Lewis Hamilton wants to design a modern Ferrari F40: the F44

It's still a bit hard to get used to the idea, but since the beginning of 2025, Lewis Hamilton is a pilot Ferrari. Other than his certain desire to grab everything in Formula 1 With his new team and to bring back to Italy a title he has coveted for 18 years already, the British driver has admitted his ambition to develop a Ferrari based on the legendary F40: the F44. An undisguised reference to his racing number, of course.

It was in Australia, for his first weekend in red in Formula 1, that the Briton revealed this intention. For all car enthusiasts, butterflies in the stomach and tingling in the cheeks are awakened by the charm of such an announcement. As a reminder, the Ferrari F40 is, if not the most iconic, one of the most breathtaking sports cars imagined by the employees of Maranello. The last Ferrari personally approved by "He Commentadores" (Enzo Ferrari), before his death in 1988, the F40 is a manual marvel equipped with a twin-turbo V8 producing 478 horsepower and which took abundant inspiration from Formula 1 in its design: use of a tubular steel chassis, Kevlar panels and even carbon fiber.

Thus, Lewis Hamilton, an undeniable fan of road cars, as evidenced by his magnificent collection, wishes to work towards building a car that pays homage to this legend. His ambitions are the opposite of the recent creations of the Prancing Horse, since the Englishman wants a manual gearbox on the potential F44. A goldsmith's workshop that disappeared from Maranello in 2008 – coincidentally, it was the year of the last championship won by the Scuderia – with the extremely rare Ferrari California with manual gearboxes (only 2 examples produced).

Coincidence of the calendar or not, Top Gear revealed last November that Ferrari would be openingrage for a reissue of F40 through his series Icona, models that reference the past of the Italian brand. So, will Lewis Hamilton have the opportunity to influence this creation? As a reminder, this desire to develop a supercar for the Englishman is not new. In 2016, the former driver Mercedes had expressed interest in helping the star brand develop a super sports car. This wish never materialized, but perhaps it will be in these new colors.

Hamilton follows in Schumacher's footsteps

If Lewis Hamilton manages to influence the production of a road-going Ferrari, he would not be the first driver to work on such a task, as the legend Michael Schumacher had taken on the development of the Ferrari Enzo. Indeed, while he was a driver at Maranello, the Red Baron lent his expertise to fine-tuning the Enzo, the supercar unveiled in 2002.

While the Prancing Horse wanted his creation to be the closest possible F1 road car, the German driver contributed to this goal by carrying out numerous track tests to refine the chassis, aerodynamics and, above all, the new robotic gearbox directly derived from the F1. Let's hope Lewis Hamilton can do the same, for all fans of the Prancing Horse brand.

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