ROME – It must have been boredom. It must have been the desire not to see it dusty. It must also have been the desire to imagine driving his Mercedes. In short, it will be for one of these reasons – or for all together – that the Formula 1 world champion, the British Lewis Hamilton, has broken (for a few minutes, one can imagine. Not for the rest of his life) the promise to drive only electric cars outside the paddock. What did he do? We tell you, but going step by step: because you must first know that – before the lockdown, in September 2020 – wanting to be more respectful of the environment (to compensate for the carbon generated by the Formula 1 cars) made a promise, that of do not privately drive non-electric cars.
To be consistent with his words, he followed up with facts: vegan lifestyle, selling his private jet. “I only drive my electric Mercedes EQC and the Smart EQ ForTwo”. Applause, even from those who don’t love him. But in the garage (or perhaps it is more correct to use the plural) the cars owned by Lewis are numerous. And they are a temptation, almost a blow to the heart to see them still. Without hearing the roar of the engines.
And so, staying in a more deserted Monte Carlo than usual for the Ferragostano period, and being on a break from Formula 1 (it will resume at the end of August from Spa, Belgium), he had time to take a ride in the garage. And his eyes rested on the unique Pagani Zonda 760 LH. “The best sounding car I own, but terrible to drive: from a handling point of view it is the worst. I took it with the manual … “. The Pagani has a 7.3-liter naturally aspirated V12 engine, a 760 horsepower supercar.
And so he could not resist, like a child in front of a jar of Nutella and without his parents at home. He turned it on to take a ride. And, in your opinion, hasn’t the Pagani sound attracted attention? Is the professional curiosity of some paparazzo aroused? Et voilà, that’s it. And the lap of Monte Carlo, the extra pole position, cost him the (negative) publicity of an unfulfilled promise. But F1 fans, those before Formula E, who need to hear that ‘noise’ will be grateful. Whether they are Ferrari fans or not.
.