw a salary worth five-times more than the Daimler-Benz Chairman Dieter Zetsche, and the decision to part ways with Simon Fuller’s XIX management team, ensured that 20% of the deal would not leak out of his pocket. Instead, Hamilton chose to work with his trusted lawyer Sue Thackeray.
The decision to stick with Mercedes makes Hamilton the highest paid British sportsman, exceeding the £23m per year that enters the bank account of the Real Madrid star Gareth Bale, and by the time his current deal expires, he will still have one bonanza move left in him.
Top 5 British Earners
1st. Lewis Hamilton – £32m per year
2nd. Gareth Bale – £23m
3rd. Wayne Rooney – £15.6m
4th. Rory Mcllroy – £15.1m
5th. Andy Murray £11.5m
The deal makes Hamilton the biggest money making machine in F1 since 7-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher was selling 300,000 red caps at £20 a pop. Experts believe Hamilton could easily make another £10m per year through further endorsements agreed outside of his Mercedes contract.
The Sunday Times Rich List estimated Hamilton’s wealth at £88m, and when you consider that he used to roll around his satin sheets with Nicole Scherzinger, and is rumored to be having a thing with Rihanna, then life is pretty good for a young man from Stevenage.
