Championship-winning Ferraris lead Bernie Ecclestone’s collection sale

Amassed over Ecclestone's 50-plus year relationship with motor racing, the cars include title-winning Ferraris driven by Mike Hawthorn, Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher, and all of Ecclestone’s Brabhams driven by the likes of Nelson Piquet, Carlos Pace and Lauda. 

Among these gems, you'll also find the Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT46 B' fan car'. A Gordon Murray-designed machine, it took victory by over 30 seconds in the hands of Niki Lauda in its inaugural outing at the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix before Ecclestone withdrew the car, fearing its dominance would upset other teams and block his plans to take over the sport. 

The mogul's collection spans from 1958 to the Vanwall VW10, which carried Stirling Moss to several grands prix wins and helped Vanwall clinch the first Formula 1 constructors' world championship. 

Another pivotal machine is the Ferrari 375 Thin Wall Special, which was the first Prancing Horse to beat Alfa Romeo when it carried Alberto Ascari to victory at the Italian Grand Prix in 1949.

Unsurprisingly, Bernie's beloved Brabhams form the backbone of the sale. 

Tom Hartley Jr., who's selling the cars, said: "Because Bernie has retained ownership of the Brabhams since they were new, and many of those cars have not been seen for decades, people can forget quite how special a team Brabham was.”

"Brabham scored 22 Formula 1 grand prix wins, 24 Formula 1 grand prix pole positions, 25 Formula 1 grand prix fastest laps, and two Formula 1 world championships under Bernie's tenure. The team was also very innovative, fitting carbon brakes to its cars in the 1970s, and was the first to introduce in-race refuelling. Bernie was also the person who gave a young South African engineer named Gordon Murray a job – and other big names in motorsport, such as Charlie Whiting and Herbie Blash, were part of the Brabham boys.”

Ecclestone said about the sale: "I have been collecting these cars for more than 50 years, and I have only ever bought the best of any example. Whilst many other collectors over the years have opted for sports cars, my passion has always been for grand prix and Formula 1 cars.”

"A grand prix and, in particular, a Formula 1 car is far more important than any road car or other form of race car, as it is the pinnacle of the sport, and all the cars I have bought over the years have fantastic race histories and are rare works of art.”

"I love all of my cars, but the time has come for me to start thinking about what will happen to them should I no longer be here, and that is why I have decided to sell them. After collecting and owning them for so long, I would like to know where they have gone and not leave them for my wife to deal with should I not be around.”

Ecclestone's career began in the 1950s with the Connaught racing team, and he would manage drivers like Stuart Lewis-Evans and Austrian ace Jochen Rindt, who posthumously won the 1970 F1 World Championship, having tragically lost his life at Monza that year.

From there, Ecclestone bought and ran Brabham, employing grand-prix-winning drivers such as Carlos Reutemann, Carlos Pace, Niki Lauda, and F1 World Champion Nelson Piquet.

From there, Ecclestone led the Formula One Constructors' Association, making F1 the global powerhouse it is today. Ecclestone founded the Formula One Group in 1987 and stayed in charge until 2017, when he sold F1's commercial rights to Liberty Media.