In 1990, Ron Dennis and Ayrton Senna came into conclusion that if the latter manages to break the curse of not winning a race in Monza, he could take the race car home. Dennis, the then McLaren boss, agreed to this amicably. However, he had no idea that Senna would follow through at that very race in Monza. The Brazilian driver not only won the race, but also took the pole position, fastest lap and crossed the chequered flag ahead of his title rival Alain Prost. Senna cost him heavily, and Dennis learned his lesson and was sure that he was never going to go that way with Lewis Hamilton. As a result, Hamilton had to settle for a Ferrari after he failed to land his favorite $15 million McLaren.
Hamilton, a master behind the wheel is the owner of multiple high-end supercars. However, the regret of not owning his dream car will always remain to hunt him. Things date back to 2007 when Hamilton joined McLaren and asked Dennis, the then-McLaren boss to let him buy the McLaren F1 LM XP1.
Hamilton wanted to buy one and had money saved up for it. However, Dennis was reluctant to give it to the driver this easily because of what happened with Senna. Therefore, he raised the stakes for Hamilton to get the car he wanted. The Briton had to win the driver’s title, and also help McLaren win the constructors’.
Even though Hamilton managed to take home the driver’s title, McLaren lost the constructors’ championship to Ferrari. Hamilton lost but still wanted the car and Dennis renegotiated another deal. This time, the former McLaren boss said that Hamilton needed to win two more driver championships at McLaren to make it a hat-trick and then he can finally get his hands on the precious car, as per hotcars.com.
However, Hamilton failed in that and soon moved moved to Mercedes in 2013. Therefore, the Briton could not have the priceless F1 prototype in his garage. After joining Mercedes, he had to settle for a Ferrari LaFerrari instead.
Does Hamilton have a McLaren F1?
Today Lewis Hamilton does have a McLaren car in his garage now. But it is not the one he wanted in the first place. After American billionaire Herb Chambers decided to sell his McLaren car at Bonham’s Quali Lodge, the Briton did waste time in purchasing the car.
The British driver bought the car for £15 million, which is $18.6 million. Hamilton was happy because the car he bought had a chassis number of 044 because it is his number in Formula 1. Therefore, it was indeed a good alternative to his dreamy McLaren F1 LM XP1.
Nevertheless, the car Hamilton fancied is still at the McLaren factory in Woking. The British automobile giants only produced a handful of them and are more than just special and priceless cars. To get their hands on the car, one has to shell any figure north of $20 million today.
Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes days are also numbered now. The seven-time world champion is all set to move to Ferrari next year. Being one of the most iconic teams and brands, one could expect Hamilton to sport several Ferrari supercars from 2025 onwards.
