The 5 most expensive Formula 1 cars ever to be sold at auction – including Lewis Hamilton's 2010 McLaren MP4/25A

Lewis Hamilton’s 2010 Turkish Grand Prix-winning McLaren MP4-25A sold for £4,836,000 over the British Grand Prix weekend – but where does that stack up with the most expensive Formula 1 cars ever to have been publicly auctioned?

Saturday at the British GP marked the first time a Lewis Hamilton F1 car had ever been put under the hammer, but it definitely wasn’t the first time a Formula 1 car fetched millions on the block. Read on to find out the top earners.

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5. 1993 McLaren MP4/8A – sold for £3.6m in 2018

This McLaren MP4/8A, chassis #6, is the very car in which Ayrton Senna took his record sixth and final Monaco Grand Prix victory. And that was after he crashed it at Ste Devote at approximately 100mph in Thursday practice.

Auctioned 25 years after the Monaco win by Bonhams in 2018, it sold for £3,606,198 – in the Principality itself. Powered by a V8 Cosworth-Ford engine, it was acquired by a collector from McLaren chief Ron Dennis in 2006 and reportedly became the first privately-owned McLaren MP4 car.

Senna also raced with chassis #6 in Canada, France, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium and Italy that season to finish second in the championship behind Alain Prost. But Monaco was the race in which Senna stamped this car into the history books.

The MP4/8A chassis #6, engine #510, photograph courtesy of Bonhams

Senna took a record sixth Monaco win with the MP4/8A in 1993

Senna was gripped by fear by his practice crash, but the carbon-composite chassis absorbed the blow

Schumacher led much of the 1993 Monaco GP until retiring, before Senna swept into the lead

Bonhams called it: "The rarest of rare opportunities to acquire a fully functional McLaren MP4" in 2018

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The MP4/8A chassis #6, engine #510, photograph courtesy of Bonhams

4. 2010 McLaren MP4-25A – sold for £4.8m in 2021

RM Sotheby’s sold the MP4-25A, chassis #1, for £4,836,000 after the very-first F1 Sprint ahead of the 2021 British Grand Prix.

No Lewis Hamilton car had ever been offered for public sale before this and it nearly achieved a record price for an F1 car at auction. Not only did it take Hamilton to victory in Turkey, he also raced with chassis #1 to P2 at the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix, while Jenson Button took it to P3 in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

WATCH: Top 10 Turkish Grand Prix moments

With the car fully race-prepared by McLaren Racing’s Heritage team, more than 100,000 spectators saw the Mercedes V8-powered machine take to Silverstone in demonstration laps before it went under the block.

Its new owner has the keys to a very formidable machine in their care.

Lewis Hamilton's McLaren MP4-25A Chassis #1 was sold during the 2021 British GP weekend

This marked the first time a Lewis Hamilton F1 car was publicly auctioned

This was a single-lot auction, meaning that no other cars were auctioned at Silverstone

Hamilton took victory with this chassis at the 2010 Turkish GP

"Presented in McLaren Certified and fully operational condition with the support of McLaren Heritage and Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains"

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Lewis Hamilton's McLaren MP4-25A Chassis #1 was sold during the 2021 British GP weekend

3. 2002 Ferrari F2002 – sold for around £5m in 2019

No slight to the sterling silver McLaren, but who wouldn’t dream of owning a rosso corsa Ferrari F1 car? And a Michael-Schumacher-Grand Prix-winning F1 car at that. The F2002 took 15 wins, 11 poles and 15 fastest laps over the 19-race 2002 season and this one, chassis #219, sold for $6,643,750 or just over £5 million when it was auctioned at the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

This chassis was tested in March 2002 at Barcelona by Rubens Barrichello before Schumacher took it to victory at San Marino, Austria, and France – clinching his fifth drivers’ title there – before another win in Hungary.

Undeniably one of the most successful Formula 1 cars ever, yet it was eclipsed at auction by…

The F2002 at auction, during the 2019 season-finale weekend

Yas Marina Circuit held RM Sotheby's auction for the F2002, among many other vehicles

Part of the proceeds went to Michael Schumacher's 'Keep Fighting Foundation'

Chassis #219's final races had Barrichello at the wheel, with Schumacher racing #221 and #223 towards the end of the season

Victory at the French GP secured Schumacher a fifth world championship

Schumacher also won at San Marino 2002 with chassis #219

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The F2002 at auction, during the 2019 season-finale weekend

2. 2001 Ferrari F2001 – sold for around £5.5m in 2017

…its predecessor. The Ferrari F2001, chassis #211, beat its estimate by $2 million to sell for a total of $7,504,000 at an RM Sotheby’s New York auction in 2017. This one was taken to victory by Schumacher at the 2001 Monaco and Hungary Grands Prix, also being tested by Schumacher, test driver Luca Badoer and Barrichello at Mugello in February 2002.

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As with the F2002, a proportion of the sale went to Michael Schumacher’s Keep Fighting Foundation.

The result of the auction meant that this car broke the record for being the most expensive modern F1 car ever to be sold in a public auction, but there was a machine whose price tag knocked this one out of the park.

Schumacher's Ferrari F2001 #211 on display in Hong Kong before the 2017 New York auction

The F2001 on display at the Rockefeller Center, NYC, before the auction

It was estimated to sell for 4,000,000 - 5,500,000 USD

The 2001 Ferrari F2001 sold for... 7,504,000 USD

Sotheby's Contemporary Art Evening Sale sale included $310m worth of lots

Schumacher won the 2001 Monaco GP in this chassis

F2001, chassis 211, became the most valuable modern era F1 car sold at auction

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Schumacher's Ferrari F2001 #211 on display in Hong Kong before the 2017 New York auction

1. 1954 Mercedes W196R – sold for £19.6m in 2013

The car in which Juan Manuel Fangio took the second of his five Formula 1 titles is not only the most expensive F1 car ever to be publicly auctioned, but back in July 2013, it smashed the record to become the most expensive car at auction overall when Bonhams put it under the hammer at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

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For $29,650,095 or £19,601,500, its new owner picked up a piece of Grand Prix history. Mercedes W196 chassis #6 won at the hands of Fangio in Germany and Switzerland, before Hans Hermann took it to P4 in Italy.

This car is the symbol of the Silver Arrows’ first successful foray into F1. Six decades later, Hamilton was on his way to a second championship to begin a new era of Mercedes dominance.