Ferrari reveals first surprise Hamilton visit during Mercedes career

Piero Ferrari, son of the Scuderia's iconic owner Enzo, has revealed that Lewis Hamilton first visited the Italian manufacturer over a decade ago when racing for Mercedes. 

For 2025, Hamilton has joined the Maranello-based outfit on a multi-year deal in one of the biggest driver moves in the history of F1. 

It has always been a dream of Hamilton's to wear the famous red race suit, following in the footsteps of the likes of Alain Prost, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel to name a few. 

On January 20, Hamilton made his first visit to Maranello and Enzo Ferrari's house as a driver for the outfit, where he stood for photos whilst standing next to his favourite car, the F40.

However, whilst that was his first visit as a Ferrari driver, he actually visited the manufacturer back in 2014 whilst racing for Mercedes. 

The trip was made by the 40-year-old so that he could purchase a Ferrari LaFerrari, before going to dinner with Piero.

"It's true," Ferrari told Autosprint. "The first time he came to us was when he bought LaFerrari, it was 2014, he spent a lot of time in the factory studying how to customise it. 

"Then towards evening he said hello and I asked him if he wanted to stay for dinner with me. He was enthusiastic, we talked about cars but not only and I discovered a truly pleasant person, out of the ordinary. 

"We were at the Cavallino restaurant, he with the dog. He came back other times, speaking mainly with the people in charge of the commercial part."

Whilst at dinner, Piero and Hamilton discussed several topics, although visiting Ferrari's racing department was not one of them.

"No," laughed Piero, when asked if Hamilton enquired about a visit to the racing department.