A $1 Million Helmet Worn by Ayrton Senna? F1 Collectors Are Just Getting Started
Memorabilia hounds are paying top dollar for used racing helmets, suits, boots and wheels.
The 1992 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda Formula One Shoei helmet sold for almost $1 million in April, a record for an F1 racing helmet.
Source: RM Sotheby’s
On Saturday in Monaco, RM Sotheby’s will offer the only race car that Michael Schumacher drove to win both the 2001 Formula One Monaco Grand Prix and the F1 World Championship title in the same season. Nicknamed the “Crown Jewel,” the Ferrari F2001 has an estimated value of at least €15 million ($16.9 million).
The sale follows a wave of recent high-profile auctions indicating that the appetite for F1 mementos has never been stronger. Although F1 items used by the gods of the sport have always commanded strong hammer prices, the sheer number of online and live sales now offered from major auction houses hawking such paraphernalia—and the record prices achieved—is reaching a frenzied cadence.