When it comes to measuring the value of a Formula 1 driver, the sale price of their used race cars can be a good indicator. Recently, Lewis Hamilton 2013 F1 race car Mercedes No. 4, the car in which he won his first grand prix, sold for an impressive $18.8 million at an RM Sotheby’s auction during the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend. This price surpassed the amount that Michael Schumacher’s 2003-season Ferrari sold for last year.
The winning bid for Hamilton’s car, placed by an unidentified buyer, exceeded the auction house’s estimated price of $10 million to $15 million. Chassis W04 still sports the same silver and green livery from the 2013 season, adorned with sponsor graphics, and is powered by a 2.4-liter V-8 motor. The following year, F1 regulations mandated a switch to hybrid-assisted 1.6-liter V-6 engines, which continue to power F1 cars today.
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Lewis Hamilton 2013 F1 race car victory in the car came at the Hungarian Grand Prix, the tenth race of the 2013 season, during his first year with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team. He then went on to achieve four more podium finishes that season with the same car. Despite finishing fourth in the drivers’ championship in 2013, Hamilton’s career with Mercedes would see him win six drivers’ championship titles, bringing his total to seven (one with McLaren), putting him on par with Schumacher.
While Schumacher’s 2003-season Ferrari F2003 fetched $14.9 million at auction last year, the sale of Juan Manuel Fangio’s silver Mercedes-Benz W196 in 2013 surpassed them both with a staggering $29.6 million. The W196 won nine of the 12 races it entered in the mid-1950s and secured two world championships.
Would you spend nearly 19 million on a car you can never drive? I guess if you can you have plenty of other cars in your garage!