Celebrated chef and feared restaurant critic Gordon Ramsay was full of smiles and kind words last week during his tour and test drive at Ferrari headquarters in Maranello. While he observed technicians handcrafting pieces of his beloved automobiles, he paused to autograph the Ferrari uniforms of a few of his own fans.
A Ferrari aficionado, Ramsay already owned 14 Ferraris, including a 430 Scuderia and a 458 Italia, but he had yet to personally visit the company headquarters. His visit culminated in laps on the celebrated Fiorano racing circuit in several vehicles with Ferrari test driver Raffaele di Simone.
He ordered his 15th Ferrari, the F12 Berlinetta, after this singular test drive. The all-new, 6.3-litre V12-engined model premiered at the Geneva Motor Show in March and will appear at the Paris Motor Show in September.
"Right now, I'm the happiest chef in the world. Winning three Michelin stars was a dream, but my second biggest dream was having my first Ferrari", he said in the video of his visit.
Though he's received 11 combined Michelin stars across his restaurants, Ramsay is best known for his abrasive treatment of other chef through cooking contest shows such as Master Chef, Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen.
His lunch at Il Podio, the Ferrari restaurant, was the tensest moment of his visit, but Ramsay soothed the Ferrari chefs' anxiety by calling his Emilian tagliatelle "delicious".
