Sir Lewis Hamilton only joined Scuderia Ferrari last season, but the seven-time Formula 1 World Champion has revealed how his passion for the Prancing Horse long predated his 2025 arrival in Maranello.
In the latest video posted to the British driver’s YouTube channel, Hamilton revealed that he had recently acquired a ‘barn find’ example of the Ferrari F40.
Not only does he gush over it, describing it as his “dream car”, the purchase also proves that he’s a man of his word.
On his first day after joining Scuderia Ferrari in January 2025, the first image to emerge after the announcement was Hamilton stood next to an F40 at the Fiorano test track.
In September that year, however, Hamilton told The Independent during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix that he had sold his entire car collection, and that only one car could tempt him back into vehicle ownership now.
“I don’t have any cars anymore. I got rid of all my cars. I’m more into art nowadays,” Hamilton said at the time.
“If I was going to get a car, it would be the F40. But that’s a nice piece of art.”
What could’ve been dismissed as him buttering up his new employer at the time is clearly now fact, with the new video confirming just how he feels about the iconic supercar.
“There are cars that you admire, and then there are cars that make you feel something,” Hamilton explains.
“Growing up, Ferrari was always more than a badge. It was the sound, the history, the posters on the wall, the dream.
“And the F40 – this is the Ferrari of my dreams. It was with me on my first day at Maranello when my childhood dream of driving for the team in red came true.”
Not a whole lot is known about the F40 Hamilton ended up buying, including how he procured it or how much he paid, although he did confirm the barn find’s “untouched, original” condition.
“[It] sat in the garage for over 30 years,” Hamilton notes.
“The dust on the paint, the dirt in the grille, and the flies in the grille – this car is still exactly as it was when it left the factory floor.
“Every bit of it tells a story. Seeing it come back to life, it’s incredibly special.”
The team at Ferrari then embarked on the no doubt extensive process of restoring the F40 to working condition for Hamilton, who at the time of writing sits third in the 2026 F1 standings.
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Now, ahead of this weekend’s Formula 1 race at Monza, Hamilton has finally wheeled out the finished product, taking to his Instagram account to show off the finished product.
Wearing a set of UK-style vanity plates with his famous racing number of 44, Hamilton noted in a post that the timing of the project’s completion was the ideal way to kick off the weekend on Ferrari’s home soil
“What a way to start a Monza race weekend,” Hamilton wrote.
“Thank you to everyone for following along this journey with me, I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have. Now it’s time to race.”
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