Lewis Hamilton has deeply upset petrolheads everywhere – but we agree on one thing

Lewis Hamilton has swapped his magnificent assortment of supercars for a new passion – collecting art. Yes, the 40-year-old has become the latest super rich celebrity to believe random splodges on a piece of canvas have a deeper meaning.

He revealed in Baku that he is so into it that he has flogged more than £13million's worth of machines that any petrolhead would drool over. That includes the £2.5m Mercedes-AMG One he helped design when he raced for the Silver Arrows.

And the two limited-edition LaFerraris with a combined price tag of £7.8m. Hamilton had not driven any of them for years, saying in 2020 he only gets behind the wheel of his electric Mercedes EQC.

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But he admitted this week: "If I was going to get a car, it would be the Ferrari F40 – that's a nice piece of art." On that, Lewis, we can definitely agree.

Laura Villars, a 28-year-old racer from Switzerland, turned heads this week with the shock announcement that she is running to become FIA president. A high-profile young woman being in charge of motorsport's governing body would no doubt do wonders for female participation.

Except she has not actually applied to the FIA yet. And even if she does, because the election process is massively in favour of the incumbent, neither she nor the other opposing candidate, Tim Mayer, have much chance of toppling the deeply unpopular Mohammed ben Sulayem anyway.

From the archive

Baku was the venue for the beginning of the end of Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull career in 2018, when he crashed into the back of young team-mate Max Verstappen after nearly 40 laps of wheel-banging.

Fast fact

This is the first street race since the Canadian Grand Prix in June, which was the only race this season in which both McLarens failed to make the podium.

Inside track

Reports suggesting Isack Hadjar has already been chosen as Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate for next year are premature, as are claims British teenager Arvid Lindblad has secured a promotion from Formula 2 into their junior outfit.