McLaren is set to sell three of its race cars, before they’ve turned a wheel.
McLaren Racing is set to sell off a small fleet of vehicles at an event in December, headlined by one of the squad’s yet-to-race F1 2026 machines.
The brand-new machine will not be ready to hit the track until next year, but will go under the hammer alongside a Pato O’Ward IndyCar and McLaren’s 2027-spec entry in the World Endurance Championship.
McLaren will offer three cars for sale at an event in Abu Dhabi in early December, with bidders able to secure machinery that the team has not yet built, let alone raced. The RM Sotheby’s auction has been billed as a ‘world-first’.
While the sale of F1 machinery is not unheralded, teams traditionally hold onto their cars for a period after competition.
That enables them to protect their intellectual property, use the older machinery for marketing purposes, and perform testing with as permitted under the regulations.
However, in this instance, the winning bidder will effectively own the car McLaren will race throughout F1 2026 before taking delivery of it in 2028. Until then, they’ll have the opportunity to lease one of the team’s F1 2025 show cars.
New regulations next year threaten to upset the existing apple cart with significant changes to both aerodynamics and power unit rules.
Teams have already begun shifting their focus to next year’s designs, evidenced by the subdued flow of new parts onto cars this season. That trend is expected to continue beyond the current summer break, given the scale of the forthcoming rule change.
McLaren is one of the teams which has not made a habit of selling its heritage collection.
While a limited number have found their way into private hands, the bulk have remained within the squad’s ‘heritage’ collection – and were used as collateral as the squad chased financing during the pandemic.
The decision to sell off a contemporary car is therefore even more rare.
It’s expected that the car will be delivered to its new owner without a Mercedes power unit.
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Also crossing the block will be the Dallara IndyCar Pato O’Ward will race in next year’s Indianapolis 500.
Indy forms part of the Triple Header, an unofficial collection of motorsport events that also includes the Monaco Grand Prix and 24 Hours of Le Mans.
McLaren will return to the latter event from 2027 when it returns to the World Endurance Championship with an entry in the LMDh prototype class.
An example of one such car will also be auctioned off as part of the event.
Though the concept of pre-selling machinery is new to Formula 1, it has been employed in other categories.
In Australia, Supercars squad Walkinshaw Andretti United – a team McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown is a co-owner of, alongside Ryan Walkinshaw and TWG, the same group behind the Cadillac F1 entry – has long employed the practice, as have a raft of other operations.
“This auction is an extraordinary opportunity to own a piece of racing history and bid for a car that has competed on track before its official launch,” Brown said of December’s auction.
“The Triple Crown is a huge part of our heritage and we are determined to claim it once again as we prepare for our 2027 entry into the World Endurance Championship. Not only that, these incredible cars will come with unprecedented VIP access to the team and action on track.”
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