LEWIS HAMILTON HAS RESCUED A FERRARI F40 ABANDONED "FOR OVER THRIRTY YEARS"

 

“I don’t have any cars anymore,” said Lewis Hamilton back in 2025. “I got rid of all my cars. I’m more into art nowadays. If I was going to get a car, it would be the F40. But that’s a nice piece of art.”

Strong agree, Lewis. Now we learn the seven-time Formula One world champion has finally bagged himself a nice piece of art, because he’s just revealed he’s now the owner of a Ferrari F40.

The car he was pictured next to dressed like a mafia boss last year. The car that adorned a million bedroom walls in the Eighties. A car that Gerhard Berger once said was ‘easy to drive… if you are experienced with racing cars’.

We’re lightly certain Hamilton’s experienced with racing cars. And now he gets to work on his very own F40. “This is the car of my dreams and has been for as long as I can remember,” he said in his post. “As a kid I dreamt of having one. When I joined Ferrari last year I made sure to have one with me on my first day at Maranello. That’s how much it means to me.

“These cars are works of art and incredibly rare, so when I found this one, covered in dust after being sat in a garage for over thirty years, I knew I had to bring her home.

“First to Maranello, where the master engineers and mechanics at the factory worked for weeks to bring her back to life. Massive thank you to everyone who had a hand in this project. This has truly been a dream come true. I can’t wait to share more with you all.

“Stay tuned…”

Is this the beginning of his long-held ambition to build an F40-based 'F44' supercar with a manual gearbox? Stay tuned indeed.

- Vijay Pattni

LEWIS HAMILTON MUST FOLLOW STRICT RULE AT FERRARI THAT NO OTHER F1 TEAM HAS INCLUDING MERCEDES AND RED BULL

Hamilton will have to adapt.

Lewis Hamilton will have to follow a strict rule this year at Ferrari which could concern the seven-time World Champion.

Hamilton arrived at Maranello on Monday and posed in front of Enzo Ferrari's white house alongside the iconic Ferrari F40.

The 40-year-old will be in Italy all week and is expected to make his on-track debut for the Scuderia on Wednesday, likely driving either the 2021 or 2022 Ferrari challenger.

Ferrari is by far the most prestigious team on the grid, so it's no surprise that Hamilton wants to tick it off his bucket list as he approaches the end of his career.

Racing for Ferrari will be a completely different responsibility for Hamilton due to the team's history, and his new team operate under long-standing rules that Hamilton will have to live with.

Other teams on the grid quite openly have a driver hierarchy within the team, for example, Max Verstappen is given priority on strategy for Red Bull and Hamilton himself received similar treatment at Mercedes when teammates with Valtteri Bottas.

Red Bull chief Helmut Marko even confirmed Liam Lawson should not 'expect to beat' Verstappen in 2025 as that 'isn't his role'.

At Ferrari however, the team itself is treated as a kind of higher power and must come before any individual, so the notion of having a number-one driver is not considered by the Italian team.

Team Principal Fred Vasseur reiterated this point last year:

“We showed this season that we have more than equal treatment between the drivers,” Vasseur told media.

“I remember perfectly that one year ago in the same room, I had tons of questions about Charles number one and Carlos number two and 'blah blah blah'.

“It's not that we have a number one that’s a bigger asset. We have two drivers, they are doing a good job," Vasseur stated.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton at the 2024 Italian Grand Prix- Getty

This could become an issue for Hamilton given his recent form, particularly given he is up against Charles Leclerc who is coming into his prime years.

Despite holding the record for most pole positions in the sport's history, Hamilton's qualifying form was disastrous by his own admission in 2024.

Leclerc has a 100% record of out qualifying his teammate across a full season, and without a certified number-one driver Ferrari are far more likely to give their lead driver a preferential strategy.

- Tom Jenkins

"DREAM OF RACING IN RED...": LEWIS HAMILTON BEGINS F1 CHAPTER WITH SCUDERIA

Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton joins Ferrari ahead of the 2025 season, after 12 successful years with Mercedes.

Lewis Hamilton joins Ferrari.
© X/ScuderiaFerrar

Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton shared his excitement on social media after visiting Ferrari's headquarters in Maranello for the first time on Monday. Hamilton is gearing up for his inaugural season with the legendary team, Ferrari, having made the switch from Mercedes to replace Carlos Sainz and partner Charles Leclerc. Hamilton posted another update, featuring a photo of him standing outside the factory in a sharp all-black suit, alongside a Ferrari F40 sports car. The British driver expressed gratitude for achieving his dream of racing for Ferrari.

"There are some days that you know you'll remember forever and today, my first as a Ferrari driver, is one of those days. I've been lucky enough to have achieved things in my career that I never thought possible, but part of me has always held on to that dream of racing in red. I couldn't be happier to realise that dream today," Hamilton wrote in a post on Instagram.

"Today we start a new era in the history of this iconic team, and I can't wait to see what story we will write together," he added.

This week, Hamilton is expected to complete various pre-season tasks at Maranello, including meeting team members and conducting simulator work, ahead of his first, yet-to-be-confirmed, run in a Ferrari F1 car.

Hamilton finished the last Formula 1 season behind Mercedes teammate George Russell at seventh place with 223 points including two race wins in British GP and Belgian GP. Hamilton drove his final race with Mercedes at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last month and finished fourth ahead of Russell to end his 11-year-long association with the Silver Arrows.

The 18-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli will fill Hamilton's shoes at Mercedes for the upcoming season with Valtteri Bottas in reserve.

- Indo-Asian News Service

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