£2.7 million worth Lewis Hamilton-driven McLaren F1 car up for auction

Lewis Hamilton's first-ever F1 test car, the McLaren MP4-21, is up for sale at RM Sotheby for a whopping £2,200,000 - £2,750,000. This was the seven-time world champion's first F1 car which he drove during a test session before he entered the sport with McLaren.

Hamilton has a long and illustrious career in F1. He recently won the 2024 F1 British GP, which counts as his 104th race win in the sport. The Brit has won seven world championships, equalling the tally of the legendary Michael Schumacher. However, he had humble beginnings when he was moving up the ranks to reach F1.

Back in September 2006, Hamilton, when he was in McLaren's junior program, was given the opportunity to drive the MP4-21 F1 car around Silverstone. Just 10 days prior to the test, Hamilton won the GP2 Championship at Monza. A few months after the test, the then-21-year-old was given a seat at the McLaren F1 team for the 2007 F1 season.

The MP4-21 car was driven by Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen in the 2006 F1 season. It had a naturally aspirated 2.4-litre V8 that produced 760bhp and the car only weighed 605kg. What's more intriguing is that this car was designed by the famous car designer Adrian Newey and his team of engineers at McLaren. This was one of Newey's last cars for the British team before he moved to Red Bull.

After the 2006 F1 season, the car was then fully restored in 2019 by McLaren Racing Heritage. It also comes with a Certificate of Authenticity by the team.

Lewis Hamilton's first F1 test car is now up for auction at the Monterey Car Week which is being held from 15 to 17 August. People who are interested can check out the details of the MP4-21 on RM Sotheby's official website.

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Lewis Hamilton praises his former team's recent resurgence

Lewis Hamilton was happy to see Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri push his former team, McLaren to the top of the grid in 2024. Speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, at Monaco, he lauded Norris and Piastri for their on-track performances.

The Mercedes driver was also delighted to see his old team not only get back on top but inspire other teams to work hard and push forward as well.

“I think he [Norris] is doing a great job, Oscar [Piastri] is also doing a really great job as well. He’s just been unlucky in the last couple of races. So excited to see both of them, and how they both progress, but mostly also for McLaren, to see them back up there,"

"I hope we can get closer as well, I think they [McLaren] also have just shown that you can close the gap and you can catch up if the job’s done right. It’s inspired us all to get on it,” Hamilton said.

Lewis Hamilton's old and current team are currently in a constructors' battle. After the 2024 F1 British GP, which was won by Hamilton, McLaren is third in the standings with 295 points and Mercedes is fourth with 221.