Lewis Hamilton and his Ferrari F40: “It’s simply the most beautiful car”

Early September in Monza’s Royal Park: in the paddock of the historic circuit, Lewis Hamilton says: “Competing at Monza as a Ferrari driver – you can’t beat that. Ferrari is iconic, Monza is iconic, the Tifosi are iconic – it doesn’t get any better than this.”

The most successful Formula 1 driver kicked off his Monza weekend in style: he arrived impeccably dressed and drove up in his freshly restored Ferrari F40. The fans went wild.

Speaking about his Ferrari F40, Hamilton says: “I’d been looking for an F40 for so long; I wanted a car with a history and low mileage. And a few years ago, I found one. The owner bought the car, drove it the whole 69 kilometres home from the Ferrari factory in Maranello, parked it there and never used it again. Just imagine that: the passenger door was never even opened!”

“After buying it, I thought: ‘Right, do I leave it gathering dust or do I restore it?’ I decided to restore it. But we hardly had to replace a single part. And now here’s the kicker – the engine is engraved with ‘Engine No. 44’, which is my race number! I said: ‘You can’t be serious, can you?’ But it’s really true. How crazy is that?”

“I always used to think it was fabulous how the Formula 1 drivers drove around in the most beautiful sports cars, and I longed to drive a really great car, and the F40 is simply fabulous.”

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“That’s why I wanted to go Ferrari-style this weekend, with exactly this car and exactly these clothes. I wanted to make a statement and also pay homage to the old days, when the drivers used to turn up at the circuits looking so incredibly cool.”

Hamilton starts to laugh. “Back when I was still a kart driver, my dad and I hired a Fiat 500 and drove it to the kart track. Suddenly, Keke Rosberg was driving ahead of us with his son Nico – in a Lamborghini Diablo. I thought: ‘Wow! How cool is that?’ Of course, we tried to keep up with the Diablo in our rickety 500, which wasn’t exactly easy. That popped into my mind when I arrived at the Monza circuit today.”

“Every day I’m amazed at what a fabulous brand Ferrari is – the logo, the colour, those timelessly beautiful cars! Ferrari has such a fabulous history; it’s unrivalled. And that takes me back to the F40. As a little lad, I had a model of it. I really have to pinch myself that I’m driving one today.”

Just under two months after his film star appearance, Hamilton is now following up: he’s posted a video on YouTube about the work on his F40.

Hamilton is completely blown away when he sees the lovingly restored car for the first time: “It’s simply the most beautiful car. I can’t believe how it looks – it really is like new.”

Then Hamilton sits behind the wheel, lost in thought, listening only to the glorious hum of the engine – visibly happy.