Former Mercedes champion's F1 car set to attract $84M in historic auction

For an upcoming auction in May, a Mercedes W196 car that was driven in Formula 1 in the mid-1950s by legends Juan Manuel Fangio and Sir Stirling Moss will go up for sale. The car, whose chassis number is 00009/54, is being sold in it's Stromlinienwagen (streamlined) configuration and is reportedly expected to exceed a sale price of $84 million.

Fangio and Moss drove the specific W196 that is going on auction during their time with Daimler Benz AG, which is now the Mercedes F1 team, in the 1954 and 1955 F1 championship seasons. The two drivers drove the car during the 1955 Italian Grand Prix, scoring a 1-2 finish, with Fangio taking the victory. The Argentinian driver also drove the chassis of the auction car with the engine of the Mercedes 300 SLR sportscar variant during a Formula Libre event in Buenos Aires in 1954. Fangio would also secure two of his five world drivers' championship title wins with the car during the 1954 and 1955 seasons.

On the car's record is also the title win of the 1955 World Sportscar Championship, under the piloting of Moss, who drove the car under the model name of 300 SLR, also known as the W196 S.

Over it's time in Formula 1, the W196 would race under two types of variants - one with enclosed wheels, which is the Stromlinienwagen version of the car, and another that had open wheels. The open-wheels variant was used at tracks which were tighter and having a high-speed car wasn't the priority. During it's two years of competing, the W196 would have 14 race starts, achieving victory in 11 of those starts.

The 00009/54 chassis that is being auctioned has been restored to it's original paintwork and will be racing under the number #16, the same number that the Mercedes raced with at the Italian Grand Prix 70 years ago.

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Mercedes' 2020 F1 car dusted off for testing session with Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes W11 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi at Yas Marina Circuit on December 13, 2020 - Source: Getty

Another older model of a Mercedes car that is getting some traction is the F1 team's 2020 W11 car. The Brackley-based team will be handing the four-year-old car to it's newest addition to its driver lineup, Kimi Antonelli, for his testing session at the Jerez Track in Spain this week.

By driving the 2020 version of the car, the team has circumvented the 1000-mile-cap imposed by the FIA on Testing of Previous Cars sessions for drivers, since the driving the W11 in a testing session would be considered a Testing of Historic Car.

Cars that fall under the THC are any that have been constructed earlier than the last three years of the current cars, which are considered to be the 2024 and 2025 cars, making 2020 the first year of cars that fall under THC.

Kimi Antonelli will drive alongside George Russell once the season kicks off with the first race in Melbourne, Australia in March this year.