F1Weekly Podcast # 1170
ON TODAY’S PROGRAM…
MAX IN THE LAST 25 MINUTES GOES FROM 24 TO P9 BUT…PENALTIES KILLED THEIR CHANCES
LANDO MOCKING OTHER DRIVERS IS WRONG!
LIAM LAWSON GOES COUNTRY IN AUSTIN AND …
FERNANDO SAYS…WERE BACK TO GP 2 GP2 ENGINE AHH.
THIS WEEK’S NASIR HAMEED CORNER… INTERVIEW WITH TWO F1 WORLD CHAMPIONS…LANDO. NORRIS AND MARIO ANDRETTI
AND YES WE DO NEED YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO KEEP THIS PROGRAM ON THE AIR, JUST CLICK ON THE SUPPORT F1WEEKLY TAB YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO.
Mercedes praises Verstappen’s final stint: ‘Without that small incident would have been way more possible’
Stefan Wendl, Head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing, is incredibly proud of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport’s season. The German manufacturer ended the GT World Challenge Europe season with three titles and a victory in the final race. Max Verstappen’s participation was also a major highlight for Mercedes.
Now that the GT World Challenge Europe season is over, Mercedes can look back on it with satisfaction. The team is taking no fewer than three titles back to Affalterbach: the overall drivers’ championship in the Endurance Cup, the overall teams’ championship in the Endurance Cup, and the overall drivers’ titles in both the Sprint Cup and the Endurance Cup. To top it all off, the #17 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 won the race in Portugal.
For Fabian Schiller, Ralf Aron and Maxi Götz, it was a victory they had waited a long time for. Wendl believes Verstappen Racing could have achieved more if they had not received a drive-through penalty. “It’s always nice and actually not only for us as a brand, as a great owner, to have him that he chose us as his family to be here in the GT Sport with his team,” Wendl told GPblog after the race in Portimão.
Tom Hartley Jnr Ltd announces the sale of five extraordinary McLaren Formula 1 cars
From Ayrton Senna’s and Gerhard Berger’s championship-winning MP4/6As to Lando Norris’s 2023 MCL37A, the most modern Formula 1 car ever offered for private ownership.
18 October, 2026 — Oxfordshire, United Kingdom — Tom Hartley Jnr Ltd, one of the world’s most respected and exclusive high-end dealers in classic and historic sports cars and racing cars, is delighted to announce the offering for sale of five highly significant McLaren Formula 1 cars, each being presented directly by McLaren Racing and carrying exceptional provenance from the highest levels of Grand Prix competition.
Spanning 32 years of McLaren history in Formula 1, the collection brings together cars driven by some of the greatest names in motorsport, including Ayrton Senna, Gerhard Berger, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, and Lando Norris, and represents a rare opportunity to acquire genuine works McLaren Grand Prix machinery directly from the team responsible for creating and campaigning it. The five cars are:
1991 McLaren MP4/6A, Chassis #04
1991 McLaren MP4/6A, Chassis #07
2012 McLaren MP4/27A, Chassis #01
2021 McLaren MCL35M, Chassis #01
2023 McLaren MCL37A, Chassis #03
The five cars are offered individually, having each remained in the custody of McLaren since its final period of competition, and will all be prepared by McLaren for their next owner/s.
The cars represent a significant chapter in McLaren’s history and tell an extraordinary story of technological and sporting evolution – from the naturally aspirated Honda V12 of Senna and Berger, to the naturally aspirated V8 era of Button and Hamilton, and the turbo-hybrid generation and the emergence of Norris as McLaren’s latest World Champion.
Each car has remained within the McLaren organisation following its racing career, meaning that its history, identity, and provenance remain intrinsically connected to the factory team that designed, built, and raced it. For the new custodian, that also provides an exceptional and unrivalled level of authenticity.
The five McLaren Formula 1 cars are now available for acquisition through Tom Hartley Jnr.
Zak Brown (Chief Executive Officer, McLaren Racing) said:
“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. 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.
“Tom Hartley Jnr is the person we have entrusted to handle the sale. Few people understand the Formula One car market as well as Tom does, and nobody is more active within it today. We were also very impressed by the way he handled the sale of the Ecclestone Grand Prix Collection, and McLaren has worked with him successfully for many years.”
Tom Hartley Jnr said:
“I’m very excited to bring this opportunity to market. 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.
“We have a great relationship with McLaren and have worked closely with Zak and his team for many years, assisting them with a number of sales. However, to now be able to publicly offer these cars directly on McLaren’s behalf is very exciting, and I’m personally looking forward to finding great homes for them.
“When we handled the sales of both the Ecclestone Grand Prix Collection and the Ojjeh Collection, there was significant interest in acquiring individual cars, but ultimately both collections were sold in their entirety to single buyers. There is of course every possibility that the same could happen here. However, 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.
”I’m very grateful to McLaren for entrusting my business with these sales. We are extremely active within the Grand Prix car market and appreciate more than most just how special it is to own a race-driven Formula One car. The personnel, technology, and innovation that go into creating a Formula One car far exceed anything found in a road car, and for me this is where the automotive world comes closest to the traditional art world. Values have moved considerably in recent years, but I still believe this market has a long way to go.”
Notes to editors:
1991 McLAREN MP4/6A CHASSIS #04
Chassis #04 is an exceptionally important ex-works McLaren from the height of the Senna-Berger era. Raced by Berger during McLaren-Honda’s successful 1991 World Championship campaign, the car finished second at the 1991 San Marino Grand Prix, contributing to one of the most dominant McLaren performances in Formula 1 history.
That Imola race saw McLaren achieve a remarkable 1-2, with Berger following Senna across the line after both had lapped the entire field. This was only the second Formula 1 race in history in which both team-mates, driving cars of the same chassis type, achieved this. The MP4/6A went on to deliver McLaren its fourth consecutive Constructors’ Championship, while Senna secured his third Drivers’ title.
Chassis #04 also carries the remarkable distinction of having been utilised in testing by Senna, providing a direct connection to one of the greatest drivers and most celebrated periods in Formula 1 history.
Powered by Honda’s legendary RA121E naturally-aspirated V12, the MP4/6A represents the final generation of McLaren’s great V12-powered championship cars.
1991 McLAREN MP4/6A CHASSIS #07
The second 1991 MP4/6A, chassis #07, offers an equally compelling combination of competition history and works provenance. Raced by Berger during McLaren-Honda’s 1991 World Championship-winning campaign, chassis #07 finished second at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, McLaren’s home race.
The car qualified within the top five for each of its four Grand Prix appearances, including an impressive third-place qualifying position at the German Grand Prix. Its history extends beyond Berger’s race appearances – Chassis #07 was tested by three-time World Champion Senna at Silverstone in 1992. Significantly, the car was never crashed.
Like chassis #04, #07 has remained with McLaren since its final race and is being offered directly from the works team. It will be fully restored by McLaren before delivery to its next owner. Together, the two MP4/6As offer an exceptionally rare opportunity to acquire not merely two championship-era McLarens, but two cars with direct connections to Senna, Berger, Honda, and McLaren’s 1991 World Championship success.
2012 McLAREN MP4/27A CHASSIS #01
Chassis #01 represents one of the most accomplished periods of McLaren’s modern Formula 1 history. Raced by 2009 World Champion Button during the decisive closing stages of the 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship, it competed against the backdrop of one of the most intense title battles of the modern era.
The MP4/27 was among the fastest cars of its generation, recording seven pole positions and three Grand Prix victories during the 2012 season. Chassis #01 achieved the fastest lap at the Indian Grand Prix and secured a strong top-five finish at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, demonstrating the outright pace of McLaren’s final generation of naturally aspirated V8-powered Formula 1 cars.
It was also tested by Hamilton and is now offered directly from McLaren, where it has remained since its final race, and will be fully restored by McLaren prior to handover.
2021 McLAREN MCL35M CHASSIS #01
The MCL35M represents an important bridge between McLaren’s historic past and its contemporary Formula 1 renaissance. Chassis #01 was raced exclusively by Norris during the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship season.
It was a podium-finishing car at Imola, Monaco, and Monza, and was part of one of the defining moments of McLaren’s modern era: the team’s famous 1-2 finish at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix. That Monza victory was McLaren’s first Grand Prix win since 2012 and its first 1-2 since 2010, marking the dawn of a new era of regular success. The car also competed during the extraordinary Hamilton-versus-Verstappen championship battle of 2021, one of the most closely fought seasons in recent Formula 1 history.
At Monaco, chassis #01 carried McLaren’s instantly recognisable Gulf special livery, one of the most celebrated modern Formula 1 liveries. Today, with Norris established as the 2025 Formula 1 World Champion, the significance of owning an early McLaren Grand Prix car raced exclusively by him has taken on a new dimension.
The MCL35M is offered directly from McLaren and will be prepared by the team to race-ready condition before being handed to its next custodian.
2023 McLAREN MCL37A CHASSIS #03
The centrepiece of this extraordinary offering is MCL37A-03, a car that brings together contemporary Formula 1 performance, multiple Grand Prix podiums, a remarkable roster of drivers and a history that continues almost to the present day.
Raced exclusively by Norris during the 2023 Formula 1 season, chassis #03 achieved consecutive second-place finishes at the Singapore Grand Prix and Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, establishing itself as a genuine multiple-podium Grand Prix car.
The MCL37A formed the backbone of McLaren’s extraordinary transformation towards title success in 2024 and 2025. After a difficult start to the 2023 campaign, the team developed the car into one of Red Bull Racing’s closest challengers during the second half of the season.
But chassis #03’s story did not end when its racing career finished. It subsequently became an important part of McLaren’s official testing programme and was driven by an exceptional roster that included Norris, Oscar Piastri, Pato O’Ward, Mick Schumacher, Valtteri Bottas, Martin Brundle, and Brad Pitt.
In 2025, Hollywood legend Pitt piloted the car at a private McLaren test at the Circuit of the Americas in connection with F1® The Movie. Following extensive simulator work and engineering preparation, Pitt reached a reported 197mph in the contemporary Grand Prix car.
Most importantly, perhaps, it is the most modern Formula 1 Grand Prix car ever offered the opportunity of private ownership. For collectors accustomed to waiting decades before a Grand Prix car enters private hands, the significance of acquiring a genuine 2023 Formula 1 chassis directly from its works team cannot be overstated.
MCL37A-03 is offered directly from McLaren, where it has remained since its competition career, and will be prepared by McLaren to race-ready condition before handover to its next custodian.
About Tom Hartley Jnr
With more than 25 years of personal experience dealing at the very top end of the market, Tom Hartley Jnr has built enviable client loyalty and a worldwide reputation on his exceptional knowledge, impartial advice, and commitment to quality in every aspect of his business.
Operating from a private showroom in Oxfordshire, UK, Hartley has a truly global reach and is the most active operator in significant private treaty sales. His company operates at the highest end of the market, supplying only the finest cars and providing unparalleled customer service.
To reinforce both the quality of the cars it supplies and its outstanding global reach, Tom Hartley Jnr was awarded the Queen’s Award for International Trade in 2018. One of the most coveted and prestigious awards available to a UK-based business, the award recognised the company’s hard work in establishing a global presence, with overseas markets extending from the USA to New Zealand.
In 2025, the business sold in excess of $900m worth of collectible cars, including Bernie Ecclestone’s collection of 69 historic Grand Prix and Formula 1 cars – the most valuable and important collection of its kind in the world – for a reported £500m.
www.tomhartleyjnr.com
https://www.youtube.com/TomHartleyJnrLtd
T: +44 01608 532500
For more information, please contact:
Matt Bishop, Managing Director, Diagonal Comms: [email protected]
Joe Downes, Business Director, Diagonal Comms: [email protected]
“Class of 75” Second List of 15 Drivers Announced
The 75 Most Successful Drivers in the History of the 12 Hours of Sebring
Are Being Announced in Advance of the Historic 75th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring
SEBRING, Fla. (Oct. 13, 2026) – A second list of 15 drivers is being announced from the 75 drivers selected to the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring all-time greatest drivers, following the first list of 15 announced on Sept. 15.
The list of the most successful drivers in the history of the legendary Sebring race was selected by a 10-person panel of sports car racing experts, and its number of drivers selected coincides with the 75th running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring March 20, 2027. The first running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring was March 15, 1952. Since then, only once has the race not been held – in 1974 due to the worldwide energy crisis.
The 75 selected drivers have been divided evenly into randomly selected lists of 15. The 15 drivers being announced this month from the list of 75 are:
- Michele Alboreto
- Sebastien Bourdais
- Rinaldo Capello
- Briggs Cunningham
- Hans Hermann
- Al Holbert
- Nicholas Lapierre
- JJ Lehto
- Jan Magnussen
- Stirling Moss
- John Paul Jr.
- Brian Redman
- Jo Siffert
- Wayne Taylor
- Bob Wollek
Michele Alboreto – Always-fast Italian driver Michele Alboreto won his final race at Sebring in 2001 in the No. 1 Audi R8 with Rinaldo Capello and Laurent Aiello driving for Team Joest in a rare caution-free race – it has only occurred three times in history (1985, 1994, 2001). In his first appearance at the track he was the fastest qualifier in 1995 driving the Team Scandia Ferrari 333SP No. 33 before finishing fourth in the race. The following year he finished second overall in the Ferrari, and he ran the race for Team Joest in a Audi R8 three times – 1999, 2000, 2001 – starting with a third-place finish, then second, and finally the overall win in 2001.
Sebastien Bourdais – Although from Le Mans, France, it’s fitting Sebastien Bourdais makes his home just more than 100 miles from Sebring in St. Petersburg, Fla., given he has controlled the Central Florida circuit like his home track. With three wins, 11 podium finishes and 985 laps led, Bourdais is more than comfortable here. He made his start in 2001, but success came in 2006 driving the No. 50 Panoz Esperante GTLM Ford fielded by Multimatic with David Brabham and Scott Maxwell winning the GT3 class. He won overall in 2015 in the Action Express Corvette DP with Joao Barbos and Christian Fittipaldi, and in a bit of a surprise, won overall again in 2021 in the JDC-Miller Motorsports Mustang Sampling Cadillac with Tristan Vautier and Loic Duval – all Frenchmen.
Rinaldo Capello – Rinaldo “Dindo” Capello has the second most overall victories the history of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. His five overall wins in only nine starts are an amazing accomplishment, particularly considering his worst finish is fourth. He has one second-place finish, two third-place finishes and three fourth-place finishes – all overall. Capello’s first start at Sebring came in 1999 with Team Joest in an Audi R8, where he finished third, and his final run came in an Audi R18 in 2012, where he finished on top, with co-drivers Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish.
Briggs Cunningham – One of the few drivers listed on the “Class of 75” that participated in the first 12 Hours of Sebring in 1952, Briggs Cunningham drove in 14 races at Sebring and won three times in class – 1953, 1962 and 1964. Perhaps better known as a car owner, Cunningham’s cars won three consecutive races overall from 1953-1955. He drove and fielded a variety of makes including Ferrari, Crosley, his own Cunningham C4R, Cunningham C6R Offenhauser, OSCA, Jaguar, Corvette, Maserati and Porsche.
Hans Hermann – In 10 starts at Sebring between 1956 and 1970, it was feast or famine for German Hans Herrmann. In half of those races he finished first overall, first or second in class, and the remaining five races he failed to finish at all. In his first start in 1956, he drove a factory Porsche 550 Spyder to a class victory and sixth-place overall finish. In 1960, driving a Porsche RS60 for privateer Joakim “Jo” Bonnier, a Swedish driver and car owner, he won his first of two overall 12 Hours by nine laps driving with Olivier Gendebien, the next coming in 1968 with Jo Siffert in a factory Porsche 907. He finished first in class in 1966 and second in class in 1967.
Al Holbert – Always behind the wheel of a Porsche, Al Holbert was also almost always near the front of the field unless something out of his control kept him from the front. His first overall victory came in 1976 in a Porsche Carrera RSR driving with Michael Keyser two laps clear of second place finisher. His second overall victory at Sebring came with Hurley Haywood and Bruse Leven in a Porsche 935 in 1981. He also secured podium finishes in 1983 (third), 1985 (second), 1986 (third) and 1987 (second). Many fans still regard the legendary Lowenbrau livery in a Porsche 962 that Holbert drove in these later years as an all-time favorite.
Nicholas Lapierre – Frenchman Nicholas Lapierre has made the most of only three starts at Sebring International Raceway, winning twice and finishing fourth a third time, albeit on the lead lap. His first trip to Sebring in 2011 as a teammate to countrymen Loic Duval and Olivier Panis driving a French made Peugeot 908 HDI FAP proved successful, as did his trip seven years later in 2018 driving a Nissan DPi for Tequila Patron ESM with Pipo Derani and Johannes van Overbeek. His only other start in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring was in 2016 where he finished fourth overall in Nissan.
JJ Lehto – Finnish driver Jyrki Juhani Järvilehto, or thankfully JJ Lehto as we know him, has one of the best winning percentages of any driver in the history of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. He started only seven races and visited victory lane six times – twice as the overall winner, he finished second overall twice, finished third overall once, and third in class once. His first overall victory came in his first attempt in 1999 driving with Tom Kristensen (Kristensen’s first of six Sebring victories) and Jorg Mueller. Lehto also won the pole that year driving a BMW V12 LMR. His other overall victory was his last Sebring start in 2005, driving with Kristensen and Marco Werner in an Audi R8.
Jan Magnussen – Jan Magnussen made 21 consecutive starts in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring from 1999 to 2019, and along the way he visited victory lane nine times all while driving a Corvette. Among those visits were five GT class victories for the Dane with the first coming in 2006 while teamed with Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta, followed by a win in 2008 with Ron Fellows and Johnny O’Connell, 2009 with Antonio Garcia and O’Connell, 2015 with Garcia and Ryan Briscoe and finally 2017 with Garcia and Mike Rockenfeller. He also scored second-place class finishes in 2007 and 2012, and third-place finishes in 2005 and 2019.
Stirling Moss – By 1954 when the world’s greatest auto manufacturers began to race at Sebring, so too did the world’s top international drivers, and Stirling Moss was among them. Englishman Moss captured that race in what was considered an upset given the car he drove with Bill Lloyd – an underpowered OSCA entered by Briggs Cunningham and carried to victory by its drivers. Though Moss had a less-than-spectacular nine race record at Sebring, his overall win in 1954 coupled with a sixth place finish in 1955 and a class victory and second-place overall placing in 1956 while driving a Maserati were the highlights of his performance at the Florida circuit.
John Paul Jr. – John Paul Jr. was not destined to become a race car driver, but his father put him in a car after high school and proved that he could become a champion. In his second race at Sebring, in 1982, driving with his father as a co-driver and team owner, the pair drove their family owned Porsche 935 to an overall victory after leading the final 100 laps of the race. The following year Paul Jr. was the fastest qualifier but finished well back in the pack. He finished second overall in1993 driving with Gianpiero Morettti and Derek Bell in a Nissan GTP-ZXT and had three additional top-five finishes to close his career in 1997, 1999 and 2000.
Brian Redman – In 1975, BMW celebrated its first U.S. victory at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and it also marked Brian Redman’s first overall win in the famed Florida endurance race – with Allan Moffat, Sam Posey and Hans Stuck. Given the milestone accomplishment, he is often mentioned alongside BMW, and although he opened the 1976 season at Daytona with BMW’s second U.S. win, he followed it at Sebring with his second 12-Hour victory in a Porsche 935 alongside Charles Mendez and Bob Garretson. Redman collected podium finishes in 1979 with a second-place overall finish again in a Porsche 935, 1987 with a third-place overall finish in a Porsche 962, and somewhat surprisingly, in 1991 a third-place class finish in a Mazda RX-7 four rotor engine.
Jo “Seppi” Siffert – Jo Siffert’s six starts in the 12 Hours of Sebring were headlined by his overall win in the 1968 race with Hans Hermann in a Porsche 907 factory effort, and a factory effort the year before that led to a second-place class finish and fourth-place overall finish also driving with Hermann. The talented Swiss driver drove the famed Gulf Porsches on sports car circuits before his career was cut short, and during his time at Sebring also was credited with a third-place finish in 1966, a second-place class finish in 1970 and a third place class finish in his final race here in 1971.
Wayne Taylor – Know to new fans of sports car racing as an outstanding car owner, Wayne Taylor first spent many years as a championship driver, making 11 starts in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. His greatest success at Sebring came in 1996 driving for Doyle Racing, where he drove a Riley & Scott Oldsmobile Mk III to an overall victory with teammates Eric Van de Poele and Jim Pace. The South African native also finished second in class in both 1994 and 1998, and was sixth overall in both 1999 and 2000. As a car owner, Wayne Taylor Racing has won the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring twice – 2017 and 2024 – both overall.
Bob Wollek – Widely known as a world-class race car driver, Bob Wollek also was an accomplished athlete in other sports, namely as a member of the French National Ski Team in his younger years. His motorsports career was highly decorated, and although he only recorded one overall victory in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in 1985 driving with A.J. Foyt in the famous Swap Shop Porsche 962, pacing the field by a full four laps at the finish, he was always a threat at the Florida circuit. He finished second in class in 1998, third overall in 1984 (with Foyt) and in 1991. Wollek lost his life the day before the 2001 race here when riding a road bike to his accommodations west of the track on Hwy. 98, he was struck from behind by a van and passed at a local hospital.
The Next 15
The third list of 15 drivers on the 75th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring “Class of 75” will be released Nov. 10. The fourth 15 on Dec. 15 and the final 15 on Jan. 12.
Tickets
Tickets, premium hospitality and car corral parking are available for purchase at www.SebringRaceway.com. If your favorite area isn’t available, add your name to the waiting list for items including trackside RV parking, fan hospitality locations or car corrals. Highlands County Resident tickets, military and student tickets are on sale at the raceway office with proper ID or proof of residency.
— with Nasir Hameed and Toby Dawes.