Ferrari F80 Is “Fastest Road Car I’ve Ever Been In,” According To Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari’s follow-up to LaFerrari just got a significant shot in the arm from eight seven-time Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who describes the new F80 hypercar as the “fastest road car I’ve ever been in.” Sir Lewis, who made the switch from Mercedes’ F1 team with which he secured six of his seven titles for his first stint with the prancing horse for 2025, stars in a new promotional video for the F80 alongside F1 teammate Charles Leclerc.

The pair takes the 1,100-plus horsepower hypercar for a few demonstration laps around Ferrari’s Fiorano test track in Modena, and are quick to praise not only its ferocious speed but also the braking and its “reactive” handling.

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“The Fastest Road Car Ferrari Has Done, For Sure.”

Following several hot laps of the 1.86-mile Fiorano track, Hamilton is quick to praise the F80 as “the fastest road car Ferrari has done, for sure” and its performance “on another level” – claims borne out by the hypercar’s 217-mph (limited) top speed and spleen-splitting 5.75-second 0-160 mph time. Leclerc, meanwhile, an eight-time Grand Prix winner and Ferrari staple since 2019, went so far as to csay, “in terms of balance… it’s the best car ever.”

Hamilton’s proclamation that the two-seater – or “1+cab”, if we’re being technical – is the “fastest road car” he’s experienced speaks volumes, given that the 113-time Grand Prix winner has previously owned a Pagani Zonda, publicly endorsed the ‘Beast from the Green Hell’ Mercedes-AMG GT R, and drove the F1-engined, Nürburgring lap record-breaking Mercedes-AMG GT One. Leclerc’s comments are similarly noteworthy, as the Monegasque, recently spotted driving a Bugatti EB110 around his hometown, boasts an SF90, an 812 Competizione, and a Daytona SP3 among his stable of road-going prancing horses.

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Though this is the first time Hamilton has experienced the F80 on camera, Leclerc previously test drove a camouflaged, pre-production version of the F80 in a video alongside former Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz.

F80: 1,184-Horsepower, $3.1 Million Price Tag

Hamilton’s hopes of one day owning an F80, however, may prove more difficult, as all 799 examples Ferrari’s new flagship road car – each sold for an eye-watering $3.1 million – are already spoken for, with deliveries expected to start during Q4 this year. But maybe one of those has been set aside as a signing bonus for Lewis; we wouldn’t be surprised.

Revealed last year as a “one in a decade” alternative to McLaren’s new W1 and Porsche’s ‘Mission X’ (if the latter ever sees production), the F80 is the latest in an illustrious group of Ferrari hypercars including the F40, the F50, the Enzo, and LaFerrari. It’s also a technical showcase for Ferrari’s next generation of production supercars. Its carbon fiber structure, for example, is brand-new and bespoke, whilst its hybrid powertrain combines an 887-horsepower 3.0-liter V6 – “inspired by,” if not directly borrowed from both the marque’s Le Mans-winning 499P prototype – with two electrically-assisted turbochargers, three electric motors, and a lightweight 2.28-kilowatt hour battery to produce 1,184-horsepower.

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Said gargantuan power is sent to all four wheels via an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. The redline is a similarly ear-bleeding 9,200 rpm, though Ferrari leaned heavily on the development of a bespoke intake and exhaust manifold to create a more sonorous, V12-esque soundtrack for the F80.