The world’s most expensive F1 car worth £42m – not a Ferrari | F1 | Sport

With lights out for the 2025 season of Formula One in Australia finally upon us, the hype is ramping up to see how the 10 teams’ cars will perform. Will this be another year that’s too close to call? Or will we see a return to domination by Max Verstappen or last year’s constructors champion, McLaren?

Each year, the F1 teams invest tens of millions of pounds into their cars. The most expensive parts are the engine, worth around £8.1 million, and the lightweight carbon fiber chassis, worth over £540,000. These are big figures, but what is the most expensive F1 car in the world?

As more and more of the most famous F1 cars go to auction, collectors are given the chance to own some of the finest cars ever made. An opportunity to follow in the footsteps of the most famous drivers comes at a considerable price, however.

The iconic red and white 1993 McLaren MP4/8A was to become legendary Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna’s last full-season car before his tragic death in 1994. Senna would win five races in 1993, but miss out on the title to Alain Prost.

This chassis was driven during Senna’s record-breaking sixth victory at Monaco, a tally that has yet to be beaten.

It sold for an incredible £3.6 million at the “Les Grandes Marques à Monaco” by Bonhams in 2018.

The 2002 Ferrari F2002 brought some incredible wins for its driver, Michael Schumacher – 15 wins, 11 pole positions and 15 fastest laps from 19 races. The German would end the year as World Champion, drawing him level with Juan Michael Fangio as the driver with the most title wins in history.

It sold for £5 million at a Sotheby’s auction in Abu Dhabi.

The most recent addition to the list of most expensive F1 cars ever sold is the 2013 Mercedes W04, which sold for £15.1 million in 2023. The chassis number 4, which Lewis Hamilton drove for his first Mercedes win in Budapest, was auctioned off during the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend by Sotheby’s and beat initial predictions of a £11.6 million price tag.

It became the second most expensive F1 car ever sold, beaten only by another Mercedes, but for more than double the price.

The Mercedes raced by Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1955 Buenos Aires Grand Prix – the 1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Stromlinienwagen – was one of just four of the model to feature the Streamliner coachwork and was the first of these to be offered for private ownership.

F1 legend Stirling Moss also took to the wheel and used it to set the fastest lap of the Italian Grand Prix for its final competitive outing after the end of the 1955 season.

Offered from the Collection of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, the W 196 R was put up for auction at Sotheby’s with the price listed as more than £42 million. The car has since gone under the hammer for £42.75 million, making it the most expensive F1 car ever sold.

Not only was it the most expensive F1 car ever sold at auction, but it also became the second-most expensive car ever, with only a 1955 Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe [£110 million] beating it.