This is the second highest price ever fetched for a Formula 1 car at auction.
Formula 1 is an expensive business, most of us are aware of that. There are reports suggesting that these cars cost £1.8 million in just materials alone, and many times as much when development, manpower and other costs are added in. These costs are covered by teams due to sponsorships and indirectly as a source of marketing for brands that also sell cars to the public. But what about the resale value of a Formula 1 car?
Well, that is kind of a silly question, unless you’re the owning of a Formula 1 car that was once driven by Sir Lewis Hamilton. His 2010 Turkish Grand Prix winning Formula 1 car, a McLaren MP4-25A, chassis no.01, just sold for £4,836,000 over the weekend! Now, we’re not really sure what this means in terms of resale value. What we do know is that this is the 2nd highest sum of money ever paid for a Formula 1 car at auction. This is the first of Hamilton’s cars to be put on auction and it’s already showing collectors the potential prices that they may fetch.
The car that was sold was what got Vodaphone McLaren Mercedes their 2nd place overall Constructor’s Standing for the 2010 season campaign. It also took Sir Lewis Hamilton to victory in Turkey and earned him the Fastest Lap and a 2nd place finish at the 2010 F1 Chinese GP. The same chassis was also responsible for Jenson Button’s 3rd place podium finish in the season’s final race in Abu Dhabi. If this was what an earlier Hamilton car can fetch, it won’t be long before his F1 cars are record-setting too!
Current record for most expensive F1 car sold at auction.
The most expensive F1 car ever auctioned off was Michael Schumacher’s 2001 Ferrari F2001, which fetched £5,449,607.43 four years ago.
Say what you will about his sportsmanship, the man is neck and neck with Michael Schumacher by most metrics and is already seen by many as the greatest Formula 1 driver of all time.
The auction was carried out by RM Sotheby’s during the qualifying race last weekend.
