Hammie not buying bling and rims..

Lewis Hamilton saving for a rainy day
Edward Gorman, Motor Racing Correspondent

Despite signing a new contract with McLaren Mercedes worth at least £70 million over five years, Lewis Hamilton has barely spent any money since being propelled to worldwide fame as a Formula One driver.
Hamilton who begins his assault on the world championship at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne this weekend, has bought his mother and father a new car each and is planning to buy his mother a new house but that is about as far as his spending plans have gone so far.
Speaking as he prepared for the start of his second season in Formula One, the sport’s most successful rookie and latest multi-millionaire said he was trying to be sensible with his money. “I haven’t spent a penny,” he revealed. “All I’ve paid for is my rent. I still have my sponsorship - I am happy driving my Mercedes Benz (road car) and, clotheswise, I’m sorted out. I really don’t have to spend any money apart from food and rent.” Hamilton was brought up in Stevenage but during the off-season this winter he moved to Switzerland where he enjoys a far less rigorous tax regime than he would at home. The 23-year-old who finished runner-up to Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari last season, has rented an apartment in the Geneva area.
Property experts familiar with that market say Hamilton could be paying up to £100,000-a-year for a three-bedroomed apartment with views of Lake Geneva and the mountains. Buying a place of that kind would cost Hamilton around £2.5 million.
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Hamilton’s approach to his new-found wealth is a model of prudence, reflecting the advice he gets from his father, Anthony, who manages his affairs. The McLaren driver laughed, for example, at the suggestion that he might buy himself a private jet. (In fact he has “a really, really good” sponsorship deal with Bombardier, manufacturers of Lear Jet, which allows him a certain number of free flights in return for appearances as the company’s “brand ambassador”).
His long-term goal is to help his family, much in the way that Michael Owen, the England footballer, has done by buying homes for his siblings and his parents. “I honestly think at the moment, it’s important I just keep working and doing what I’m doing,” Hamilton explained.
“I think in the future, it’s all about building a foundation and building that sort of (basis) for my family. I want to be able to take care of my Mum,” he said adding that he is planning to buy her a house. Hamilton’s mother Carmen, remarried after separating from his father when Lewis was two years old. She is reported to be living in Letchworth, Hertfordshire and working as a secretary. Hamilton lived with her until he was 10 when he moved in with his father and step-mother.
And Hamilton already has an eye on a rainy day. “Even though you get paid more, even though I might have some money now, I don’t think it’s right for me at the moment to just go out and splash out money here and there because it might all be gone.
Something might happen to me and I might not have that money. I’ve got to make sure it’s invested properly and make sure we are building (a secure future).” One consequence of his sudden worldwide fame is that Hamilton has learnt to trust and value his friends and family perhaps more than he might have done had he not become one of the world’s most recognisable sportsmen almost overnight. He says he has made no new close friends since he started in Formula One and can count his true friends on the fingers of one hand.
“I’ve met some really, really nice people but I just don’t go out looking for very good friends,” he said. “I’ve got friends that have been with me since I was at school who have stuck with me through thick and thin and I just regard them as my closest friends. I never feel I need more,” he said.
Another consequence of his meteoric rise has been the loss of his free time. Hamilton says he is far busier now than he was this time last year.
There has been less time to train and he hardly sees his new flat in Switzerland because of commitments either with testing and training or making sponsor-related appearances. “It’s been very hard because of the different commitments I have to make right now, juggling it all,” he said. “I haven’t seen my family or friends for such a long time. I saw my Mum for one day recently and I haven’t seen her since Christmas, just because I have not had the time. I get to fly back to Geneva and I am there for maybe one night or a day and then I’m off to a test or an appearance somewhere.”