Former F1 CEO, Bernie Ecclestone recently made headlines when he announced the sale of 69 cars from his iconic collection. He took the help of UK-based performance car specialist Tom Hartley Jnr. to sell his car collection, one of which included Michael Schumacher’s 2002 championship-winning Ferrari — the F2002 — which is worth $6.6 million.
Another iconic car of Ecclestone’s collection — Ayrton Senna’s McLaren MP4/8 — is now also up for sale, per Hartley Jnr. The MP4/8 is arguably one of the most famous cars Senna drove as he produced arguably one of the best performances of all time to win the 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington Park.
Despite starting from P4 and losing a place after the first corner due to a poor start, the late Brazilian passed all four of his rivals ahead in treacherous conditions on the opening lap, one that is famously remembered as the ‘Lap of Gods’.
The greatest lap in #F1 history? #OnThisDay in 1993, Ayrton Senna danced through the pack from P5 to P1 pic.twitter.com/1FoAyMpqH9
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 11, 2020
He overtook Michael Schumacher, Karl Wendlinger, Damon Hill, and Alain Prost — three of whom would later become world champions — within just a few corners. Having helped him produce such kind of performances, Senna’s McLaren MP4/8 is likely to receive immense traction in the upcoming auction.
Ecclestone purchased another chassis of the same car at an auction back in 2018 for a price of $5.7 million, which was worth $6.5 million after the buyer’s premium was added. Now, the chassis that won the race in Donington and also Senna’s home race in Brazil that same year is going up for sale.
This chassis is likely to receive a higher price as Senna secured arguably two of his best-ever race wins with it.
What are the other cars Hartley Jnr is selling?
The second car that Hartley Jnr is selling is two-time champion Mika Haikkenen’s 1999 title-winning car — the McLaren MP4/14. This was the challenger in which the Finn won his second consecutive drivers’ championship that season besides racking up five victories and 11 poles.
It was a car designed by the legendary Adrian Newey, who had started working for the Woking outfit in late 1997. Given the MP4/14 is a Newey masterpiece, it would fetch a decent price at the auction.
However, these are not the only historic McLaren cars that are up for sale. Fernando Alonso’s 2007 McLaren — the MP4/22 — is also going under the hammer. Although the Spaniard didn’t win the title that year, losing by a point to eventual champion Kimi Raikkonen, he did win four races.
Moreover, that 2007 McLaren car was also caught in the midst of the Spygate controversy, which alleged McLaren to have stolen car design secrets from their immediate rivals, Ferrari. The Woking outfit had to pay a hefty penalty of $100 million and were also disqualified from the Constructors’ championship, losing all their points.
So, it is highly likely that F1 purists would want to own this piece of historic and controversial memorabilia.
Other cars that Hartley Jnr is selling are Williams’ FW15C and FW17, Aston Martin Valkyrie Spider, and the Ferrari F12TDF, among many others.
