The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Money
‘I bought a £260k F1 car for my wall’
Formula 1 fans are willing to pay not-so-small fortunes for memorabilia, writes Jessica Beard
Formula 1’s dramatic year has driven up prices for the sport’s most sought-after memorabilia. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen will have their final showdown in Abu Dhabi tomorrow in what promises to be a nail-biting end to an unforgettable season of racing. The championship contenders start the race dead-level on points after 21 races. As the drivers battle it out on the track, avid fans will be caught in fierce bidding wars behind the scenes, in the expensive world of car lovers’ collectibles.
More than 150 Formula 1 items are on the auction block until Dec 14 to celebrate the final race of the season, including McLaren prize show cars that are expected to fetch more than £150,000. A range of items from balaclavas, boots and gloves worn by drivers to full-size show cars have been put up for sale by The Memento Group, a memorabilia business that has an exclusive licensing deal with Formula 1.
Barry Gough, a former race team mechanic who set up the group, said the close rivalry between the two leading racers and an exciting year for the sport has attracted more bidders and pushed prices higher. The Memento Group’s revenues more than doubled this year, he said.
An official McLaren MP4 championship winning show car from 1999 with a suit and helmet signed by British former driver David Coulthard is expected to go for more than £150,000. Hamilton’s celebration Union flag, worn during his first championship win in 2008, is up for sale at a value of £30,000. With six days still to go, it had a £14,101 offer.
John Collins, 69, a Ferrari dealer from Glasgow, bought a 2003 Ferrari show car presented in Michael Schumacher livery three weeks ago from RM Sotheby’s, a collectible car auction house.
Mr Collins, who paid £260,000, said he planned to hang the full-sized Formula 1 car on his wall at home.
“It’s a great piece of memorabilia. I decided it was for me, and no one else was getting it,” he said. “How often are you going to see a Michael Schumacher car on the wall?”
Ferrari is the blue chip of Formula 1, according to the car collector, who said he paid £110,000 more than the estimated value of the car. “I was told it was worth £150,000 to £175,000 but
I paid way more, which was annoying. Some guy in Miami was bidding against me. It always happens when you really want something at auction but I had to have it. I’ve always been Ferrari mad,” he said. Overall, he estimated he had spent more than £1m on F1 collectibles.
Peter Haynes of RM Sotheby’s said: “The market for F1 memorabilia is driven by which of the drivers has had their fingerprints on that item. F1 is such a massive sport that if fans can buy a bit of merchandise, they will find £8,000 to buy a bit of carbon fibre as a memento.”
Those who buy a car either keep it as a static exhibit, where they park it and stare at it, or they plan to drive it. It could cost £6m to buy but you can’t start a modern F1 car without the support of a big team, which means it will cost a lot more to run, Mr Haynes said.
RM Sotheby’s sold Hamilton’s 2010 Turkish GP race-winning McLaren MP4 for £4.8m at the British Grand Prix this July. This was the first Hamilton F1 car to go on public sale and was second only to the record £5.5m purchase of the Schumacher 2001 Ferrari in 2017.
Proving an item’s authenticity is crucial in buying and selling memorabilia, Mr Haynes said.
“It isn’t hard to replicate a set of racing overalls. If you are selling a race suit, and you are purporting it was worn by Schumacher in 2004, you need a proper trail to prove it.”
Original helmets worn by wellloved champion Ayrton Senna are the most sought-after items, according to Mr Gough. “These are very rare and remain in private collections or museums. Expect to pay north of £ 160,000 for an original helmet. If it’s a significant race-winning or titledeciding helmet, this would be at least £250,000, and be prepared for a long wait for another to become available as collectors will rarely sell,” he said.