“I’m Staying Where I Am”: Despite Opportunity to Save $5 Million, Lando Norris Once Snubbed Tax Haven Monaco for One Simple Reason

Sabyasachi Biswas | 01/01/2024
“I’m Staying Where I Am”: Despite Opportunity to Save $5 Million, Lando Norris Once Snubbed Tax Haven Monaco for One Simple Reason

Even though Lando Norris ditched life in the United Kingdom to move to Monaco in 2022, he initially was against it. When Norris had the opportunity to move to the Principality, the McLaren driver said that he would prefer to stay with friends and family instead of trying to save as much as $5 million in taxes in his home country.

Norris said to The Times as quoted by Ben Hunt in his Lando Norris: A Biography book, “It is just having fun, being with my mates and seeing my family when I want and it is all easy and I enjoy that. That’s all I want at the moment, and I just want to live my life normally.”

Norris added that he would not enjoy his time in Monaco, which would mar the reason he became an F1 driver in the first place. He didn’t understand the point of being an F1 driver if he couldn’t have fun in the environment around him. However, the high taxes of the UK forced Norris to move to Monaco eventually.

No F1 driver admits this openly, but Monaco being a tax haven, is a the reason behind so many other drivers moving there. Apart from Norris, many other drivers moved to Monaco to save their taxes. Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas are some of the few drivers who reside in the Principality. This shows how the drivers are concerned about saving taxes from their hard-earned money.

How was Max Verstappen accused of evading tax recently?

Max Verstappen, who drives under the Dutch flag  often been accused of evading tax. This was done multiple times by Rutger Bregman, a renowned Dutch historian who repeatedly accused the Red Bull driver of evading taxes.

Notably, Bregman accused Verstappen of evading more than $213 million of taxes as of 2022 after the Dutchman moved to Monaco. This wouldn’t have happened if he stayed in the Netherlands and paid off all his taxes instead of moving to Monaco.

However, Verstappen’s manager Raymond Vermeulen refuted the tax claims made by Bregman. He said that his client paid all the taxes on the sporting performances they put in the Netherlands.

Therefore, there is no way Max Verstappen is evading tax from the Netherlands by moving his residence to Monaco. However, his loyalty to the Dutch people has often come under question because of this. Despite this, he is still one of the best athletes to come out of the country.

Post Edited By: Somin Bhattacharjee
Lando Norris Lewis Hamilton Max Verstappen Rutger Bregman

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Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.

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