Nigel Mansell’s F1 Grand Prix race-winning 1989 Ferrari 640 and 1991 Williams FW14 are on sale at the RM Sotheby’s Monaco 2022 classic car auction.
RM Sotheby’s announced several cars, including two Formula 1 race cars, from the collection of Nigel Mansell for sale in the Monaco 2022 classic car auction on 14 May 2022 during the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique weekend. Nigel Mansell won the 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix — his maiden race for Ferrari — and the Hungarian GP in the 1989 Ferrari 640, estimate €2,500,000 – €5,000,000. He won five races in the 1991 Williams FW14, estimate €1,500,000 – €3,000,000, including the British Grand Prix where Ayrton Senna famously caught a lift on the side pods at the end of the race.
NOTE: The top result in the RM Sotheby’s Monaco 2022 classic car sale was a marque-record $4,222,060 (€4,055,000) paid for the 1991 Williams F14 Formula 1 Single-Seater Racing Car, chassis no 5, while the 1989 Ferrari 640 F1 sold for $3,753,520 (€3,605,000).
RM Sotheby’s Monaco 2022 Sale
RM Sotheby’s biennial Monaco 2022 classic car auction: 14 May 2022 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo to coincide with the Monaco Historic Grand Prix.
RM Sotheby’s 2020 auction was canceled due to the Covid pandemic. RM Sotheby’s earned €23,317,290 at the Monaco 2018 sale. At the RM Sotheby’s Monaco 2016 sale, RM Sotheby’s earned €27.5 million with the top result €7,280,000 for a 1951 Ferrari 340 America Touring Barchetta.
Nigel Mansell Collection at RM Sotheby’s Monaco 2022 Sale
RM Sotheby’s will offer five cars from the collection of Formula 1 world champion Nigel Mansell for sale at the Monaco 2022 classic car auction. His two race-winning F1 cars are the most exciting and likely to be amongst the most expensive Formula 1 racing cars ever sold at public auction: the 1989 Ferrari 640, in which Mansell won two races that year plus the 1991 Williams FW14, chassis no. 5, in which Mansell won no less than five Grand Prix and which is famously the car that has become known the world-over as the British GP winning ‘Senna Taxi’.
Both Formula 1 racing cars are offered directly from Nigel Mansell and are preserved in time-capsule condition. Three further cars include Mansell’s victorious 2005 GP Masters Reynard, plus a 1991 Birkin 7 Sprint and rare 1992 iC Modulo M89.
Nigel Mansell’s 1989 Ferrari 640 at RM Sotheby’s Monaco 2022
The 1989 Ferrari 640, chassis no. 109, estimate €2,500,000 – €5,000,000, is expected to be one of the most expensive Formula 1 cars ever sold. It is a V12-era car and was the first Ferrari F1 car fitted with a semi-automatic gearbox. The 1990 Formula 1 Ferrari 641/2 driven by Nigel Mansell to victory in the 1990 Portuguese Grand Prix achieved $990,000 at the Gooding Scottsdale 2015 sale.
In February 1989, chassis no. 109 was revealed to the press as the first-ever Ferrari team car to be announced without Enzo Ferrari, and it would quickly go on to be the first chassis entrusted to the newly signed Nigel Mansell, for him to contest his first race for the team. After difficult pre-season testing where the car had proved to be unreliable, it was with little expectation that Mansell took to the track at Jacarepaguá, Rio de Janeiro, on 26 March 1989. In fact, Mansell qualified in 6th place with his teammate Gerhard Berger sealing 3rd spot. In a highly competitive field featuring Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, and Nelson Piquet, Mansell fought his way through to the front of the field and won his debut race for Ferrari—sealing victory over 2nd-place Prost by over seven seconds—marking Mansell’s first victory for Maranello and the team’s first with a semi-automatic gearbox.
While the car proved to be less reliable as the season progressed, chassis 109 would still go on to win another race in Hungary, where Mansell qualified in 12th position, but reeled in the entire grid to win at the Hungaroring, recording the fastest lap and pulling a highly memorable overtake on Ayrton Senna on its way to the front of the field.
Mansell got to keep chassis 109, with the car shipped to join his personal car collection in January 1990, accompanied by the very wheels and tires with which it crossed the finish line at the end of its career.
Mansell’s 1991 Williams FW14 at RM Sotheby’s Monaco 2022
Nigel Mansell won five Formula 1 Grand Prix races and finished second twice in the 1991 William F14, chassis no 5, estimate €1,500,000 to €3,000,000, in the year prior to winning the world championship. The 1992 Williams-Renault FW14B, chassis 08, in which Mansell won five Grand Prix races on his way to becoming 1992 Formula 1 World Champion Driver sold for a Williams marque record £2,703,000 ($3,400,000) at the Bonhams at the Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale 2019.
Mansell first took the wheel of FW14-5 at Magny-Cours, where he secured his first Formula 1 victory of 1991. That was soon followed by pole position and outright victory at the British Grand Prix, where Chassis FW14-05 dominated the entire race, finishing a mammoth 42.293 seconds ahead of Gerhard Berger in his McLaren MP4/6. Ayrton Senna crossed the line in 4th but ran out of fuel on lap 58. During his victory lap, Mansell famously stopped on the circuit, and Senna climbed aboard.
Mansell continued his winning streak in chassis FW14-5 and was victorious at the German Grand Prix, and at Monza, it would finish 16.262 seconds ahead of Senna. At that stage in the 1991 Driver’s Championship, there was all to play for, as only 18 points separated Mansell from Senna and there were still four races left. At the Spanish Grand Prix, Mansell and Senna fought viscously in the early stages of the race. With the pair millimeters from each other on the main straight, creating another iconic motorsport image in the process and taking Mansell to 1st place.
The Williams FW14 had shown it was extremely competitive and with chassis FW14-5 claiming victories and two 2nd-place finishes, Mansell and this chassis proved to be a lethal combination. At the end of the 1991 season, Williams gifted Mansell chassis FW14-5 in recognition of the success. The car is without its Renault V-10 engine, which was retained by Renault at the end of the season.
Record Formula 1 Car Prices at Public Auction
The most expensive Formula 1 single-seater racing car ever sold at public auction was a 1954 Mercedes Benz W196R that achieved $29,650,000 at the Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed 2013 sale.
The three most expensive modern Formula 1 cars were all race winners sold by RM Sotheby’s:
- The record car is Michael Schumacher’s Grand Prix-winning Ferrari F2001 sold in Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction in November 2017 for $7,504,000.
- The second most expensive modern Formula 1 car is the Lewis Hamilton-driven 2010 McLaren MP4-25A at £4,836,000 / $6,741,384.
- The third most expensive Formula 1 racer is the Michael Schumacher’s 2002 Ferrari F2002 F1 Car, chassis #219, sold for $6,643,750 in Abu Dhabi 2019.
The record for Formula 1 cars from the period Mansell was racing in, is $5,009,266 paid for a 1993 McLaren Cosworth Ford MP4/8A at Bonhams Monaco 2018. This result was slightly disappointing as Ayrton Senna raced it to his sixth win at the Monaco Grand Prix, especially as the 1984 Toleman-Hart TG184 Formula 1 Racing Single-Seater that Ayrton Senna raced to a phenomenal second place in his debut race at Monaco achieved $1.9 million in the same auction.
Monaco Historic Grand Prix Week Classic Car Auctions in May 2022
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