Lewis Hamilton’s new "Tokyo Drift" video goes viral as fans brand it a hard launch

Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton has gone viral with the highly anticipated release of the latest video from his Tokyo Drift series.

Filmed ahead of the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix, the British driver took to the wheel of the legendary Ferrari F40 as he raced around the streets of Tokyo. He was joined by a Nissan Skyline R34, modified as a replica of the silver and blue machinery driven by Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) in 2 Fast 2 Furious, complete with blue underglow, and a VeilSide Mazda RX-7 from the follow-up movie, Tokyo Drift.

Following his previous Tokyo Drift videos, which famously landed him in hot water with a rental company in 2022 over unauthorised driving, Hamilton's latest instalment shows the screaming twin-turbo V8 of the F40 as he makes his way through the streets of the city, drifting and pulling off doughnuts in the Daikoku Parking Area in Yokohama.

The video ends with the camera moving towards the car through tyre smoke left by the doughnuts to appear at the passenger window. Reality television star Kim Kardashian, who is rumoured to be in a relationship with the Briton, turns to the camera and simply says, "That's insane".

The video comes after months of intense speculation regarding the pair's relationship. Having been spotted together at a New Year's Eve party in Aspen, the Super Bowl and in Tokyo during the week of the Japanese Grand Prix, Hamilton's latest video has further fuelled those rumours. 

While neither party has officially confirmed it, fans branded the Tokyo Drift video as a "hard launch".

The video has already drawn a huge reaction from fans. "Don’t know what’s harder, the drifts or the hard launch," one fan commented, while others branded the video "iconic" and "epic".

At the time of writing, it had been watched 17.3 million times, had 1.6 million likes and 13,700 comments on Instagram.