Lewis Hamilton has rapidly become one of the greatest racing drivers that the world has ever seen. Dare we say: has he become the greatest? Currently driving for Mercedes, he was won six world titles so far, and, should F1 2020 get going in July, he could well make it a seventh this season. That would tie him with the legendary Michael Schumacher’s total.
It isn’t just F1 cars that he enjoys, though. He loves his road cars and has amassed quite a few of them in his collection over the years. Not all of them he’s enjoyed, however. There have been some cars he just has not taken much of shining to, for one reason or another - and he's been quite vocal about this in the various interviews throughout the years.
So, in this list, we have 10 cars that Hamilton adores, and 5 he hates. We’ve also added a couple of his F1 cars to this list. And although he has won in all of them (2020 W11 pending), he likes some more than others.
15 Adores - Ferrari LaFerrari
Ferrari’s insane LaFerrari is built around the hybrid technology that is used in its F1 cars. And Hamilton turned heads when he revealed he’d bought one a few years ago. Cue the Hamilton to Ferrari rumors! He loves it simply because it is, after all, a Ferrari. One LaFerrari Aperta sold for a staggering $10 million at auction once! Hamilton’s is unique in being all red, without the standard black roof.
14 Adores - Shelby Cobra 427
The Shelby Cobra 427 might just be the car Hamilton adores the most. Whilst his more modern machinery is customized, Hamilton has kept his Cobra all original. And he even had Shelby himself come look it over to make sure it was an original in pristine condition. As it turns out, it was one of the best examples of an original Cobra that Carroll Shelby has ever seen. He cherishes this car and wants to keep it as pristine as he can.
13 Adores - Mercedes AMG-GTR
Being a Mercedes F1 driver, it is perhaps only natural that we find a few of his employer's cars featuring on this list. And the AMG-GTR is one of his all-time favorites. He described it once as his “Favourite Benz, well second to my F1 car” and is one of his daily drives, but has to resist using all that Mercedes power he loves so much.
12 Adores - Mini Cooper
This might seem a bit of an odd choice, but there’s a good reason. The Mini Cooper was the first car that Hamilton ever owned before eventually upgrading. And whilst it is not as flashy as what he has now, it served him well and did a perfect job for many, many years. Everyone has a soft spot for their first car. That includes Lewis Hamilton.
11 Adores - Mercedes W10
We had to include some of his Grand Prix cars. The Mercedes W10 is what took Hamilton to his sixth world title in 2019. This was perhaps the ultimate Mercedes F1 car, perhaps only second to the 2014 W05. It won the first eight races of the year and Hamilton won the title with three rounds to spare in the USA.
10 Adores - McLaren P1
McLaren is perhaps Hamilton’s first love. He drove for the team from 2007 to 2012 and won his first title there in 2008. His is customized slightly to make his unique from all the others, and he can often be seen in Monaco cruising around in it when in the principality. It is one of the ‘Hypercar Trinity’ that he has in his collection, along with the LaFerrari. He bought it not long after leaving McLaren, wanting a memento from his first team.
9 Adores - Mercedes SLS AMG
In 2014 during his second year with the Mercedes F1 team, Hamilton acquired the Mercedes SLS AMG. And it very quickly became one of his favorite cars to drive on a regular basis. It has a beautiful 6.2 liter V8 as Hamilton had it fitted with an extra 59 hp over the standard model. Almost as much power as a Mercedes F1 engine! That extra power is why he loves it so much.
8 Adores - Mercedes Maybach 6
The Mercedes Maybach 6 is a car Hamilton had his eye on for quite some time. It’s simply a concept car, an all-electric Maybach that Hamilton posted on Instagram with the caption “Mercedes AMG…I want this car!!!!” and given that Maybach is owned by Mercedes, could he have classed this as a company car? Apparently he loved that such a fast car could be electric too.
7 Adores - Mercedes-Benz G 63 AMG 6X6
It is perhaps no surprise that Lewis Hamilton loves a bit of off-roading. And he was one of the lucky few to own the Mercedes-Benz G 63 AMG 6X6. A value of over half a million is added to these things, and only a handful of these was ever made. All white and with monster tires fitted, it’s really an imposing machine.
6 Adores - Ferrari 599 SA Aperta
This is a car that Hamilton has had in his collection for a few years, and he is highly unlikely to ever want to sell it off. It was debuted at the 2010 Paris Motor Show and only 80 of them were ever built. He does not drive him very often, preferring to keep it in as closes to its original condition as he possibly can due to its rarity. He does like rare machines!
5 Hates - McLaren MP4-24
Whilst he has won a race in every F1 car he has driven so far, he might not like the MP4-24. 2010 was an up and down season for himself and McLaren and he only won three races that year, in a car that was more hit and miss than the Ferrari and Red Bull it was up against.
4 Hates - Ford Mustang GT500
This might seem like a weird thing to include here. But Hamilton has a GT500 but is not a fan of it at all. It’s actually a replica of the original he had especially made, and whilst he loves the looks, he hates how it drives. His actual words were “beautiful car, but 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.”
3 Hates - Pagani Zonda
Again, we might find it weird that this car is in this section but he just is not the biggest fan of the Zonda. Not how it drives anyway. He did bump it once in Monaco, but on the car itself, he once said “The Zonda is terrible to drive. It’s the best-sounding car I own, but handling-wise it’s the worst.”
2 Hates - McLaren MP4-26
This is another McLaren F1 car that he may well not like very much. Again, he won three races in this in 2011. But that season was a bit of a nadir for Hamilton, repeated crashes with Felipe Massa annoying him and he had a glum year in general. It didn’t help that Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel swept the competition away…
1 Hates - Mercedes Maybach S600
This clearly was not a car that Hamilton cherished all that much. Because a couple of years ago he put it up for sale, probably to free up some space for a more up to date edition, or something else entirely. It only had 27,500 miles on it and was going for a hefty $145,000 although that’s actually $55,000 then the original price!
Sources: Pinterest, Tenamp, Driving, GT Spirit, This Week