LEWIS HAMILTON’S hopes of winning Sports Personality of the Year came crashing down over his tax-dodging and dodgy nose ring.
The British F1 ace avoided paying European taxes on his private jet using an Isle of Man scheme that is to be investigated by HM Revenue and Customs.
And fans of SPOTY could not believe it when the multimillionaire popped up on screen asking members of the public to make hard-earned charity donations.
Hamilton – 33 at the start of January – was on the BBC show wearing a ring in his nostril and viewers sniffed at his fashion sense and financial weaselling.
And he warned his critics that he has no intention of hanging up his driving gloves any time soon.
Hamilton told a video link on SPOTY: “I definitely feel like I have a lot more left in me. That [title] number five is now the goal and the target.”
Hamilton avoided a £3.3million tax bill by “renting out” his private jet through his own companies, according to leaked documents.
The party boy bought the £16million Bombardier CL605 Challenger in 2013 through a series of offshore companies to swerve helping to pay for public services like the NHS.
As much as £1.1m of the VAT he appears to have reclaimed on his jet should have been paid, along with hundreds of thousands due on the continuing costs of flying the jet.
The aircraft is now registered to a company Hamilton owns in the Virgin Islands, which in turn leases it to another in the Isle of Man, which in turn rents it to a screen company in Guernsey.
Hamilton set up another Isle of Man company to buy a £1.5m motorhome that he used at racetracks. No VAT appears to have been paid on that purchase either.
There is no suggestion Hamilton was directly involved in creating the scheme used for his jet or has broken any laws or rules.
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