Ferrari F40 Hamilton has called for a true Ferrari F40 successor. Picture: Newspress
Image: Newspress
It goes without saying that Lewis Hamilton is extremely excited about driving for the Ferrari Formula One team this year.
His 2025 season might be off to a rocky start, with a 10th place finish in Australia and disqualification in China due to a technical breach, but it’s going to take a lot more than that to dampen his enthusiasm for the Prancing Horse.
The seven-time F1 world champion wants to help design a supercar that will serve as a spiritual successor to the legendary Ferrari F40.
"One of the things I really want to do is I want to design a Ferrari. I want to do an F44," Hamilton announced in Australia recently, as reported by Motorsport.com. Of course, 44 is his race number.
Lewis Hamilton.
Image: Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP
"Baseline of an F40, with the actual stick shift (manual gearbox). That's what I'm gonna work on for the next few years."
That’s about as much as the F1 driver is willing to reveal for now about his ambitious project, but it’s enough to imply that the supercar - assuming it ever happens - will have a back-to-basics kind of character.
Hamilton is a huge fan of the F40, a car that was dedicated solely to raw and unfiltered driving satisfaction.
Released in 1987, it was the last Ferrari to be personally approved by Enzo Ferrari before his death in 1988, and it was the first production car in the world to exceed the magical 200mph (320km/h) barrier.
It was incredibly lightweight, at 1,100kg dry, thanks to its lightweight kevlar and F1-derived carbon fibre panels, which were revolutionary at the time.
The cabin was stripped of all unnecessary items, including carpeting, sound deadening material and even door handles, and the vehicle had no traction control or ABS brakes. You could forget about air conditioning too, at least in the initial models. This was eventually added to address the severe heat issues in the cabin.
Power came from a 2.9-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine that offered up 352kW at 7,000rpm.
The F40 was replaced in the 1990s by the F50, which was eventually succeeded by the Enzo, LaFerrari and today’s F80, but they progressively became more sophisticated and luxurious.
It remains to be seen whether Ferrari will ever create Hamilton’s dream F44, and whether it will be as ‘pure’ as he envisions is anyone’s guess.
ALSO READ: Iconic Ferrari F40 Driven In Maranello
IOL
Related Topics: