Lewis Hamilton is a very familiar name in the motorsport world. He is a seven-time Formula 1 world champion, and he is striving to add more to that number this season. But apart from his incredible achievement in the most elite motor racing championship, the 36-year-old Brit also has quite a reputation for being a passionate car collector. His most significant investments have been the automobiles he collected throughout the years, and he has an extremely particular taste in them, to say the least.
Hence, as a man who knows his way around cars, it is safe to bet that he owns some of the most extraordinary collectibles in his garages. In fact, he’s got so many of these beauties that he had to spread them between 2 prominent locations—Monaco and Los Angeles.
With excitement, we peeked into his personal car collection and highlighted the ones holding a special place in his heart.
Enjoy!
1966 Shelby Cobra 427
The list kicks off with probably the savviest purchase Lewis ever made as a car collector, a 1966 Shelby Cobra 427. It is a close-to-perfect all-original unit that even Carroll Shelby (the man who engineered the car) himself said so after examining it just a month before his passing.
The beautiful roadster has a tuned Ford’s 7.0-liter V8 engine producing a glorious 425 hp and goes from 0 to 60 mph in just over 4 seconds. The car was in such prime condition that Lewis bought another unit, this time a ’67 so that he could use it on a regular basis and keep the ’66 in mint condition.
The value of Lewis’ 427s has quadrupled since he purchased them in 2012. Some say the pair could probably be worth $5-7 million by now.
1967 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
The ’67 Mustang is another proof of his interest in American classics. Inspired by the movie ‘Bullitt,’ where Steve McQueen drove one, Lewis wanted to get his own Mustang GT500.
But what he bought was no ordinary ’67 Mustang, as Carroll Shelby also helped Ford engineer this version. Under the hood is a 7.0-liter V8 producing 355 angry ponies. He painted it in cherry red with black stripes, as it is one of his favorite shades—similar to the Bombardier Challenger 605 private jet he also used to own.
But apparently, Lewis ended up not enjoying this Mustang so much and said he never really driven it. The car’s purchase experience was also a lesson for him to only buy cars from those he trusts, as he mentioned he had to deal with some dodgy salespersons in the process.
2012 Ferrari 599 SA Aperta
In 2010, Lewis made his second-ever car purchase with his own money by bringing home a bespoke Ferrari 599 GTO. Two years later, Ferrari launched the limited edition open-roof version known as the 599 SA Aperta. There were only 80 of them made, and Lewis couldn’t resist buying one. He admitted having the habit of purchasing two of the same car, especially if a more limited edition came out at a later date.
Adopting the same 6.0-liter V12 engine from the GTO, the 599 SA Aperta punches 661 hp and nails a 0-60 mph time in just 3.6 seconds. Those are insanely fast numbers, especially with RWD configuration and the top down. Also, the GTO’s gearbox applies to the SA Aperta, meaning it changes gear in 60 milliseconds – faster than the average human can blink.
Although he sold his 599 GTO back in 2018, he has no plan to sell his SA Aperta just yet. This super rare collectible is reported to be worth $1.95 million now, which is $1.4 million more than what Lewis paid for initially—a great investment call indeed.
2012 Pagani Zonda 760 LH
Pagani often makes bespoke cars for its customers, and you may probably have guessed what the “LH” stands for in this one-off Zonda. Yup, it stands for no other than his name, “Lewis Hamilton.”
This 2012 Pagani Zonda 760 LH is a bespoke hypercar powered by a 7.3-liter V12 producing 760 hp. Although it looks spectacular in its dark purple livery and sounds fantastic, Lewis isn’t really a big fan of its handling. He even once crashed the Zonda back in 2015 in Monaco and blamed it on fatigue.
Regardless, he fixed it anyway, and now the car sits nicely in his garage in Monaco. It’s probably the wise thing to do to keep the $2 million hypercar out of any more trouble.
2014 Mercedes-AMG SLS Black Series
Isn’t it obvious that Lewis would have at least one Mercedes-Benz on his collection? But certainly, he knows how to pick the right one to collect.
In 2014, Lewis bought himself a brutally fast Mercedes-AMG SLS Black Series powered by a 6.2-liter V8 producing 622 hp, good enough to hit 60 mph from a standstill in just 3.5 seconds and reach a top speed of 196 mph. In addition, carrying the name “Black Series” means there aren’t so many of them out there—just 150 units were ever made worldwide.
Hence, the car is worth collecting, especially when the price has already doubled to more than $1 million. And good thing he went for the aggressive-looking red color, which makes it even rarer.
2015 Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6X6
You may have caught Lewis arriving in a few Mercedes SUVs, but not so often in this. To celebrate his 3rd win at the Italian Grand Prix at the time, Lewis posted a picture of him in one of his most bonkers car purchases yet—the Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6X6.
The thing is a beast! It’s powered by a 5.5-liter twin-turbo V8 producing 536 hp and is six-wheel drive. It measures 231 inches long, 87 inches tall and has a ground clearance of over 18 inches. Hence it is ready to tackle just about any terrain you can throw at it.
This massively built Mercedes defines such a powerful presence on the road, which might be why Lewis went for it. The production was also limited to only around 100 units, making its price skyrocket from $500,000 when it was new to about $1.5 million now—again, nailing the investment part of the story here.
2015 McLaren P1
As a Brit who once raced for the brand, his love for McLaren is still in the air. It was made particularly evident after he purchased a McLaren P1 only two years after he signed to race for team Mercedes.
Powering the British hypercar is a 3.8-liter hybrid V8 producing an epic 903 hp. It goes from 0-60 mph in just 2.8 seconds and can reach a top speed of 217 mph. Even by today’s standard, it is still one of the fastest production cars ever made.
This fast toy cost him a cool $1.15 million to bring back home to Monaco. But since Mclaren only made 375 of them, and they were all sold out, it was definitely a bargain for Lewis. In fact, the P1’s value has been rising ever since. Most of them are currently priced well over $1.5 million in the luxury used car market.
2015 Ferrari LaFerrari
Ferrari might be Lewis’ modern-day Formula 1 rival on the track, but that doesn’t stop him from purchasing the brand’s limitedly produced hypercars. Thus in 2015, he bought himself a bespoke Ferrari LaFerrari, painted in his favorite red color, just like his ’67 Mustang Shelby, with gloss black accents.
The LaFerrari was the first-ever hybrid Ferrari, adopting a 6.3-liter V12 outputting an impressive 949 hp. As a result, the 0-60 mph sprint takes just 2.6 seconds with a top speed of 217 mph—this could be the fastest accelerating car ever bought by Hamilton yet.
Worldwide, there were only 499 LaFerraris ever sold, and each one of them has carried a price tag of at least $1.1 million. And let’s not forget, Lewis bought the LaFerrari in the same year he purchased the McLaren P1. Meaning he bought two of the most exclusive hypercars in the same year—if that’s not living the dream, I don’t know what is.
2017 Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta
Just two years after his LaFerrari purchase, Ferrari unveiled the LaFerrari Aperta—the open-top version of the original LaFerrari. So, of course, Lewis couldn’t help but purchase this even rarer model, as Ferrari made only 210 units of the Aperta. In fact, it reserved only 9 of them to be Ferrari 70th Anniversary editions, and Lewis managed to get one of those nine.
He went a bit more subtle than usual with his Aperta, opting for a plain white color and black wheels. But he really went all-out when it comes to options since he added carbon fiber Scuderia shields, red brake calipers, carbon fiber wheel hubcaps, and an entire black Alcantara interior.
Lewis paid around twice the closed-top LaFerrari’s price for the Aperta, at well over $2 million. But the unit’s rarity has made it worth more than three times its original price by now. Therefore, he wanted to be so mindful of the milage that he even prepared a tow truck and hired a handyman to pick up the car whenever he has had enough of driving for the day.
1995 McLaren F1
Back in January 2020, a legendary McLaren F1 supercar had been purchased for an eye-watering $15.6 million by an anonymous buyer. The seller then spilled that the buyer was closely related to Formula 1 motorsport. Soon, it surfaced that the mysterious buyer was none other than Sir Lewis Hamilton.
As it turns out, there are a couple of excellent reasons why the former fastest car in the world deserved such an astronomical price tag. Partly because Lewis is one of the highest-paid athletes in the world, and he could afford it and partly due to the car’s chassis number (044)—Lewis’ original karting number. Hence, this could mean an absolute automotive gem to him.
This particular McLaren F1 was constructed in late 1995 is equipped with a 6.1-liter V12 producing 618 hp. As a result, accelerating from 0 to 60 mph is done in just 2.8 seconds, and the top speed reaches 225 mph—even faster than its high-tech successor, the McLaren P1.
Although we are unsure if $15.6 million was a bargain or not, we definitely get the sentimental value it might have for Lewis. Besides, it’s sure a worthy addition to his collection, keeping in mind that only 106 McLaren F1s were ever made.
Final Words
In an interview about his cars and prized possessions, Lewis said, “I could sell them all for way more than I paid for them, but these are my babies, my art pieces, and I’ve worked hard for them.”
That sentence clearly states his value awareness of his collections. He surely won’t take them for granted despite his massive purchasing power. But even with already plenty of cars owned, he still has to make room for one very special hypercar he developed together with Mercedes-Benz—the Mercedes-AMG One. The car would house his own 2015 Formula 1 car engine and be road legal. Although the prototype has already been unveiled, we don’t know exactly when he will be getting his hands on one. But it should be pretty soon, given that Mercedes confirmed that he would be receiving one of the first ones.
He also reported dreaming of owning a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL and a Ferrari 250GT California Spyder once he retires. We aren’t so excited about him potentially retiring, but we would sure love to see Lewis driving these extraordinary beauties one day.
