Ever wondered what Lewis Hamilton drives when he’s not putting miles on the company car? If you guessed SsangYong Tivoli, you were wrong…
Whether on a racetrack or a public road, two hours behind the wheel is enough for Lewis Hamilton. “I do like driving,” says the six-time Formula One world champion, almost defensively, “but I hate sitting in a car for more than a couple of hours – it’s time you don’t get back.” The Le Mans 24-Hours isn’t in his future, GQ ventures? “No way, F1 is already at my limit.”
For long trips, he reclines in his S600 Maybach, Mercedes SUV or Cadillac Escalade and lets someone else do the steering, but the 35-year-old is a passionate car collector. Automobiles are, he tells GQ, his biggest investment and one he enjoys. “Banks aren’t doing shit these days,” he scoffs. “So many sportsmen – sportswomen are generally a smarter species – have squandered their money. I’m very conscious of that. I don’t know anything about wine. I don’t know a huge amount about art. But what I do know is cars and I’m very particular about them.
Hamilton owns upwards of 15 cars, eight of which he classes as “special”, divided between his main residence in Monaco and a garage he rents in Los Angeles.
Ferrari 599 SA Aperta (2010)
When Lewis passed his driving test, in 2002, he got a second-hand Mini Cooper. After the Mini, the next car Lewis bought with his own money was a Ferrari 599 GTO in 2010, which he sold a few years ago. He’s kept the 2012 599 SA Aperta, though – the ultra-rare open-top variant. “I tend to have two of the same car, because when they bring out a more limited edition I have to have it,” explains Hamilton. The letters “S” and “A” are a tribute to designers Sergio and Andrea Pininfarina, while “Aperta” is Italian for “open”. That means you can get an even better earful of the GTO’s ludicrous 661bhp V12. It’s also got the GTO’s transmission, which changes gear in 60 milliseconds and will do 0-62mph in just 3.6 seconds. Only 80 were made and they’re worth about £1.4 million now – a million more than Lewis paid then. A canny investment by the Grand Prix great.
Pagani Zonda 760LH (2012)
The “LH”, you may have guessed, stands for “Lewis Hamilton”. This £1.6m bespoke hypercar, which is powered by a 7.3-litre 750bhp Mercedes V12, is purple inside and out. Lewis loves the noise but isn’t the biggest fan of the way it drives, which maybe explains why he pranged it in 2015 driving home from a Monte Carlo nightclub. “The Zonda is terrible to drive. It’s by far the best sounding car I own, but handling-wise it’s the worst. I got it in manual because I didn’t like the Tiptronic version. The Tiptronic Pagani offered was worse than the Smart Roadster I had. I’m used to quick gearshifts, so I guess I’m more critical than most customers. If you asked me to design my own supercar, I’d have it manual.”
Ferrari LaFerrari (2017)
Lewis’s favourite colour is candy-apple red, preferably offset with gloss black accents. That’s the look he went for on his Challenger 605 jet (since sold due to environmental concerns and perhaps the tax avoidance scandal it triggered). Never mind, because he’s still got something just as quick and in the same funky hue: a Kers-assisted 949bhp Ferrari LaFerrari, capable of 217mph and 0-62mph in 2.4 seconds. Once again, when the Aperta version came out three years later, in 2016, Hamilton had to have it. Since then, the value of this pearl white car has doubled (at least) from £2m – at one stage they were valued at £7.5m, but have come a little bit back down to earth. Lewis is strict with himself about how much he plays with his toys. “In LA, I’ve got a tow truck and a handyman. If I think I’ve had my excitement quota for the day I’ll ring him up and he’ll collect it from wherever I am.” Paparazzi snapped the Aperta being towed from Soho House’s Malibu outpost a couple of years ago and it was falsely reported the car had broken down. In fact, Lewis was just being mindful of the miles.
Shelby 427 Cobra (1966)
Lewis’s savviest purchase so far is his 1966 Shelby 427 Cobra, which is so mint he doesn’t want to spoil it by driving it – so he’s bought a second one of those too. Engineered by all-American race car hero Carroll Shelby (of Ford V Ferrari fame), the Shelby version of the AC Cobra had a new chassis and coil spring suspension, bigger hips and fenders and an apocalyptic 7.0-litre Ford FE block pushing out over 425bhp. “I found [the first one] and called Carroll Shelby to check it out for me,” says Hamilton, which he could easily do as the F1 champ. “He said it was one of the best he’d seen in a long time, all original. Carroll died a month after I bought it. I got a second one soon after, a ’67 427, which I actually use more because I want to keep the ’66 one perfect.” Since Shelby’s passing in 2012, the value of 427s has quadrupled. Hamilton’s are probably worth £4-5m for the pair.
Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
Getting the great Carroll Shelby to personally vet his purchases came after Lewis grew wary of some classic restorers in the US. In 2011, he bought a 1967 Mustang Shelby GT500. Packing Ford’s 7.0-litre 428 Police Interceptor V8, it produces 355 very angry horses. Lewis found one and had it painted in his favourite shade again – cherry red with black stripes – but he’s not happy. “I got the GT500 because I’d seen Steve McQueen drive it in Bullitt. Beautiful car, but it’s a heap of junk. The company did a good job on the paint job, but the rest of the car just isn’t very good, so I never drive it. The people who sold it to me were dodgy. Now I only buy cars from those I trust.” Whether on the track or in the showroom, Hamilton never makes the same mistake twice.
McLaren P1 (2015)
Were it not for McLaren, we may never have heard of Hamilton. Famously, aged ten, he approached the company’s legendary boss Ron Dennis at the Autosport Awards gala and said he wanted to drive for him. Three years later, the young karter was signed as a McLaren development driver. In 2007, aged 22, Lewis made his F1 debut at McLaren alongside Fernando Alonso and the rest is history. Hamilton left McLaren for Mercedes in 2013 (has there ever been a more astute transfer?) but remains on good terms with his old Woking-based spannerers, so much so that in 2015 he sank €1m from the proceeds of his latest world title victory into a royal blue McLaren P1, one of 375 built. McLaren designed their own twin-turbo V8 hybrid engine for this car, producing 903bhp. Not only that, its active aerodynamics means it generates 600kg of downforce at 150mph. Good job Lewis has the neck for it.
Mercedes-AMG One (2020)
Like the McLaren P1 and Ferrari LaFerrari, here we have a hypercar directly inspired by an F1 team – in this case, Lewis’s team and Hamilton himself has been involved in its development. Still in the prototype stage for now, the One (previously known as the Project One in its concept stage) will develop around 1,200 horsepower through a plug-in hybrid powertrain that shares many features with Lewis’s F1 machine, including a modified 1.6 V6 turbo and four electric motors. The revs will be limited to 11,000rpm (that’s 4,000 down on an F1 car) and it should hit the fabled 62mph in an eye-popping 2.2 seconds. Only 275 Mercedes-AMG Ones will be built and Lewis will take delivery of his in 2021. Given the five drivers’ titles and six constructors’ crowns he’s helped them win, Mercedes will overlook the £2.2m price tag.
What next for Lewis Hamilton’s garage? Future acquisitions may include a Mercedes 300SL Gullwing (his former rival Nico Rosberg owns a nice one of those) and, perhaps, a Ferrari 250GT California Spyder. “That’s the dream car, like the one in Ferris Bueller. When I retire, that’s what I wanna drive.” So, a Ferrari is in his destiny, in some form or other.
“I hope people don’t get angry reading this, being envious,” he adds, a little concerned. “When Jamiroquai [Jay Kay] got the [Ferrari] Enzo I thought, ‘That’s frickin’ awesome.’ I was inspired by that. He’s a guy from a normal background and I figured if he could do that maybe I could too. These are my babies, my art pieces, and I’ve worked hard for them.”
