Lewis Hamilton banned from driving for doing 120mph in an 80 zone

Officers gave chase after the Formula One driver triggered a motorway speed trap in his highpowered Mercedes CLK.

After signalling for him to pull over on the A26 autoroute they handed the 22-year-old a £430 on-the-spot fine and impounded his sports car.

He was then driven to a hotel in the town of Laon, north east of Paris, where he waited for a friend to collect him.

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Yesterday Hamilton was banned in his absence from driving for one month by a judge in Laon.

A French motorway police spokesman said the race ace immediately "held his hands up" to the offence when he was stopped on Sunday afternoon.

He had been driving at 43mph over the limit.

He said: "He was not driving erratically, but he was considerably over the legal speed limit.

"He stopped straight away when we waved him down, and he was very polite and courteous.

"He paid his fine and agreed to hand his car over to police."

A spokesman for Hamilton's F1 McLaren racing team stressed that the incident would not affect the rookie star's professional driving career.

Although police confiscated his licence until the ban is over, the French do not have the power to put penalty points on a UK licence.

Hamilton may still drive in Britain during his ban, as long as he informs the DVLA that the French police are holding his licence.

Hamilton missed out on becoming world champion by just one point in his first season in F1 this year.

He is expected to remain with McLaren and earn at £10million during 2008.

Hamilton was thought to be heading from the UK to his new apartment in Switzerland when he was pulled over.

He has signed a lease on a luxury apartment on the shores of Lake Geneva, claiming he is quitting Britain because of intrusions in his personal life.

However, he is also saving £4million a year in tax by leaving the UK.

Hamilton's home is just half a mile from the lakeside villa of Saudi businessman Mansour Ojjeh - who owns 15 per cent of the McLaren F1 team.

Hamilton was pictured strolling hand-in-hand with Ojjeh's daughter Sara on a St Tropez beach this summer.

His new home is also just 25 miles away from rival Fernando Alonso's villa, also on the shores of Lake Geneva.

A friend of Hamilton's is said to have collected his Mercedes from a police car pound in Laon yesterday.