Lewis Hamilton and his mother Carmen Larbalestier sent thousands of passionate Tifosi into a frenzy during a Ferrari event at Milan’s Piazza del Duomo.
The seven-time world champion attended the event alongside Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc ahead of the Italian Grand Prix weekend at Monza.
Hamilton arrives in Italy sitting third in the drivers’ championship, level on points with second place and 59 points behind leader Kimi Antonelli.
A victory at Monza on Sunday would represent a significant boost to his championship ambitions, and the Italian crowd’s passion underlined just how much is at stake.
Hamilton and Leclerc appeared on a balcony overlooking the enormous crowd, with the energy in the Piazza del Duomo matching the historic grandeur of the iconic square surrounding them.
In a touching moment that captured the hearts of the Tifosi, Hamilton invited his mother out onto the balcony to join him in front of the thousands gathered below.
Carmen Larbalestier stepped out and waved with both hands, receiving a rapturous cheer from the crowd in one of the most heartwarming scenes of the Formula 1 season so far.
Hamilton then snapped a photograph of his mother on his phone with the enormous crowd behind her, the seven-time champion visibly delighted by the whole experience.
Ferrari were on hand to capture the moment, sharing footage that quickly spread across the F1 community and drew widespread praise for its warmth and genuine emotion.
This is far from the first time Hamilton has been seen publicly with his mother this season, having also brought her along to races in China and Canada.
At the Canadian Grand Prix, Hamilton opened up to the media about his efforts to encourage his mother to travel more regularly with him on the road.
“Yeah, so I’ve been trying to get my mum to come on the road for a while and she hasn’t wanted to travel the last couple of years,” Hamilton explained.
“She’s only come to Silverstone for the last God knows how many years. And I tried to get her out of her comfort zone last year and bring her to Canada,” he continued.
“I wanted to take her to Lake Louise and so many beautiful places in Canada to visit, and excuses kept coming up,” Hamilton added, reflecting on his previous attempts to broaden her travel horizons.
“And so, she promised me end of the year. She said, ‘Next year is the year I’m going to travel with you.’ So, we did China together, which was honestly the best time we’d ever had together. Then she asked me if she could come to Montréal and I was like, ‘Absolutely.'”
With Larbalestier now seemingly a fixture on the F1 calendar, the Italian Grand Prix weekend promises to be another unforgettable chapter in their shared journey through the sport.