McLaren have decided to auction off five fully functioning Formula One cars, including models driven by seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and Ayrton Senna, the late Brazilian.

The five cars, which will be sold through Tom Hartley Jnr, a high-end dealer, are expected to raise tens of millions of pounds. They will be prepared by the reigning constructors’ champions for their next owners.

The models include a 1991 McLaren MP4/6A which was mainly driven by Gerhard Berger that season, but was also tested by Senna.

There is also a 2012 MP4/27A which Jenson Button carried to three victories that year and was also driven by Hamilton. 

The collection features two of Lando Norris’s more recent machines, the 2021 McLaren MCL35M and the 2023 MCL37A-03, which won successive races in Singapore and Japan. It was also tested post-season by a roster of drivers including Norris’s team-mate Oscar Piastri and Mick Schumacher, son of F1 great Michael.

The 2023 car also has the distinction of being driven by Brad Pitt in a private test at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas in June last year in connection with his starring role in F1 the Movie. It is the most modern F1 car offered for sale to a private owner. Pitt reportedly drove it up to 197mph (317kph).

Zak Brown, the McLaren chief executive, said the cars should be out on the road.

“We have decided to part with these iconic McLaren Formula One cars because we feel that having them simply sitting in storage is a disservice to what they represent,” Brown said.

“These cars were built to be driven and raced, and we want to see them being used and enjoyed. We believe that is the best way to keep our history alive and our heritage business active.”

Hartley Jnr, who also sold the collection of Bernie Ecclestone, the former F1 supremo, and 20 road cars belonging to the late McLaren co-owner Mansour Ojjeh, described the cars as a collector’s dream.

“It is incredibly rare for a collector to have the opportunity to acquire race-driven Grand Prix cars directly from the manufacturer and team that built and campaigned them, and that makes this a very special offering,” Hartley said.

“These five cars will be offered individually and there is no time pressure whatsoever. Our priority, and McLaren’s, is to find the right homes for them.”

It is unclear how much the cars will sell for. There are no guide prices given. But they are expected to range from £5m to £10m.

A McLaren MP4-25A raced by Hamilton to victory in Turkey in 2010 sold for £4.8m in 2021, and a winning 2001 Ferrari raced by Schumacher fetched $7.5m (£5.6m) in New York in 2017.