McLaren is selling five race-used Formula 1 cars, including two Honda V12-powered chassis from Ayrton Senna’s last championship season.
The cars cover 32 years of the team’s history, from 1991 to 2023. They will be sold individually through dealer Tom Hartley Jr, who had recently handled the sale of Bernie Ecclestone’s Grand Prix collection.
The two MP4/6As, Chassis 04 and Chassis 07, were raced by Gerhard Berger and tested by Senna during the 1991 campaign. Chassis 04 finished second at the San Marino Grand Prix, where the two McLarens lapped the entire field. Chassis 07 took second at the British Grand Prix. Neither has ever left McLaren’s ownership.
The 2012 MP4/27A, Chassis 01, was Jenson Button’s race car and was also tested by Lewis Hamilton. McLaren won seven Grands Prix that season with a car notable for avoiding the stepped “platypus” nose most rivals ran.
Both of the newer cars were raced only by Lando Norris, who is now the reigning world champion.
The 2021 MCL35M, the car that marked McLaren’s return to Mercedes power, took Norris to podiums at Imola, Monaco and Monza. The 2023 MCL60, chassis MCL37A-03, carried him to consecutive second places in Singapore and Japan. After the 2021 season, it was tested by drivers including Oscar Piastri and Mick Schumacher, and later by Brad Pitt at the Circuit of the Americas during filming of F1: The Movie. It is the most modern F1 car to be offered to a private buyer.
McLaren ceo Zak Brown said leaving the cars in storage would be “a disservice to what they represent”.
“These cars were built to be driven and raced, and we want to see them being used and enjoyed,” he said.
Hartley said there was “no time pressure whatsoever” on the sale.
No prices have been published. But Reuters reported that the cars are expected to fetch between £5 million and £10 million each. For comparison, a Hamilton-raced McLaren MP4-25A that won the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix sold for £4.8 million in 2021.
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