Neurosurgeon loses £14m snowmobile crash claim
Andrew Cannestra faced evidence in court that he sent text messages to excursion staff after the accident, asking: '[do] I owe you guys a snowmobile?'
He suffered multiple injuries when the Ski-Doo he was riding careered off a forest track in Lapland during a £23,000 luxury holiday, the High Court heard.
The tour had been booked as part of the Pure McLaren Arctic Experience for the brain surgeon, 54, and his partner, Kaitlin Mealor.
Cannestra, who specialises in spinal surgery, struck a tree, rendering him unconscious for 30 minutes in 2020.
He brought a claim against McLaren Automotive Events, alleging that the impact of the accident on his future earnings alone exceeded £14 million.
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BBC News
14 minutes ago
- BBC News
'He definitely has it', so why did Hamilton say he was useless?
Lewis Hamilton insisted he "still loves" Formula 1 after his most challenging weekend of his Ferrari career so far at the Hungarian Grand Saturday, Hamilton had said he was "just useless" after the seven-time champion qualified 12th on the grid, while his team-mate Charles Leclerc took Ferrari's first grand prix pole position of the Sunday, Hamilton finished in the same place, while Leclerc, after fighting with the race-winning McLarens for the first two-thirds of the race, faded to fourth place, his car apparently afflicted by a problem in the final said he felt "the same" as he had after qualifying. He said: "There's a lot going on in the background that is not… great, so…" But added: "I'm sure there are positives to take from the weekend and I'm sure there's learnings."As is often the case when Hamilton struggles, not only does his mood plumb the depths, but the F1 rumour mill spins into Hamilton over the hill, some wondered after qualifying? Would he even quit Ferrari at the end of the year, or perhaps even before the end of the season?That one, at least, Hamilton rejected, saying he would be back in the car at the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August after F1's summer break."I'm looking forward to coming back," he said. "I'll be back, yeah."Anyone who knows Hamilton, and his determination, and refusal to give up, knows the answers to the other questions about his future, performance, in the wake of some upgrades on the Ferrari car at least gives him some room for optimism."Definitely some improvements that have been made on the upgrades," Hamilton said. "Naturally, it's a shame we're not as competitive as the guys at the front, but you've seen Charles has had a really strong run of the last two races."The car is definitely progressing, so we have to keep trying to extract more from it." What does his boss think? Team principal Frederic Vasseur injected some perspective into Hamilton's situation."For sure when you are seven times world champion, your team-mate is in pole position and you are out in Q2, it's a tough situation," Vasseur the race result, Vasseur pointed out that Ferrari had gambled on a one-stop strategy starting on the hard tyre on a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult, and it "didn't work.""I can understand the frustration from Lewis," he said, "but this is normal, and he will come back."Vasseur, who was instrumental in persuading Hamilton to leave Mercedes to join Ferrari for this season, pointed out that the results in Hungary made his driver's weekend look worse than it Hamilton had been 0.247 seconds slower than Leclerc when he was knocked out of qualifying after the second session. But Leclerc himself had found it hard to progress, and Hamilton had been just 0.155secs adrift of his team-mate in the first past two races have seen a stall in the positive momentum Hamilton had been building after a difficult start to his Ferrari Miami in early May, there has been little to choose between the two drivers in qualifying, and Hamilton out-qualified Leclerc in three of the four races before Belgium, a week before errors of different kinds in the qualifying sessions for the sprint and grand prix at Spa made Hamilton look uncompetitive when he was anything was a match for Leclerc on pace in Belgium, but an off followed by a spin caused by a combination of factors relating to a new braking material saw him out in the first session in sprint qualifying, and the same thing happened when he misjudged the exit of the 180mph+ swerves at Eau Rouge and went slightly outside track limits in qualifying for the grand with the problems in Belgium and Hungary, and the need to adapt to a new car of very different characteristics at the start of the season, Hamilton's average qualifying deficit to Leclerc is 0.146 seconds this not what Hamilton would expect of himself, but it should be viewed in the context of that Ferrari - and many others in F1 - regard Leclerc as the fastest driver over a single lap in the critics point to his struggles against George Russell in his final season at Mercedes last 40-year-old has found the ground-effect cars introduced into F1 in 2022 do not fit his late-braking style as well as the previous generation of cars. And it does remain a mystery that he has not been able to adapt as well as would have been expected, or apparently as well as other Vasseur rejected any idea that he might be worried about Hamilton's situation."He's demanding," Vasseur said, "but I think it's also why he's seven times world champion, that he's demanding with the team, with the car, with the engineers, with the mechanics, with myself also. But first of all he's very demanding with himself." What does his former boss think? Toto Wolff, Hamilton's former team boss at Mercedes, was asked about Hamilton's downbeat self-assessment."That is Lewis wearing his heart on the sleeve," he said. "It's what he thought very much when he was asked after the session. It was very raw."He was doubting himself, and we had it in the past when he felt that he underperformed his own expectations and your team-mate is on pole, and he's been that emotionally transparent since he was a young boy or young adult."As for Hamilton's general performances, Wolff said: "He's the GOAT, and he will always be the GOAT, and nobody's going to take that away. That's something he needs to always remember, that he's the greatest of all times."Lewis has unfinished business in Formula 1. In the same way that Mercedes underperformed over this latest set of regulations since 2022, we kind of never got happy with ground-effect cars. And in the same way, it bit him."Maybe it's linked to driving style. So he shouldn't go anywhere. Next year is brand new cars, completely different to drive, new power-units that need an intelligent way of managing the energy."Can Hamilton still win that elusive eighth title, Wolff was asked?"If he has a car underneath him that he has confidence in, that does what he wants, then yes," he replied."If he has a car that it's not giving him the feedback that he wants, and that was the Mercedes of the past few years, and that seems to be the Ferrari, and even worse, then not."But you ask me whether he has it, he definitely has it."
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Martin Lewis explains how to claim car finance mis-selling compensation as FCA predicts payouts worth up to £950
Financial expert Martin Lewis has advised on the next steps for drivers who were mis-sold car loans, after a financial regulator said the industry could pay out up to £18bn in compensation. The Financial Conduct Authority is launching a compensation consultation which will determine how much is paid out to millions of people who paid more interest than they knew about. A Supreme Court ruling on Friday (1 August) found that lenders are not liable for hidden commission payments in car finance schemes, a decision which means most of the claims will not go ahead, but only the most serious claims will be eligible for compensation. But many cases in a separate strand of the car finance mis-selling case, which was not part of the Supreme Court ruling, are still likely to receive payouts, Mr Lewis explained. Am I eligible for the compensation scheme? Mr Lewis explains that there are 'two strands' of the car finance mis-selling case. Discretionary Commission Arrangements (DCAs), which Mr Lewis says will be the main form of compensation to come out of the consultation, were not involved in the Supreme Court case, he said. 'The one most people have complained about wasn't involved in the Supreme Court decision, although it was on hold just in case anything in that decision caused a wobbler for DCAs,' Mr Lewis added. DCAs were banned in January 2021, so anyone with a personal contract purchase (PCP) or Hire Purchase (HP) deals before then, is likely to have unknowingly agreed to one. 'It is when you went to a car broker or dealer and it increased the amount of interest that you were charged to increase the amount of commission without telling you,' Mr Lewis explained. Those who had PCP or HP deals are 'likely to get compensation under this scheme'. But Mr Lewis notes that those who had 0 per cent interest, or whose commission was very small, are unlikely to receive compensation. But he says that for most people, the compensation will be in the hundreds of pounds. The other strand of the mis-selling case is the one element of the Supreme Court case which was upheld by the court - with the other two being dismissed. This refers to commissions which were 'manifestly unfair', Mr Lewis explained, adding that it is harder to define because it was done on a case-by-case basis. Factors in the payout may even include how vulnerable you are - and whether it is therefore seen as more unfair for the commission to have been so high. As this is done case-by-case and it is not a blanket issue like the DCA cases, it is unclear how the compensation scheme will work for these, Mr Lewis said. What should I do next? For those that are unsure whether they are eligible, Mr Lewis advises putting in a complaint to see whether you had a DCA. 'If you're one of those people who have already had a letter saying that your car finance firm, after you complained, won't deal with it until December this year, that will almost certainly be delayed until next year,' he said. The FCA is advising consumers who believe they may have paid too much should complain now, and advise against using Claims Management Firms (CMC) or law firms, which could cost up to 30 per cent of any compensation fees received. Lenders will have to contact customers, and either automatically pay out consumers or consumers will have to opt into a scheme for compensation, meaning receiving compensation will be 'very simple to do', Mr Lewis explained. Therefore, CMCs and law firms could take 30 per cent of the compensation without doing any work. Mr Lewis' money advice website MoneySavingExpert offers a free tool which will do a template complaint for you for DCAs. How much could I be compensated? The FCA estimates that most individuals making claims will receive 'less than £950 in compensation per agreement'. The final cost of a compensation scheme will depend on the final design which it takes, the FCA added in its statement earlier today. The first payments are forecast to be made in 2026. For DCA cases, the maximum you could receive is all of the commission you paid, Mr Lewis said. It is more likely you will be paid the higher interest rate you were charged minus the standard interest rate. A simple interest - meaning the interest is calculated on the original amount of the loan - of roughly 3 per cent per year will be added on top of the payout, Mr Lewis added. 'The very high likelihood is that many people who had a discretionary commission arrangement where they were charged more interest than they should have been will get back a chunk of that in the hundreds of pounds at some point in 2026,' he said. But the expert warned that the industry could 'fight this hard', before he urged industry members to accept the 'fair compromise'.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Hamilton casts doubt over future in F1 after poor finish for Ferrari in Hungary
Lewis Hamilton gave a remarkably downbeat response, prompting questions about his future in Formula One, after he managed only 12th place in the Hungarian Grand Prix, won by McLaren's Lando Norris, the former world champion suggesting he was in no little turmoil and that he would 'hopefully' return when F1 resumes after the summer break. Having qualified in 12th place in Budapest, describing the performance as 'absolutely useless' and stating that Ferrari should find another driver, he appeared equally unimpressed with his drive to 12th place in the race on Sunday. Afterwards he gave a dejected reply when asked about his comments from Saturday. 'When you have a feeling, you have a feeling,' he said. 'There is a lot going on in the background that is not great.' He did not elucidate on whether the issues were personal, or related to his career and Ferrari, but when asked if he was disillusioned with racing said: 'No, I still love it, I still love the team.' He was, however, unusually unengaged after the race at the Hungaroring. He gave monosyllabic answers to questions and when asked why, said: 'I have got nothing else to say.' He leaves the paddock on tenterhooks with the summer break beginning and the next round not until the Dutch GP on 31 August, about which he was similarly cryptic. He was 'very much' looking forward to the break, but when asked if he would be driving at the next round, was less equivocal: 'I look forward to coming back … Hopefully I will be back, yeah.' His Ferrari team principal, Fred Vasseur, maintained that his driver was just disheartened by a tough weekend. 'I don't need to motivate him, honestly, he's frustrated, but not demotivated,' he said. 'I can perfectly understand the situation. He's demanding. But that's why he's a seven-time world champion. 'He's demanding with the team, with the car, with the engineers, with the mechanics, with myself but first of all, he's very demanding with himself. I can understand the frustration from Lewis. This is normal. He will come back.' Hamilton's former team principal at Mercedes, Toto Wolff, also felt he would bounce back. 'Lewis is wearing his heart on his sleeve. It was very raw what he said [on Saturday], he was hard on himself,' Wolff said. 'We have seen it before when he felt he had not met his own expectations. He's been that emotionally transparent since he was a young adult. 'Lewis has unfinished business in Formula One. You ask me if he still has it? He definitely has it.'
