No one has seen him yet, he doesn’t even physically exist, but he already has an owner. McLaren managed to auction off next year’s single-seater, which will bear the designation MCL40A, for almost ten million euros in Abu Dhabi. However, the new owner will not be able to handle it as he likes.
The Zak Brown-led brand knows its way around marketing. In recent years, the number of sponsor logos on monoposts has increased significantly, and collaborations are increasing at a dizzying pace. McLaren even manages to raise money and take care of its publicity in innovative ways.
Before the end of the season, he decided to become the first team in the history of Formula 1 to sell his car, even though it had not yet driven a single kilometer or even been produced. McLaren engineers will still be finishing the final details on it in the coming weeks, and finally they will have to physically produce it in order to make it to the January tests.
Either way, it already has an owner. At an auction organized by RM Sotheby’s in Abu Dhabi, the McLaren MCL40A sold for $11.5 million, which translates to €9.87 million. When will the new owner be able to use it?
It has its catch. In order not to let the secrets of McLaren’s technical department fall into the wrong hands, the new owner will have to wait until 2028 for his car. After two full seasons, the technologies and aerodynamic concepts of 2026 will already be well mapped out, so the details of the cars would not help the rivals. Until then, he will have to be satisfied “only” with the demonstration car from 2025.
Even then, however, the new owner will not be able to drive around in his single-seat as he pleases. According to the rules, each run will be classified as “testing previous single-seaters”, which is limited. So, if the rules do not change, the organization of the races will be under the thumb of McLaren itself, in order to leave enough space for tests within its own program.
However, the new owner will not only get a single seater. The ten million dollar package also includes exclusive access to the riders and the team. He will be part of the car show, but he can also visit the two grand prix next season and watch them directly from the papaya garage. Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Zak Brown will also give the buyer a tour of the Technology Center in Woking. At the end of the year, he will still be able to choose whether he wants to own the monopoly of Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri.
In addition to the McLaren MCL40A, a car in which McLaren wants to enter the WEC championship in the hypercar category in 2027 was also sold in Abu Dhabi for 6.52 million euros. The third car sold is the McLaren DW12 for the next IndyCar season for 728,000 euros.
