Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari F40 Arrival Steals the Show at Monza
Lewis Hamilton has not even turned a wheel in anger at Monza this weekend, yet he has already delivered one of the standout moments of the Italian Grand Prix.
On Thursday, the seven-time world champion rolled into the paddock in a car that even in Ferrari’s own backyard can stop conversations mid-sentence: a pristine Ferrari F40, freshly restored and now part of his very small, very select personal collection.
No team SUV. No anonymous courtesy car. Hamilton arrived in the stuff of bedroom posters.
A childhood poster made real
Hamilton, immaculately dressed in a black suit and tan overcoat, pulled up in the scarlet icon that he recently acquired after a painstaking restoration. The F40, one of just 1,311 examples built between 1987 and 1992, had spent more than three decades forgotten in a garage, gathering dust while its legend grew.
Ferrari’s specialists in Maranello then went to work, breathing life back into a machine that today can command around $3 million. They restored it for a man who has spent his life at the wheel of the fastest cars on earth, yet still talks about this one like an awestruck kid.
On social media, Hamilton laid bare what the car means to him.
“My very own F40. This is the car of my dreams and has been for as long as I can remember,” he wrote. “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.”
On the rear, the personal touch: a number plate carrying his trademark 44, the number that has followed him through his Formula 1 career.
Style, spectacle and the Tifosi
Hamilton’s entrances to Monza are becoming something of a sideshow in their own right. Last year he arrived for qualifying on a tricolore Ducati, leaning into Italian passion on two wheels. This time, he has chosen a different symbol of national pride, one that speaks directly to the heart of Ferrari’s fanbase.
The sight of a future Ferrari race driver gliding through the Monza paddock in an F40 — in Italy, in Ferrari red, with 44 on the plate — felt like a carefully drawn line between past, present and what comes next.
Hamilton, now 41, has spoken of fulfilling a lifelong dream by owning the car. The timing is no coincidence. His move to Ferrari has already shifted the tectonic plates of Formula 1; turning up at Monza in an F40 only deepens the bond with the Tifosi before he has even raced for them.
Eyes on a new Monza chapter
For now, Hamilton’s focus turns from a restored legend to the current Ferrari machinery chasing glory on home soil. The team arrives at Monza hunting a victory it last claimed in 2024 with Charles Leclerc, a win that sent the grandstands into the kind of red frenzy only this circuit can produce.
Hamilton has already won almost everything there is to win in the sport. Yet the prospect of sending the Tifosi into rapture in Ferrari colours remains one of the few challenges left that can still move the needle.
He has brought his dream car to Monza. The question now is whether Ferrari can give him — and Italy — the result to match the theatre.
