Lewis Hamilton has never failed to credit his father Anthony Hamilton and his family for being the driving force behind his successful F1 stint. Belonging to a humble background the Hamiltons went through a harrowing struggle to achieve their dream.
To cover all the expenses of Hamilton’s racing career, Anthony reportedly worked four jobs. Hamilton Sr mentored Lewis and also played the role of his manager bringing him sponsorship deals. Anthony remained Lewis’ manager for 19 years of his life, but this relationship saw a dramatic fallout in 2010.
In 2010, Lewis parted ways from his father and shockingly announced that Anthony would no longer remain his manager. At the time, the split was described as amicable and disguised as a father and a son moving on after the son had grown up. But a report by Business F1 has revealed that something seismic had happened between the duo that upended the relationship.
Lewis Hamilton suffered a loss of $8.75 Million
When news of Lewis’ split from Anthony made it to the public, rumors began to circulate on the paddock. Business F1 claims that following this, Hamilton was forced to reveal that the split had not been pleasant.
Instead, the fallout was a result of a massive deal that Anthony did with the Grenadian Prime Minister. This deal lost his son a non-refundable deposit of $8.75 Million and some other money bringing his total loss to approximately $20 Million.
The news of the duo parting ways had come to light just 15 days ahead of the 2010 Bahrain GP. It was also revealed that Hamilton told his father to not attend the race in Bahrain; despite the fact that Anthony’s tickets and hotel rooms were booked.
Lewis had told the media, “Dad will miss being here but I don’t want my dad to be my manager anymore. He’s still taking care of a lot of stuff, but he’s slowly breaking out.” (as quoted by Business F1)
What was the deal that lost Lewis Hamilton his money?
Interestingly, Anthony had a good relationship with the Grenadian PM, Keith Mitchell, in the late 2000s. Hamilton Sr was fond of the attention that he got from Mitchell.
Coming from a Grenadian background, the recognition that Lewis’ success brought Anthony from his homeland was fascinating. Meanwhile, Mitchell had his eyes on Hamilton’s growing fortune and he was easily able to convince Anthony to invest in Grand beach resort and an undeveloped coastline neighboring the resort.
Of course, very little of this deal was known to Lewis as he had left it entirely for Anthony, his manager, and his father to take care of it. The plan was clear for Anthony as he just had to invest Lewis’ money. One problem was that the to-be-invested money was all that the Briton had amassed from his two years at McLaren. At the time, Lewis was being paid less than $1 Million.
Mitchell had presented two different investments to Anthony and the latter did not bat an eye on shaking hands on it. Anthony was interested in purchasing the resort for $35 Million, for which he had deposited the non-refundable deposit of $8.75 Million. Another deal was about the government coastline worth $15 Million but no money was involved in this deal.
Instead of money, the Grenadian government and Anthony had agreed on the right to use Lewis’ name and image for promoting tourism in Grenada. Both the deals ended disastrously after the deal was labeled corrupt because no money was exchanged.
Anthony pulled out the investment in the hotel and lost his non-refundable deposit. In total Anthony lost $20 Million of Lewis’ money. Further problems arose as Hamilton’s image rights at the time were controlled by McLaren under a five-year contract. This means, Anthony had offered rights he did not own.
