Monday 11 August at 11:42 : Flavio Briatore's August break hit a snag when the Renault formula one boss tried to power ashore from his luxury yacht.

The Italian newspaper La Stampa reports that the 58-year-old, his new wife and a celebrity entourage were pelted with water and sand by unhappy bathers when they tried to land on the crowded Capriccioli beach in Sardinia.

"The rebellion against those who show off their money and power is growing," the publication said.

Briatore was in town not only to enjoy the current three-week break between grands prix and testing, but to inaugurate a new restaurant and check on his 'Billionaire' nightclub.

But the manner in which they sped ashore enraged beachgoers and parents, while "terrorised children wailed between the waves", La Stampa claimed.

The irate swimmers yelled "Shame!", "Louts!" and "Go home!", and a mob even tried to push one of the Briatore dinghies back out to sea.

Mothers, meanwhile, hurled seawater from their children's buckets, and piles of wet sand were thrown, the newspaper also said.

Briatore reacted in Corriere della Sera: "We are nice people and we get rewarded like this.

"I will close down everything," he threatened. "I pay taxes, this is my right."