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Lewis Hamilton previously sold his entire car collection but made it clear he’d buy an F40 if the opportunity arose.
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This Ferrari F40 spent more than 30 years collecting dust in a garage before undergoing a weeks-long restoration.
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It’s one of just over 1,300 F40s Ferrari built, and the last model personally signed off by Enzo Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton sold his entire car collection last year, but there was always one car he said he’d make an exception for. Now, the seven-time Formula 1 world champion has finally bought his dream Ferrari: the one and only F40. The Scuderia driver took to Instagram to share photos of the iconic supercar undergoing an extensive restoration at the Maranello factory.
The car had reportedly spent more than 30 years sitting in a garage before Hamilton came across it and decided to bring it home. Judging by the license plate, it might have already been home, as the car appears to have been registered in Italy. For unknown reasons, the previous owner neglected it, allowing it to gather dust since the 1990s. It’s one of a little over 1,300 F40s built, and the last model Enzo Ferrari himself personally signed off on.
Hamilton had already given us a hint of just how much the F40 means to him. When he officially joined Ferrari in January 2025, one of the first images from his new chapter showed him posing next to an F40 at Maranello. The carefully staged photo became one of the defining images of his first day with the Scuderia, with Hamilton standing beside the legendary supercar outside Ferrari’s historic headquarters.
Not long after, the British racing driver revealed that he’d even like to work with Ferrari on a modern take on the F40. He had already thought of a name, F44, as a nod to his racing number:
‘One of the things I really want to do is I want to design a Ferrari. I want to do an F44. Baseline of an F40, with the actual stick shift. That’s what I’m gonna work on for the next few years.’
Until that happens, he must be thrilled to own the OG F40, especially one that’s now back in pristine condition after undergoing a weeks-long restoration in Maranello. The photos Hamilton shared show the supercar in various stages of the work, and the process appears to have been a comprehensive, engine-out recommissioning rather than a quick cosmetic refresh.
Predictably, Hamilton isn’t divulging how much he paid for the car, but RM Sotheby’s sold an F40 in April with just 1,118 miles (1,799 kilometers) on the clock for €4.3 million ($5 million).
Motor1’s Take: Hamilton owning an F40 feels almost too perfect. The Ferrari that apparently made the cut after he sold his collection is a 1980s icon with a twin-turbo V8, a manual gearbox, and very little interest in making life easy for its driver. It’s exactly the kind of car that reminds you why analog supercars still have such a strong following.
And while the F44 idea remains a tantalizing “what if,” Hamilton’s newly acquired F40 might be even better. It has the history, the provenance, and the connection to Enzo Ferrari that a modern reinterpretation could never fully replicate. Seeing one of the world’s greatest drivers finally get his hands on his dream Ferrari, and have it restored at Maranello, seems like a fitting next chapter for both Hamilton and the F40.
I’m pretty sure he won’t call it “terrible to drive” like he once did with the Pagani Zonda he owned.
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