Ever since he was a young kid, Lewis Hamilton had a great fondness for cars and was a huge fan of F1. The Briton knew he wanted to become a racecar driver early on and worked tirelessly to make his dream come true. As he chased his dream of becoming a world champion, the 38-year-old also fulfilled another dream, which was to own a McLaren F1 LM.
Featuring in an interview with Access Hollywood, Hamilton revealed that he wanted books or magazines on cars as a gift on Christmas or his birthdays. As a 10-year-old, he received a book on the world’s fastest cars, and the cover featured a yellow McLaren F1, and the Briton fell in love with it instantaneously.
Three years later, Hamilton got the opportunity to see his dream car in the flesh when he visited the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC), having signed for the team in their driver’s academy. Every day, a 13-year-old Hamilton would walk past the car in awe of it. He further detailed what his thoughts were like every time he saw the car.
“I said to my boss, ‘What have I got to do to get that car? I will literally sell my kidney! What I gotta do?!”
The boss told Hamilton he needed to win three championships with McLaren to get the car, but he could never achieve the feat. Hence, after earning millions of dollars over the course of his career, the Briton bought the car as a vintage car, not getting any discount on his purchase.
Lewis Hamilton once marked a McLaren F1 so he could identify it
Sitting in the middle of the floor within the MTC, the McLaren F1 LM/XP1 is valued at a minimum of $10 million, with experts suggesting it could be worth way more. Since joining the senior roster in 2007, Hamilton only wished for the car to be in his garage and reached out to Ron Dennis to enquire how he could get the car. The McLaren team boss set forth a ‘simple’ task for him to achieve. Should Hamilton be able to secure the driver’s title while McLaren would secure the Constructor’s title, the car was his.
A legend within the MTC states that the Briton put a special mark somewhere on the car so he could identify that it was the same car that he wanted and not another model. While Hamilton was able to secure the driver’s title, his team could not achieve their goal. Thus, he could not get his dream car as a gift from McLaren. However, it did not break Hamilton’s spirit, and he worked hard and earned enough money to be able to afford the car on his own.
