Lewis Hamilton has always been able to turn up the volume without touching the throttle. This time, it wasn’t a late-braking move or a pointed radio message doing the rounds — it was a seat in the stands at Super Bowl LX, with Kim Kardashian alongside him, that set the internet sprinting.
The pair were spotted together at the NFL showpiece on Sunday, in what’s being treated as the first time they’ve presented themselves in public as more than just a rumour. Neither Hamilton nor Kardashian has said anything on the record about a relationship, but that’s rarely stopped the speculation machine in either of their worlds — and it certainly hasn’t here.
The gossip had already been bubbling after a report claimed Hamilton and Kardashian took what was described as a “very romantic” break at the Estelle Manor in the Cotswolds. The timing was convenient: it was said to have come straight after Ferrari’s five-day Barcelona shakedown for the new 2026 car, run from 26–30 January behind closed doors.
And because it’s Hamilton, the on-track subplot refuses to stay quiet for long. That same report claimed he set the quickest time of the shakedown, a 1:16.348 on the final day, shading a benchmark attributed to George Russell by a tenth. It’s the sort of detail that, in February, gets passed around the paddock with equal parts curiosity and cynicism — especially when there’s no live timing, no media access, and no meaningful way to compare programmes.
Still, Hamilton didn’t spend the past decade as the sport’s dominant force by being indifferent to morale boosts, even small ones. After a bruising first year at Ferrari — a 2025 season that brought him no podiums and left the team winless — he arrives at this regulation reset with something to prove and, perhaps more importantly, a need to feel momentum moving in the right direction.
That’s why Barcelona mattered far more inside Ferrari than it ever will to anyone else. A quick lap time may not translate, but a car that behaves, a team that executes, and a driver who climbs out with that familiar snap in his voice? That’s useful. Hamilton even spoke positively about the “winning mentality” he sensed within the team — an eye-catching phrase, given how relentlessly Ferrari’s internal temperature tends to get measured whenever results wobble.
Not everyone’s buying into it, of course. Damon Hill, never shy about puncturing pre-season narratives, dismissed the significance of a headline-grabbing P1 as essentially meaningless — “utterly pointless”, in his words. He’s not wrong in the broader sense: winter testing, particularly private running, is a hall of mirrors. Teams chase different objectives, hide their hand, and occasionally enjoy the theatre of appearing strong.
But Hamilton’s reality is slightly different. After 2025, he doesn’t need a February trophy — he needs confidence that the foundations aren’t cracked again. The 2026 rules sweep means everyone is starting a new chapter, and for a driver who has spent the ground-effect era searching for that clean, intuitive connection to the car, it’s a rare chance to reset his own relationship with the machinery.
Against that backdrop, the Super Bowl appearance lands in an interesting place. Hamilton has always lived comfortably at the intersection of sport, fashion and celebrity — and he’s usually been meticulous about where the line sits between public and private. Kardashian, meanwhile, exists in a media ecosystem that can make F1 look positively understated. Put them together, and it’s not hard to see why this has become a talking point far beyond the usual motorsport bubble.
They watched as the Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29–13 to claim a second championship. It was a high-profile stage for a pair who, until now, had supposedly kept things behind closed doors.
Whether it turns into something lasting or fades into the long list of paddock-side whispers will play out in its own time. The more immediate truth is that Hamilton is walking into a season that matters — not just for his late-career legacy, but for Ferrari’s direction in this new era — and every storyline around him, sporting or otherwise, is going to travel fast.
That’s the Hamilton effect. Even when he’s off the grid, he’s still the headline.
