Bernie Ecclestone's impressive single-seater collection is up for sale

It is a treasure valued at several hundred million dollars that is about to be put up for sale by Bernie Ecclestone. The former president of Formula One Management (FOM) and the sport's top money man is going to auction off his incredible collection of 69 single-seaters, all from different eras and teams. "I have been collecting these cars for over 50 years, and have only purchased the best of each example. I love all my cars, but the time has come for me to start thinking about what will happen to them when I am no longer here.", said the 94-year-old businessman.

Among these 69 cars, some Formula 1 that have marked the history of the discipline. Among the Ferraris, we find the 375 F1 of Alberto Ascari, which won the Italian Grand Prix, the very first 312 F1, which won several Grands Prix and which is considered by the Team as the most original F1 car of the time, but also world champion cars, such as those that belonged to Michael Schumacher, Niki Lauda or Mike Hawthorn.

Also up for sale are several Brabhams, which Bernie Ecclestone kept while he was team chairman. The collection includes Nelson Piquet’s championship-winning cars, one of which was used for testing with Ayrton Senna at the end of the 1 Formula 1983 season. Unique and iconic cars from the 1970s such as the BT44B, BT45C and the famous BT46B, a car equipped with a fan at the rear in which Niki Lauda won the Swedish Grand Prix by more than half a minute and which only contested one race.

© Tom Hartley Jnr.

Other highlights in the collection include a vintage Maserati 250F, the monstrous BRM 16-cylinder Mark II and the famous Vanwall VW10, which, in the hands of Stirling Moss, scored multiple Grand Prix victories in the 1958 F1 season and secured the first ever Constructors' Championship for Vanwall.

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