Facing charges of 'hooning' in Australia
might be embarrassing for Lewis Hamilton, but he must be counting himself lucky he isn't former Renault F1 boss Flavio Briatore, who has just had his £17 million luxury yacht impounded over suspected tax evasion.
The 17-crew, 62-metre Force Blue was seized by Police at La Spezia, near Genoa, on the Italian Riviera as part of investigations into its tax status.
Briatore claims the yacht is available for charter at £213,000 a week, and is registered in the Cayman Islands, saving Briatore from having to pay fuel duties.
Italian police say that this is tax evasion and that Briatore owes £3.5m in tax.
Briatore was found guilty last autumn by the FIA of ordering driver Nelson Piquet Jnr to crash his car at the Singapore Grand Prix in 2008. He was handed a lifetime ban from the sport.
That ban was overturned on appeal in January, although Briatore has promised to play no active F1-related role until the start of 2013.