Lewis Hamilton Bought a Ferrari F40 Barn Find.

Lewis Hamilton sold his entire car collection in 2025. The Pagani Zonda 760 LH. The Mercedes-AMG Project One. The Ferrari LaFerrari. The 1966 Shelby Cobra 427. Gone. All of it.

However there was one car that could get him back into serious collector and investment grade cars...

Hamilton just revealed his Ferrari F40. Found covered in dust in a garage where it had been sitting for over thirty years, taken straight to the Ferrari factory at Maranello, and restored to life by Ferrari Classiche's master engineers. A full nut-and-bolt restoration: the tubular steel chassis stripped completely bare, the 2.9-litre twin-turbocharged V8 pulled from the car and rebuilt on an engine stand. Hamilton has he showed up to a Tokyo car meet in a red F40 earlier this year and drifted it around Daikoku Parking Area with Kim Kardashian in the passenger seat, months before confirming the story publicly.

"My very own F40," Hamilton posted on Instagram. "This is the car of my dreams and has been for as long as I can remember. 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."

What Hamilton Understands That Most Car Buyers Don't

Hamilton sold everything else. He kept nothing. And then, when he decided to own a single car again. One car, from a collection that had included some of the most extraordinary machines ever built. He chose the F40.

That is not a sentimental decision. That is a considered one. Hamilton understands the asset class that the F40 represents, and the numbers justify the conviction completely.

When Hamilton won his first Formula One World Championship with McLaren in 2008, a Ferrari F40 was worth approximately $600,000. Last month, a 1991 Ferrari F40 sold at auction for $8,365,000. A new record. That is not a single lucky result. 

From $600,000 in 2008 to $8,000,000+ today. The F40 has not merely held its value. It has quietly become one of the greatest long-term investments in the modern car market, and it has done so while delivering one of the most visceral, uncompromising driving experiences ever fitted to a road car.

Why the F40 Is Irreplaceable

Only 1,311 Ferrari F40s were ever built. Every single one left the factory in Rosso Corsa. Every one was left-hand drive. Every one was powered by the same 2.9-litre twin-turbocharged V8 producing 478 horsepower in a car weighing just 1,100kg. No power steering. No ABS. No traction control. No carpets, no radio, no cup holders. Just a racing car that Ferrari deemed road-legal.

The F40 is regarded as one of the first true supercars, and it was the last car personally approved by Enzo Ferrari before his death in 1988. What makes the F40 permanently irreplaceable in 2026 is not just its history. It is the impossibility of recreating what it represents. A twin turbo charged road car with no electronic aids, no mandatory safety systems, and a development programme that prioritised sensation over compliance. This cannot be built today. Not under any regulatory framework currently in existence. The F40 is a sealed chapter. There will never be another.

Hamilton spent 2025 doing the opposite of buying cars. Speaking ahead of that year's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, he confirmed he had cleared out his garage. "I don't have any cars anymore," he said. "I'm more into art nowadays."

The man who has driven the most sophisticated racing machines on the planet, who has owned the most extraordinary road cars available, chose the F40 as the single car worth owning. That is the clearest possible endorsement of what the F40 represents as both a driving experience and an asset.

What Happens Next

The $8,365,000 result recorded last month is not the ceiling. It is the direction of travel. The F40 approaches its 40th anniversary in 2027. Interest, auction activity, and media coverage will intensify. The pool of genuinely pristine examples diminishes steadily as cars are used, accidents happen, and time takes its toll. Supply compresses. Demand from a new generation of collectors who understand exactly what Hamilton just bought continues to grow.

The barn-find story Hamilton has just told. A car sitting untouched for thirty years, taken to Maranello, restored by the factory, and brought back to life by the world's most celebrated racing driver, adds a layer of provenance and cultural narrative to the F40 story that will only pull the market higher.

Hamilton got it right. The F40 is not just a car. It is a piece of art. And like the best art, it keeps appreciating.

Find out more about investment cars.

I've spent a significant amount of time putting together the Appreciating Automobiles 2026 report. Access it for free here:

👉 Click here to download for FREE