2002 McLaren-Mercedes MP4-17

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | St. Moritz, Switzerland | September 17, 2021

McLaren-Mercedes was a pretty solid chassis/engine combo in Formula One about 10-20 years ago. The MP4-17 was actually used in two slightly different configurations over two seasons. There was the initial car (later retroactively dubbed “MP4-17A”) that was used for 2002, and there was 2003’s updated car, the MP4-17D.

This chassis (#06) debuted in 2002 and was later upgraded to “D” spec. Power is from a 3.0-liter Mercedes-Benz V10 good for 845 horsepower. The competition history for this chassis includes:

• 2002 European Grand Prix – 3rd (with Kimi Raikkonen)
• 2002 British Grand Prix – 14th, DNF (with Raikkonen)
• 2002 French Grand Prix – 2nd (with Raikkonen)
• 2002 German Grand Prix – 11th, DNF (with Raikkonen)
• 2002 Hungarian Grand Prix – 4th (with Raikkonen)
• 2002 United States Grand Prix – 3rd (with David Coulthard)
• 2002 Japanese Grand Prix – 18th, DNF (with Coulthard)
• 2003 Australian Grand Prix – 1st (with Coulthard)
• 2003 San Marino Grand Prix – 2nd (with Raikkonen)
• 2003 Spanish Grand Prix – 20th (with Raikkonen)
• 2003 Monaco Grand Prix – 7th (with Coulthard)
• 2003 Japanese Grand Prix – 2nd (with Raikkonen)

The car was also used as a test car here and there. Once its competitive career was over, the car was backdated to “17A” spec, in which it currently exists. It is expected to sell for between $2,200,000-$2,750,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $2,136,444.

2010 McLaren-Mercedes MP4-25

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Silverstone, U.K. | July 17, 2021

Booo your lame watermark, RM Sotheby’s. I have no patience for that kind of old-school internet garbage. Anyway, this one-car auction will be a pretty remarkable opportunity for some well-heeled individual to acquired the first-ever F1-race-winning car driven by Lewis Hamilton to come to market.

The dude has won 98 races. 98! And that’s as of this writing… he’ll probably have a few more by the time this thing sells. But this isn’t one of the boring, show-killing Mercedes Silver Arrows, this is a McLaren. From back when Lewis actually had to try. The 2010 season was a good one. Five drivers won races, but it was kind of a toss-up as to who would win every week. Vettel won the championship with Red Bull, but Alonso was right there in a Ferrari. Hamilton was fourth in the driver’s championship, just ahead of his teammate Jenson Button.

The MP4-25 was powered by a Mercedes FO 108X 2.4-liter V8. Hamilton won three races in 2010, including the Turkish Grand Prix in this car. It is unclear what other races it competed in, as RM has yet to publish a full lot description. The pre-sale estimate here is $5,000,000-$7,000,000. It’s also unclear who is selling the car and how, if it isn’t McLaren themselves, it escaped the factory’s control. The world in which a random person propositions a major F1 team to purchase a previous season’s race-winning car is quite a different world than the one in which I spend my days. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $6,503,035.