McLaren sells five heritage F1 cars including two Senna title-winners and Brad Pitt's film machine

McLaren is selling five Formula 1 cars from its own heritage collection, including two machines from Ayrton Senna’s third and final championship season and the car Brad Pitt drove at the Circuit of the Americas while filming the 2023 movie F1. The cars are being offered through specialist dealer Tom Hartley Jnr, the same firm that handled the sale of Bernie Ecclestone’s grand prix collection.

The five cars span more than three decades of McLaren history. The oldest are two 1991 MP4/6A chassis — numbers 04 and 07 — from the year Senna clinched his third world title. Both were tested by Senna and raced by team-mate Gerhard Berger. Also included is the 2012 MP4/27A (chassis 01), from Lewis Hamilton’s final season at the team, a year in which Jenson Button won three races and Hamilton four.

The remaining two cars are more recent. The 2021 MCL35M (chassis 01) was driven by Lando Norris to third place in Monaco in a one-off Gulf livery, and later formed part of McLaren’s 1-2 finish at Monza — the team’s first victory since 2012 — when Daniel Ricciardo edged Norris. The 2023 MCL37A (chassis 03), raced by Norris and Oscar Piastri, is described by Hartley as the newest race-driven McLaren F1 car ever offered to a private buyer. It is the car Pitt took around the Circuit of the Americas during production of the film.

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said the decision to sell was driven by a desire to see the cars used rather than stored. “These cars were built to be driven and raced, and we want to see them being used and enjoyed,” Brown said. “We believe that is the best way to keep our history alive and our heritage business active.”

No prices have been confirmed, though reports estimate a combined value of somewhere between £25m and $50m. Unlike the Ecclestone collection, which was acquired by a single buyer, these five cars are being offered individually with no fixed deadline. “Our priority, and McLaren’s, is to find the right homes for them,” Hartley said. Each car will be prepared by McLaren before being handed over to its new owner.