Ecclestone pockets “hundreds of millions” from sale of “almost impossible” F1 car collection

Former F1 superstar Bernie Ecclestone has put his entire collection of Formula 1 and Grand Prix cars up for sale – and is expected to fetch “hundreds of millions” of pounds.

The 69-car set includes cars never seen before since they were purchased by Ecclestone, with highlights including Ferraris driven by world champions Mike Hawthorn, Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher.

Former Brabham boss Ecclestone also has cars from the team, including the one-off Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT46B, also known as the “fan car”. His only race secured him victory at the Swedish Grand Prix in Anderstorp in 1978.

The sale will be overseen by specialist Tom Hartley Jnr Ltd, one of the world’s most respected and exclusive high-end dealers of classic and historic sports and racing cars.

Ecclestone, 94, explained his reasons for selling: “I have been collecting these cars for more than 50 years and have only ever bought the best example,” said Ecclestone. “While many other collectors have chosen sports cars over the years, my passion has always been Grand Prix and Formula 1 cars.

“A Grand Prix racing car and especially a Formula 1 car is far more important than any road car or other racing car as it is the pinnacle of the sport and all the cars I have bought over the years achieve fantastic racing results.” Stories and are rare works of art.

“I love all my cars, but it’s time for me to think about what will happen to them when I’m no longer here, and that’s why I’ve decided to sell them. After collecting and owning them for so long, I would like to know where they went and not leave them to my wife to have to take care of when I’m not there.

“Tom (Hartley Jnr) is handling the sale for me because he knows the cars better than anyone, his company is best placed to sell them and I am guaranteed transparency, which is important to me.”

“Having collected the best and most original Formula 1 cars from the early days of the sport, I have now decided to take them to a new home where I will treat and care for them in the same way as valuable works of art.”

Hartley Jr. has described Ecclestone’s collection as “quite simply the most important in the world.”

He added: “Such a collection has never been offered for sale again and probably never will be.”

Because the collection spans 70 years of Grand Prix and Formula One racing, Hartley Jr. said, “There are many cars in the collection that are worth eight figures, and the total value of the collection is well into the hundreds of millions.”

“For me, the Ferraris are the highlight of the collection. Bernie has assembled a collection of Ferrari Formula 1 cars that would be hard to replicate today.”

“There has never been a collection like this offered for sale and no one in the world has a race car collection that comes close to Bernie’s. This is a great opportunity for a discerning collector to acquire cars that have never been offered for sale before, and it would be great to see them on the track again.

“All the cars on today’s Formula 1 grid look the same. If you took the paint off of them it would be hard to tell which was a Williams and which was a Ferrari.”

“But if you look at some of the Grand Prix cars from the early 1960s to late 1970s, they would be right at home in the Museum of Modern Art.”

“This collection is the history of Formula 1.”