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The chassis that carried Ayrton Senna to his first Brazilian Grand Prix victory is headed to auction in December.
Among his many legendary drives, it was Senna’s Formula 1 win piloting the McLaren MP4/6-Honda at home in 1991 that ranked as the most celebrated for the son of Sao Paulo.
Across all of his stirring drives, Senna’s triumph at the Interlagos circuit – delivered after 10 frustratingly unsuccessful attempts to reach the top step of the podium in front of his adoring fans – with chassis MP4/6-1 and its naturally-aspirated Honda V12 engine was the most personal.
Already a two-time F1 world champion, Senna was the biggest motor racing star in the world –among the most popular athletes in any sport – and secured his crowning achievement under immense physical duress. With rain falling in the latter stages of the race and a failing six-speed manual transmission to manage, Senna closed the 71-lap contest in a state of exhaustion as Riccardo Patrese, driving the cutting-edge Williams FW14-Renault, chased the McLaren which only had use of top gear.
Left with the long sixth gear as the last surviving cog, Senna was left with no option but to slip the clutch to coax acceleration out of MP4/6 chassis No. 1 in the slowest corners and to carry exceptional speed everywhere else with the car’s brakes as the sole method of slowing the ailing machine since downshifting and using the effects of engine braking was no longer at his disposal.
The arduous and improvisational nature of the task led to extreme cramping, but Senna’s efforts to parry Patrese’s advancing Williams were successful as he crossed the finish line with 2.9s in hand over the Italian. Senna would go on to win more races in newer MP4/6s on the way to taking his third and final world championship, and after the season, chassis No. 1 went into what’s known today as the McLaren Heritage collection where it lived until being made available for a private sale in 2020.
Chassis No. 1 was “returned to running and driving order as a condition of the current owner’s purchase,” had not been shown or driven since it was acquired, and was recently serviced and started by McLaren specialist Paul Lanzante Ltd in the U.K. ahead of the auction.
RM Sotheby’s estimates the car could sell for $12-$15 million by the end of bidding, which runs for three days from Dec. 8-11.
