When Elon Musk crashed his McLaren F1 while trying to impress his PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel

Elon Musk crashed his McLaren F1 in 2000 while taking fellow PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel on a joyride. Musk bought the fastest production car in the world at the time for $1 million in 1999.

The special McLaren F1 was manufactured by McLaren Automotive between 1992-2000 and was powered by the BMW S70/2 V12 engine. The British company claim that this vehicle invented the 'supercar' genre.

So it doesn't come as a surprise that this car has been owned by many influential and rich people, ever since it was first produced. Lewis Hamilton, Rowan Atkinson, Ralph Lauren, the Sultan of Brunei and Elon Musk have all owned the F1 supercar at some point.

When Elon Musk received one out of the 62 cars at the time in the world in 1999, he claimed that he was showering at the YMCA and sleeping on his office floor only three years ago, and now was proud to own a million-dollar car. [via CNN]

According to McLaren Palm Beach, the supercar was the businessman's first purchase after selling his first company, Zip2, for $22 million in 1999. But soon after, an incident occurred, which caused severe damage to the million-dollar supercar.

Musk took fellow Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel for a ride and reportedly decided to show-off the F1's acceleration in 2000. He stepped on the gas but had forgotten to turn the traction control on. He subsequently lost contrl of the car; the rear-wheels flew off, and the car also launched into the air, crashing into an embankment (via McLaren Palm Beach).

Neither Musk nor Thiel suffered any injuries, but the supercar was left in a pretty bad state. Musk hadn't even insured the car and reportedly paid for the repairs out of his own pocket, which would likely not have been a cheap fix. But the businessman reportedly clocked 11,000 miles on his F1, having used it as his daily-driver until he eventually sold the car in 2007.

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Elon Musk sold his accidental McLaren F1 in 2007

Elon Musk at the 2023 Miami Grand Prix with his son - Source: Getty

Elon Musk reportedly sold his repaired McLaren F1 in 2007 after deciding to get ride of his non-electric car collection after venturing into the electric segment with Tesla. The 53-year-old even turned a profit on the supercar.

Elon Musk reportedly sold the McLaren F1, along with the rest of his combustion engine-powered car collection in 2007, to allign with the brand image after having become the CEO of Tesla. He has since helped grow Tesla, turning it into a trillion-dollar company, while focusing solely on Electric Vehicles.

Musk has never shied away from controversy, ever since the turn of the century. Currently, he is regularly in the news after becoming one of President Donald Trump's closest confidants after his election victory in 2024.

Most recently, he faced backlash from F1 fans after a tweet from a former Red Bull employee was removed from X, a platform owned by Musk.