Hamilton: Roscoe's 12-and-a-half years old so he's an old boy

Roscoe has accompanied the Briton through six of his F1 title seasons with Mercedes, even attending races with his own paddock pass and travelling by private jet, and has 1.2 million followers on Instagram.

Ahead of the weekend's Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola circuit, Hamilton spoke about Roscoe's condition: "He's 12-and-a-half years old, so he's an old boy. He had pneumonia, but he's fine now. But definitely this is a time when every time I get a text message from the lady who's looking after him, my heart stops for a second. You know, what's next?

"I really want to try and bring him to Silverstone [in July] and take him to Monza (in September) and cheer him up," added the winner of a record 105 races. I was with him before Miami. He still wants to play. He still has that kind of spirit but he sleeps a lot."

Hamilton's season so far has seen the high of winning the Shanghai sprint race, but the lows of failing to finish better than fifth in six regular starts. His last race in Miami was tinged with sarcasm as he suggested Ferrari should take a tea break in a tetchy radio exchange over team orders.

Ferrari, the sport's oldest and most successful team, are fourth in the 2025 F1 championship and 152 points behind champions McLaren.

"There's a lot of hype out there, a lot of expectation of course," Hamilton said of the atmosphere at Imola, the nearest F1 circuit on the calendar to Ferrari's Maranello factory. "But that comes with greatness and we have got a great team.

"I don't approach it any different... I'm definitely excited to see more red. You know that Italians are passionate, you know that there's passion around Ferrari. It's a lot more than you expect when you're actually in it and it's beautiful," added Hamilton.