Lewis Hamilton's 2010 McLaren F1 car expected to fetch $7 million at auction - in pictures

July auction the first time a Hamilton race winner will be publicly offered

• 

  The first Lewis Hamilton F1 race winning car to come to the market goes on view at Sotheby's on May 18 in London. The car up for auction is the McLaren Mercedes MP4-25A that was driven to victory by Hamilton at the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix. Getty

• 

  Race-winning McLaren MP4-25 Formula One car driven by seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in 2010 goes on show ahead of an auction by RM Sotheby's during the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone in July. Reuters

• 

  The race-winning McLaren MP4-25 Formula One car driven by Lewis Hamilton in 2010 will be auctioned in London in July. The car is estimated to get $5-7million. Getty

• 

  A view of Lewis Hamilton's 2010 Turkish GP McLaren Mercedes MP4-25A on display, at Sotheby's, in London. It is the first Grand Prix winning car driven by Lewis Hamilton to come to market and will be auctioned for an estimated of $5-7 million. AP

• 

  Race-winning McLaren MP4-25 Formula One car driven by Lewis Hamilton in 2010 goes on show ahead of an auction by RM Sotheby's during the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone in July. Reuters

• 

  A view of inside Lewis Hamilton's 2010 Turkish GP McLaren Mercedes MP4-25A on display, at Sotheby's in London on Tuesday. AP

• 

  Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel, centre, McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso at the Yas Marina Circuit in 2010. Andrew Henderson / The National

• 

  Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes celebrates on the podium at the Spanish GP. Getty

A race-winning McLaren car driven by Lewis Hamilton in 2010 will be auctioned at the British Grand Prix in July.

The Mercedes-powered MP4-25A carries 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 Briton, 36, 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.

"It's the first time a Lewis Hamilton race winner has ever been publicly offered."

The car is being sold by an unnamed private collector but not Hamilton or McLaren. Hamilton won the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix in that car.

Hamilton drove it in four races that year while 2009 world champion teammate Jenson Button in five. The car achieved three podium finishes and the fastest lap once.

"This is from an era where the engines were still screaming V8s and it will be driven around the track in anger," Archer said.

"It will appeal to someone who either wants it as a collector's item or literally wants to drive and sit where Lewis and Jenson sat and thrash it around the track.

"If someone was willing to pay over a million quid [pounds] for Kanye West's trainers, I think there's someone out there for a Lewis Hamilton Formula One car. It's a true piece of art, a piece of history."

McLaren Heritage will run the car for the buyer, with around eight people and several days' preparation needed to operate it at the British Grand Prix. The original Bridgestone tyres have been replaced with Avon rubber.

A 2002 Ferrari F1 car raced by Schumacher was sold for $6.65 million in Abu Dhabi in 2019.