Ecclestone sells F1 car collection for record price

Bernie Ecclestone, the ex-boss of F1, recently put his 69-strong collection of F1 and other race cars up for sale.

And Red Bull heir, Mark Mateschitz, purchased the lot for an undisclosed price. Evidently it is a world-record. The collection was valued at around £500m. 

Included in the sale were Ferraris raced by F1 world champions Niki Lauda, Mike Hawthorn and Michael Schumacher. There were also Brabhams raced by Carlos Pace, Lauda and Nelson Piquet. Amongst them was a Brabham-Alfa Romeo which was raced only once.

The new owner is the son of the billionaire Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz. He has vowed to make the collection accessible to the public.

An expert in the area, Tom Hartley Jnr, told BBC Sport it was “the largest single transaction ever concluded in the car collecting world and by several multiples”. That said, the price will not be made public.

Ecclestone commented to Reuters: “They’ve gone to a good home, which is the real thing I was interested in…

“They’ll present them somewhere, into a museum so people can have a look at them for a change which has never happened before.

“I wouldn’t have sold them to [just] anyone unless I knew where they were going to finish up. They’re going to build something like a museum and that’s where they’ll be.”

Purchaser Mateschitz told the Daily Mail: “I am very pleased that Bernie has placed his trust in me to take care of this historically significant collection.

“It will be carefully preserved, and expanded over the years. In the near future it will be made accessible to the public at an appropriate location.”

The Englishman said his decision to sell the fleet was because he did not want to “leave” it for his wife Fabiana to resolve after his death.

“All these car dealers would be driving her mad.”