Schumacher’s new house done

The Schumacher Mansion

The checkered flag is finally in sight for Formula One legend Michael Schumacher’s new home – after nearly SIX YEARS and £30MILLION in building costs.

It is a residence that only a man who earns more than £50 million a year could own. The 7,000sq ft mansion built by Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher on the shores of Lake Geneva boasts rooms decorated with the finest Italian marble, exotic woods and terracotta tiles from Mexico.

Schumacher has even installed a filling station so he doesn't have to nip out to top up the fleet of Mercedes, Ferraris, Aston Martins and Bentleys he can store in his heated, 30-car, underground garage.

But if Schumacher was looking for a quiet retreat where he could invite his neighbors, who include Phil Collins, Sir Roger Moore, David Bowie, Celine Dion and former British F1 ace Sir Jackie Stewart, he has been disappointed.

"Schloss [Castle] Schumi" – and its conspicuous show of his wealth – has made the former motor racing champion an unwilling pawn in a Swiss political row.

Left-wing politicians object to the racing driver and other rich foreigners paying lower taxes than other residents.

Schumacher is understood to pay less than 10 per cent of his earnings in tax. He is officially listed as "unemployed" in his adopted homeland, to where he moved from Germany in 1996 to escape crippling income taxes of 48 per cent, coupled with 53 per cent on investments and an extra 5 per cent on his total tax bill to fund the rebuilding of the former East Germany.