McLaren sell 2026 car in historic £8.5 MILLION auction

McLaren's 2026 F1 challenger has been sold at auction, before the car has even taken to the track.

The outfit announced last month that one of their MCL40A chassis would be available to be bought at auction by fans, with it eventually fetching around £8.5 million.

That eyewatering figure was fetched despite the fact the car has never been seen on track as of yet, and it was stated that it could be either Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri's chassis.

The buyer will receive the chassis in the first quarter of 2028, but the auction has already taken place, and the car has become the sixth-most expensive F1 car auction of all time.

Before that far away date of early 2028, the buyer will receive a replica of McLaren's 2025 chassis as a placeholder.

The lucky buyer is also invited to meet chief executive Zak Brown, plus Norris and Piastri, in Woking ahead of the 2026 season.

McLaren's 2026 car sale

2026 sees a major overhaul in the sport's regulations, and so the MCL40A is sure to be a historic car in years to come, no matter how McLaren perform throughout the season.

In 2025, the team secured their first championship double since the 1998 season, while Norris became the first McLaren driver since Lewis Hamilton in 2008 to win the drivers' championship.

If they can replicate that success again in 2026, then there's no doubt that the buyer will be very happy, with a championship-winning F1 car likely to hold its value better than a non championship-winning chassis.

The most expensive F1 car to have been sold at auction is the 1954 Mercedes W196R Streamliner, a car that saw Juan Manuel Fangio claim a home race win in Buenos Aires on his way to the 1954 drivers' championship.

That car sold earlier in 2025 for a staggering £42.7 million.

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