- Title: Quick sale? Ex-Hamilton F1 McLaren could fetch $7 million
- Date: 18th May 2021
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - DECEMBER 2, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS HAMILTON ON RED CARPET AT THE BRITISH FASHION AWARDS BERLIN, GERMANY (FILE - NOVEMBER 7, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HAMILTON ON RED CARPET AT GQ GERMANY'S MEN OF THE YEAR AWARDS ISTANBUL, TURKEY (FILE - NOVEMBER 15, 2020) (REUTERS PICTURES) (MUTE) TWO STILL PHOTOGRAPHS OF HAMILTON CELEBRATING AFTER WINNING THE TURKISH GRAND PRIX WHICH SEALED HIS SEVENTH F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TO EQUAL MICHAEL SCHUMACHER'S RECORD
- Embargoed: 1st June 2021 14:10
- Keywords: Formula One Lewis Hamilton McLaren auction
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM AND VARIOUS
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM AND VARIOUS
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Europe,Motor Racing,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA005EDHNOE7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A race-winning Formula One McLaren driven by Lewis Hamilton in 2010 will be put up for auction at the British Grand Prix in July as it does laps of the Silverstone circuit.
The Mercedes-powered MP4-25A will carry a price estimate of $5-7 million.
Seven-times world champion Hamilton, now at Mercedes, is Formula One's most successful driver of all time with a record 100 pole positions and 98 wins.
The 36-year-old Briton can add to that tally in Monaco this weekend.
"It's an amazing opportunity to have a piece of his story," Felix Archer, a car specialist for auctioneers and Formula One partners RM Sotheby's, told Reuters at a viewing on Tuesday (May 18).
The car, being sold by an unnamed private collector but not Hamilton or McLaren, won the Turkish Grand Prix after the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel collided while leading one-two.
Hamilton drove it in four races that year, 2009 world champion team mate Jenson Button in five and it achieved three podium finishes and a fastest lap.
McLaren Heritage will run the car for the buyer, with around eight people and several days' preparation needed to operate it. The original Bridgestone tyres have been replaced with Avon rubber.
Archer said the valuation put it in the realms of cars driven by Germany's seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher and the late Brazilian Ayrton Senna.
A 2002 Ferrari F1 car raced by Schumacher was sold for $6.65 million in Abu Dhabi in 2019.
The driver has yet to be named but it will not be anyone from within the F1 paddock due to COVID-19 precautions requiring them to operate in a 'bubble'.
(Production: Ben Makori) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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