+1 More reports are coming in he was there for a LaF...Which I still find somewhat insulting from Ferrari themselves, considering some owners that have owned (or do currently own) multiple super Ferrari's and where refused one, but LH, who is currently their rival, apparently can get one.
Do they need it? I'm under the impression that the car sold out (hence others that should als qualify to buy one are refused)...
yea i was reading about it yesterday and some of today. Thats why i said i thought it was to buy a Laferrari. So much for loyal life long custumers who think they have some kind of standing with in Ferrari. However being a WC high profile F1 driver no matter what team, has got to be good for ferrari.
Soon to be WDC and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton tooling about in a LaFerrari would be a bit of priceless PR for the Scuderia and the Factory.
Hami is a tool...so tooling comes naturally. I will say this: he jumped out of the frying pan (McL) and into the best car on the track (Merc). the racing gods must love him.
Soon to be runner up to Britney in the WDC you mean, and one of two drivers of the WCC car! Lewis will implode long before the end at the rate he's going nico just needs to play more football and take one or two more races, and he will go postal
I would be *pissed* if I was in a position to buy a LaF, and had numerous super Ferrari's before and Ferrari would refuse to sell to me but then sell to the ''enemy''. They pulled the same trick on one of our members before a few years back, one that has owned a number of new Ferrari's including an Enzo, and when he wanted a 599 or something they refused to sell him one unless he bought another F car as well. He promptly sold all his Ferrari's.
I think the big difference is that when Lewis turned up at the factory gates. He had a note in his hot sticky hands saying " Niki Lauder sent me"
Let's face facts here: One of the most highly rated current F1 drivers and a previous F1 World Champion wanting to buy your top of the line hypercar, instantly give that car a lot of credit as being a truly serious drivers car! An anonymous owner, with mediocre driving ability at best, who's main credential for owning your hypercar is simply that they are rich enough to buy your hypercars, and who, chances are will simply park the car up and treat it as some sort of trophy to show off to their rich friends, gives the car no credit whatsoever, defeats the whole purpose of the car, and is in fact a complete waste of the car! Out of the two prospective owners, Lewis Hamilton will fully appreciate just what the car is all about and will be able to utilise the car to its full potential and for what it was designed for. The Rich owner on the other hand, will never really use the car for what it was designed for and will never utilise the car to anything like its full potential. I see no problem with Ferrari preferring to sell there car to a genuinely gifted and talented World Champion driver rather than some rich poseur! (And I'm sure were he still alive, Enzo Ferrari himself would totally agree with Me!)
I'm not disagreeing, but then shouldn't they say: Listen, I know you have many Ferrari's and a large history with us, but unless you get yourself a racing license and start racing cars, we'll simply sell to this guy who has no history with us, drives for a rival team but at least we know he'll be able to handle the car? Let's not forget the average F1 driver is ~200-260 days away from home and most fly everywhere. I'd love to know how many KM's there are on Hamilton's Zonda... I'm just looking at it from the supposed qualified owner perspective. Ferrari is always going on about how they build a brand with customers when they buy more and more, and get on exclusive lists when they own car XYZ and then something like this happens. It wouldn't make me happy, that's for sure.
As I say, a highly rated, recent former F1 WDC wanting a LaFerrari says far more in favour of the car than an unknown rich guy. The criteria set by Ferrari to apply for a car is aimed at "ordinary", rich customers, the likes of Lewis Hamilton are naturally seen as an exception to the rule (after all, could you want better publicity for the car?). We have no idea as to just when Hamilton would have inquired about purchasing a LaFerrari, and just because certain rich customers met the criteria set out by Ferrari to be able to apply for a LaFerrari, it didn't automatically guarantee them a car - As I understand it, they still needed to be selected by Ferrari to be one of the lucky few. Personally, I think it's nice that there is at least one place where F1 driver talent trumps Financial backing! - That's quite rare in this day and age! (and yes, I do appreciate that Lewis Hamilton carries a certain amount of financial clout, but as he doesn't meet the original criteria for a car, it has to be his driving talent that has swayed things in his favour!)
Do you think all new owners of La Ferrari are rich poseurs and financial backing is the only criteria for purchase? And no, Enzo wouldn't agree with you.
The criteria set out for applying for a LaFerrari was that you had to be a loyal customer who had bought previous hypercars from Ferrari (288 GTO, F40, F50, Enzo), and who still owned them rather than selling them on for a profit. There's no mention of driving talent being part of the criteria, merely that you need to be rich and loyal. As for poseurs buying them, I would say yes, a large portion of LaFerrari owners are going to be rich poseurs who will never really drive the car to its full potential, preferring instead to either pose around places such as Monaco or Beverly Hills, or worse still, put the car into storage as an investment and never drive the car at all. Sure there are going to be some exceptions to the rule and there will be some owners who have the ability and talent to drive the car as it was intended, but there will be far too many who don't. Lewis Hamilton is a former WDC who is rated as one of the best racing drivers in the World. The fact that he wants a LaFerrari is an absolute dream for Ferrari and so he gets to circumvent the whole criteria situation, because of the positive publicity it gives the car. It pretty much acts as a stamp of approval from one of the Worlds foremost experts when it comes to high performance cars. Enzo Ferrari saw rich customers as a means to an end - They made it possible for him to go racing. Those who were rich and had a driving talent and wanted to race his cars were highly respected and appreciated. Those who were rich but had no driving talent and just wanted a Ferrari to pose around in were pretty much despised by Ferrari! He had little time for them and quite often would treat them with a degree of contempt. He'd happily take their money, but he did not respect them as he did those with driving talent. If Enzo Ferrari were alive today and had the choice of an anonymous rich owner who will never really drive the car as intended, have a LaFerrari, or Lewis Hamilton, a driver for whom I suspect he would have a great deal of respect for, have a LaFerrari, I pretty much guarantee it would be the latter! Enzo Ferrari was far more impressed with driver talent than the size of peoples bank accounts! But Enzo Ferrari is not alive today, and yet, Ferrari as a company it appears, would also rather have one of the top F1 drivers of the modern era in their car than an anonymous rich owner. It seems the spirit of Enzo Ferrari lives on at Ferrari!
I take issue with your use of the word poseur in the context of this car. Are you asserting that if one doesn't hold an FIA Super License that this person is pretending to be something they are not because they have the means and meet criteria to buy it? I could see your point if one were to turn up at a circuit on the weekend with a FXX and a carbon fiber helmet (with no driving experience) but La Ferrari is a road going car, not a racing car and I'm not of the opinion that a person getting an allocation for one of these is pretending to be a part of something they are not (racing driver subculture) simply because of the design capabilities of the car itself. Certainly the base model 458 is well beyond the skills of 90% of their buyers. On the last point, I think Enzo would have instructed the factory to make an extra car and sell both of them, I'm sure of that.
So it's your belief that the vast majority of LaFerrari owners will be able to make as much use of the cars ability as Lewis Hamilton could? (and will actually use the car in the manner for which it was designed?) - Interesting! Mmmmm........Either Lewis Hamilton is not as good as the F1 World would have us believe then, or there are an awful lot of wealthy F1 World Champion level drivers out there who simply didn't bother to try being a race car driver! Whilst the LaFerrari is a road car, I genuinely believe that to get the best out of it, you really do need to have some genuine driving talent beyond that of an "ordinary" driver. Do you honestly believe that the majority of these cars will actually be used for anything more than posing or being a trophy in an air-conditioned collection? As for Enzo Ferrari having an extra car made for both prospective owners, that's a different scenario to the one being discussed/complained about here! The situation here is that there is not going to be an extra car made and that it is believed that Lewis Hamilton is taking the car that some feel should really be being sold to an "ordinary" wealthy buyer who meets Ferrari's original criteria. The point I've made is that, given that situation (no extra car being made), if Enzo Ferrari was still alive and had the option of selling the one car available to either Lewis Hamilton or an anonymous wealthy buyer, he would choose Hamilton every time! Read the biographies on Enzo Ferrari and about his attitude towards buyers with racing talent and buyers who bought his cars to just to pose in - Enzo Ferrari's own history shows that I am correct!
Guess it's a great publicity move to have the next prospective WDC being seen in a LaFerrari, especially as he drives a Merc. Does anyone know if Alonso and Kimi get one too ? Best, Sammy
