A version of the Mercedes W196 is up for sale (Image: Getty)
The W196 – a legendary F1 car that led Juan Manuel Fangio to two of his five World Championships – is up for sale at auction and is expected to sell for around £42million (€50m).
The £42m figure reported by Speedcafe would make the 00009/54 chassis the most expensive F1 car in history. This record is held by another W196 machine driven by Fangio, which sold for £24.2m at a Goodwood Festival of Speed auction in 2013.
Whoever purchases the eight-figure icon of German autosport engineering will inherit one of F1’s earliest juggernauts. In the hands of Fangio and Sir Stirling Moss, the W196 won in nine of the 12 Grands Prix it entered.
After back-to-back years of watching Alberto Ascari and dominate the sport, the machine guided Fangio back to the pinnacle of the F1 standings. Argentina’s greatest-ever driver roared back to his glory days, clinching his second and third World Championship titles in 1954 and 1955.
While the W196 is well-placed to shatter F1 records in May, versions of the team’s 2024 challenger, the W15, are unlikely to fetch such eye-catching price tags. The Silver Arrows claimed four Grand Prix victories last year, but the overall mood in the camp was one of frustration as ’s team laboured to a P4 Constructors’ Championship finish.
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The Mercedes W196 could fetch as much as £42million (Image: Getty)
will also be without as they look to recover in 2025. The Silver Arrows are bullish about their chances for the new regulation period in 2026. Still, if and Kimi Antonelli want to experience immediate success, they must bank on rivals , and dropping speed.
Despite having the odds stacked against his team, Russell is not ruling out a tilt at the Drivers’ Championship title in 2025. “I feel really pleased with my own personal performance this year,” the Brit explained in Abu Dhabi.
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“I think in qualifying, I’ve been performing better than ever. Whenever the car has had a chance of being on pole, we’ve been on pole. Whenever we’ve had a chance of fighting for the victory, especially since Canada [where Russell went from P1 to P3], I think that was the only race that went amiss, we’ve been in that position to take it.
“That gives me confidence. If we build a car that is capable of fighting for a championship, we’ll be there to achieve it. The few opportunities we’ve had this year, we’ve clinched it. As a team, we’ve won almost as many races as , which is crazy to think.”