World-renowned auction house RM Sotheby’s will put seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton’s 2010 McLaren race car under the hammer in front of the largest ever audience for a live auction set to take place at this weekend’s British Formula 1 Grand Prix.
F1 organisers received the green-light from the British government for a full, 140 000, capacity crowd at Silverstone on Sunday. The Mercedes driver is aiming to win his third British GP in a row and seventh overall.
Sotheby’s says the sale of the car Hamilton won the 2010 Turkish GP in will be conducted from within the famous Paddock Club by Sotheby’s Senior Director and Chairman for Europe, Oliver Barker, immediately after F1’s first-ever Sprint Qualifying Race. The sale is scheduled for 5:15pm (UK time) on Saturday 17th July and will be broadcast via screens to all 140 000 race attendees as well as being streamed via Sotheby’s and RM Sotheby’s online platforms.
It’s the first time one of Hamilton’s race-winning cars will be auctioned. The McLaren MP4-25A, chassis no. 01, powered McLaren Mercedes to second place overall in the Constructors Standings and Lewis Hamilton and fellow Briton Jenson Button to fourth and fifth place respectively in the F1 Drivers Championship behind the Red Bull’s of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.
Chassis no. 01 took Lewis Hamilton to the fastest lap and a second place finish in the 2020 Chinese GP in Shanghai and rounded out the year taking Jenson Button to a third place podium finish in the season’s final race in Abu Dhabi.
Hamilton is currently tied in a fierce battle with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and trails the Dutch driver by 32 points after nine races.
Mercedes has been caught off guard by the Honda-powered Red Bull car’s pace and better race strategies so far this season. Former F1 champion Damon Hill believes the Silverstone race could be a pivotal point in the season for Hamilton to halt Red Bull’s five consecutive GP wins.
