Representative image of a McLaren MP4/6, not one of the cars for sale. Photo: Ian Jones / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
McLaren Racing has appointed the dealer Tom Hartley Jnr to sell five Formula 1 cars from its heritage collection, and the announcement, published October 18, gives drivers’ names but no chassis numbers, model years, specifications or prices.
The cars, as listed: two V12-powered MP4/6As, one linked to Ayrton Senna and one to Gerhard Berger; an MP4/27A linked to Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton; the MCL35M in which Lando Norris finished on the podium at the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix in Gulf livery; and an MCL37A that Brad Pitt drove at the Circuit of the Americas while filming F1 The Movie. Tom Hartley Jnr (THJ) calls the MCL37A the most modern McLaren F1 car ever offered for private ownership, and says McLaren kept each car after its last competitive use.
Tom Hartley Jnr said the five will be offered one at a time with “no time pressure whatsoever.” He said buyers asked for single cars after THJ sold the Ecclestone Grand Prix Collection and the Mansour Ojjeh McLaren collection. Both of those still went whole to one buyer each, and he said these five could go the same way.
What the announcement leaves out
Senna and Berger appear only as “links.” The announcement does not say whether either MP4/6A won a race, ran as a race car or served as a spare or test chassis. For scale, RM Sotheby’s puts MP4/6 production at 11 chassis, and its press release for MP4/6/1 describes a prototype that won the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix on its only start, then served as a development and test car until October 1991. We covered that car’s auction last year.
The MP4/27A is credited to Button and Hamilton together, with no word on whether one chassis carried both. The MCL35M entry says the car was part of McLaren’s one-two at Monza later in 2021; McLaren’s own heritage article lists an MCL35M as the 2021 Italian Grand Prix winner among its cars, and neither document says whether that is the car now for sale.
The MP4/6 on paper
McLaren’s heritage page for the 1991 car lists a new 60-degree Honda V12 with a reputed 720 bhp, McLaren’s six-speed gearbox, eight wins and Senna’s third title on 96 points. It gives no engine capacity and no chassis count; THJ’s listing for another MP4/6 gives the engine as 3,497 cc.
Prices and condition
The only published figure on any of these chassis is RM Sotheby’s $12 million to $15 million estimate for MP4/6/1 ahead of its December 2025 sealed sale; we did not find a published result. THJ’s listing for MP4/6 chassis 08 says McLaren Racing sold it in 2020 with a total restoration by the original constructor agreed before delivery. It is marked sold and shows neither a price nor “POA,” and the Ojjeh collection page lists no prices either.
Condition is the open question for the five. MP4/6/1 was recommissioned by McLaren Heritage after its 2020 sale, and chassis 08 was restored before delivery. McLaren says it keeps heritage cars in running order across a collection of more than 200 chassis, but THJ does not say whether these five are being sold restored, running or as last raced. It also gives no date for individual listings with chassis numbers and specifications.
Sources: Tom Hartley Jnr announcement of October 18, 2026, and its listing for MP4/6 chassis 08; McLaren Racing heritage pages; RM Sotheby’s press release for MP4/6/1.
If you had the budget, which of the five would you chase first, knowing nobody will say which MP4/6A actually raced?
About the Author
