Senna's legendary Monaco GP Toleman to be auctioned

The Toleman TG184 that Ayrton Senna almost drove to a stunning Monaco Grand Prix victory on his debut in Monte Carlo is to go up for auction. In just his sixth World Championship race, Senna gave early warning to his mastery of the famous street circuit by coming second to future rival Alain Prost in a much faster McLaren.

Amid treacherous, sodden conditions, the 76-lap race was called off after 31 laps, with the young Senna closing in on leader Prost by three seconds a lap.

Senna passed Prost before the finishing line, believing he had won the race, but the result was called at the end of the last completed lap, when the Frenchman had led by over seven seconds.

Regardless the performance announced Senna as the star he would go on to be, in no small part due to his car's modest standing.

Senna's TG184 finished just five of the 12 races it started in the 1984 season. Indeed, after his near-heroic win in Monte Carlo, the team reported that its suspension was so damaged, Senna would have only lasted a handful more laps.

The enigmatic Brazilian would go on to secure two more podium finishes that season before moving to lotus and eventually joining Prost at McLaren, where the pair engaged in one of the F1's most iconic rivalries.

Senna emerged champion in 1988, 1990 and 1991 remained a contender until his tragic death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

Mark Osborne, global head of motorsport at auctioneers Bonhams, said: "The Senna-Prost joust of the late 1980s and early 1990s was one of the greatest sporting rivalries of all time, with two great champions providing F1 fans with some of the most eye-popping and spectacular racing ever witnessed.

"The spark that ignited this fierce competition can be traced back almost thirty-five years to the 1984 edition of the Monaco Grand Prix, and the politically charged decision to throw out the red flag when it was clear that the young Brazilian charger was about ruffle some feathers!

"We at Bonhams are delighted to present the very car - the 1984 Toleman-Hart TG184 - that triggered this great rivalry, and which provided the opening chapter for Ayrton Senna's remarkable and record-breaking story at the Monaco Grand Prix."

The car will be auctioned in Monte Carlo on May 11, less than three weeks before the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix.