The Piazza Castello typically hosts a smattering of tourists in the off-season as winter defrosts into spring. Earlier this month, the historic heart of Milan looked a little different as crimson lined the streets running through the city center in northern Italy.
The crowd wasn't a papal audience or political protest, but rather an inauguration of sorts for a new national icon.
Lewis Hamilton, the British race car driver, had landed in Italy clad in a .
"I think we have everything we need to fight for the world championship and I also believe that you fans can be our extra gear," Hamilton addressed the masses. "I hope we will have a lot of fun together."
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion has broken nearly every record in the globe-trotting motor sport in his 18-year career — from crossing the finish line first on 105 occasions and smashing lap times to becoming the first (and, so far, only) Black driver in Formula 1.
Hamilton achieved most of these minimal brake moments while for 12 seasons, except for one out-of-reach trophy: turning seven championship titles into the mythical record-setting eight.
The 40-year-old race car driver, well past the sport's typical retirement age, is confident he can clinch an eighth Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship with the oldest outfit in the sport: Ferrari. Hamilton joined the most successful team in Formula 1 history in January and he will make his race debut alongside on Sunday in Melbourne as the 2025 Formula 1 season commences at the .
The $100 million Ferrari-Hamilton deal is not only both parties' answer to quenching a championship thirst — Ferrari hasn't won one in nearly two decades — but also the sport's solution for continued relevance.
The European racing competition has captured the attention of Americans over the past six years thanks in large part to Netflix's "," a soapy docuseries detailing the on and off-track lives of Formula 1's 20 drivers. After the series launched in 2019, race viewership leaped from 490 million across to 1.9 billion . Formula 1 became the most popular global yearly sporting series in 2024 with 750 million fans, according to Nielsen Sports. (More : the U.S. went from having just one Grand Prix in 2018 to now hosting three races again this season).
Hamilton was well ahead of Formula 1's American conquest: sitting in Fashion Week front rows alongside Kardashians, gracing American magazine covers and walking movie premiere red carpets long before the sport first unfurled its own at the 2025 season launch event in February.
He will produce "F1," a , host the Met Gala and be the face of Lululemon in 2025. On track, he will attempt to join the title fight for the first time since 2021.
"This is the most positive feeling I've had in a long time," Hamilton said about the new car at pre-season testing in late February. "I've always imagined what it would be like sitting in the cockpit surrounded by red," he added earlier that month.
Hamilton is not the first driver to attempt to fulfill a childhood dream by ending his racing career in typical midlife crisis style — in his 40s with a brand new Ferrari and a second family. But none have achieved an eighth title in Rosso Corsa red, the team's signature shade somewhere between Strawberry Fanta and firetruck.
Despite Hamilton becoming the most decorated driver under Mercedes, he was in the midst of the longest win drought in his career when he announced the move across the pitlane a year ago. After winning seven consecutive championships, six with Mercedes, he was set to claim a never-been-done-before eighth in 2021. Then a 24-year-old Dutch driver sped ahead in a contested, last-minute rule change on the waning laps of the final race of the season. Max Verstappen's Red Bull crossed the finish line first and hasn't ceased speeding 30 seconds ahead of the field for the past three years.
Verstappen's continued dominance, winning 19 of 22 races in 2023, and securing his fourth consecutive world championship last season, resulted in a hit to the sport's popularity. Headlines claimed that the foul-mouthed prodigy was "killing" the sport and that American audiences were tuning the high-octane sport out as viewership dipped. When Hamilton announced a once-in-a-generation team swap paired with Verstappen's loosening grip on unprecedented performance in 2024, the timing sheet seemed to tighten. Hamilton proved he was - claiming his home race, the British Grand Prix.
The union of two institutions larger than the sport itself — The Billion Dollar Man and The Prancing Horse — set off a series of driver trades. With only 20 seats, one shift can have ripple effects. When the biggest name in the sport jumps teams, a tsunami hits.
The move carved out an empty space at Mercedes in the shape of 18-year-old Italian wunderkind Kimi Antonelli and left Spanish driver Carlos Sainz, one of the sport's current great drivers, without a future at Ferrari. Six rookie drivers will compete in the sport this year, thanks to Hamilton's move.
The result is what insiders and fans alike are calling the closest Formula 1 season in recent history.
The truth of that statement will be put to the test when Hamilton lines up his new Ferrari in front of the five red lights on Sunday at the Australian Grand Prix. The crowd, bordering the street track, will dwarf Milan and don more than just the color red.
Still, as the lights go out and engines turn over, a crimson carbon fiber machine will demand attention.
Copyright 2025 NPR