McLaren is about to do something no modern F1 team has dared: sell a current-generation Grand Prix car before it ever turns a wheel.
At an RM Sotheby’s sale in Abu Dhabi in early December, the team will auction the rights to its 2026 Formula 1 machine, with delivery promised in 2028. The car doesn’t exist yet outside of CAD files and wind tunnel models, but the winning bidder will essentially own the chassis McLaren intends to race in the first season of the new regulations. Until handover, the buyer can lease a 2025 show car for display duties.
F1 teams tend to keep their cars under lock and key for years, both to protect hard-won IP and to keep them useful for marketing or permissible testing. Offloading a yet-to-race design is, frankly, unheard of. RM Sotheby’s is calling it a world-first, and for once the auction-house hyperbole isn’t a stretch.
Context matters. The 2026 reset will bring sweeping changes to aerodynamics and power unit architecture. Most teams have already rebalanced their resources toward next year’s platform, and the flow of upgrades this season has shown it. McLaren’s decision to commercialize its future hardware now is a bold read on the market—and its own momentum. As you’d expect, the car will be delivered minus a Mercedes power unit.
This isn’t a one-off lot. Also on the docket: the Dallara IndyCar Pato O’Ward will race in next year’s Indianapolis 500, and a show example of McLaren’s planned 2027 LMDh prototype for its World Endurance Championship return. The team’s Triple Crown ambitions—Monaco, Indy, Le Mans—are back in sharp focus.
Pre-selling race cars isn’t new in other paddocks. Walkinshaw Andretti United in Australia, co-owned by McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown alongside Ryan Walkinshaw and TWG, has long run that model—a point not lost on those noting TWG’s ties to the Cadillac F1 project. F1, though, has always been more guarded with its toys.
McLaren’s heritage collection has historically been off-limits, barring a few exceptions. During the pandemic, parts of it were even used as collateral to secure financing. Which is why this move—effectively granting a collector future title to an active-era car—is such a departure.
“This is a rare chance to own a piece of racing history,” Brown said of the sale, framing it as both a fan-facing moment and a statement of intent ahead of the WEC program. Expect VIP access and trackside hospitality bundled in for the successful bidders.
Whether you see it as smart capital, shrewd marketing, or both, one thing’s certain: the rest of the pit lane will be watching how this plays out.
