Valtteri Bottas insists Formula 1 drivers have "no problem" paying taxes in countries where they race – but added he and his rivals are "frustrated" with the way the Italian authorities have come after them. It was recently reported that Italy's taxman is chasing F1 drivers past and present for potential unpaid taxes, asking them for seven years' or more worth of bank statements and financial contracts.
With that in mind, Bottas said on media day ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix of Malaysia that he was "not a big fan" of the idea of a season finale at Imola this year, if Formula One does eventually decide that it is too risky for the Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix to go ahead and pivots to the backup plan of replacing one of them with a race at the circuit near Bologna.
He told reporters: "I don't know if you've heard about the Italian taxes? No driver wants to really race in Italy because of recent events, what happened. Abu Dhabi, there's no tax. Right? I think everyone would like to race somewhere warmer. For now, what I've heard, we're still going to Qatar and Abu Dhabi."
Bottas did come in for some criticism for that stance, though, from those who took it to mean he was keen to pay as little tax as possible on his seven-figure salary. Fellow driver Max Verstappen, the joint-highest paid star in the sport along with Lewis Hamilton, also issued a curt response when asked about the topic, telling others to "just pay your taxes", and then it won't be an issue.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the second practice session of the weekend on Friday, Bottas took the opportunity to clarify what he had meant. "It's one of those classic examples, where I explained about the situation and they only took just the best bits, to make it look really bad for me," the Cadillac driver said.
"Honestly, we have no problem with paying taxes – as long as we know. We race in many countries and in more than 50 percent of the countries we go to, there's a certain percentage. And that's okay, as long as we know. But it's kind of frustrating the drivers that, in this case, they went back seven our eight years.
"We always got told we don't have to file anything for Italy, otherwise we would have. So that kind of came up with this thing, and obviously it's a substantial amount. I'm sure it would annoy anyone, that's just how it goes, but it would have been nice to know in advance."
For Bottas' team-mate, Sergio Perez, his issue with potentially racing in Italy in December is less to do with tax implications and more about the weather. The Mexican said: "I guess it will be cold or can be cold but yeah, I mean it's hard. I don't think nobody knows at the moment what will happen."
And Haas driver Oliver Bearman added: "The tax complication is a bit less relevant to me than some of the others. But no, I think we should bring the snow chains and the hand warmers.
"Let's see how it goes, but it will definitely be cold if we're in Imola in December. I was living close by for a good few years and in winter it's definitely cold. You know about it."
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