Lewis Hamilton’s first proper week as a Ferrari driver ended the way most Hamilton weeks eventually do: with the sport talking about him even when the car’s back in the garage.
After three days of running at Barcelona in the new SF-26 alongside Charles Leclerc, Hamilton signed off his shakedown programme by topping the final session on Friday afternoon. His 1:16.348 was the best time of the week, nudging George Russell’s Mercedes by a tenth — the sort of early, largely meaningless margin that nevertheless sends an entire paddock into overdrive because it’s Hamilton in red and everyone’s desperate to read a season into a stopwatch.
Then he disappeared to the Cotswolds.
According to a report, Hamilton spent the weekend at the exclusive Estelle Manor with Kim Kardashian, who had flown in from the United States. Sources at the venue described a deliberately low-profile stay — though in a way only global celebrities can manage “low profile”, with close protection present but kept out of the way and privacy treated as the main commodity.
“It all appeared to be very romantic,” one source claimed, adding that the pair made full use of the facilities, including the spa and pool, before a private dinner. Another said a couple’s massage had been booked and that the hotel arranged secluded access to avoid any unwanted attention. If the intention was to keep it quiet, it’s fair to say the exercise has had mixed results.
Neither Hamilton nor Kardashian has publicly confirmed a relationship. But the description of the weekend — private room dining, booked treatments together, security standing outside their door — doesn’t sound like two acquaintances grabbing a quick coffee to catch up.
Hamilton’s proximity to the Kardashian orbit isn’t new. He’s known the family for years and first met Kim during his time dating Nicole Scherzinger. Over the years he’s been linked, fairly and unfairly, to a procession of high-profile names, with Shakira the most recent before this latest story. He has also previously been connected to Kim’s half-sister, Kendall Jenner.
For Kardashian, the timing is notable. The reality star and businesswoman — a mother of four — said last year she hadn’t dated seriously for a while, insisting her focus had been on studying for a law degree. “I haven’t had time, I’m studying,” she said at the time. “And when I’m done, I will open myself up. And so… I opened myself up but I haven’t found anyone.”
In F1 terms, it’s an almost perfectly Hamilton-esque subplot: the biggest name on the grid joining the biggest name in grand prix racing, immediately followed by a story that would swallow a quieter sport whole. But this is Formula 1 in 2026 — a championship built as much on narrative gravity as it is on lap time — and Hamilton remains its most reliable generator of attention.
That matters, too. Ferrari didn’t sign Hamilton simply to chase milliseconds; it signed him to move the entire project. The SF-26 will be scrutinised to within an inch of its life over the next month, and every Hamilton word or raised eyebrow will be treated as a referendum on Ferrari’s winter. Now, even his off-track life is being folded into the broader moment: Hamilton at Ferrari isn’t just a driver change, it’s a cultural event — and the spotlight doesn’t switch off when he walks away from the pitlane.
Whether this particular story becomes a footnote or something more, it’s already accomplished one thing: it’s reminded everyone that Hamilton’s Ferrari era is going to be noisy, high-wattage, and impossible to ignore. The lap times can wait. The world rarely does.
