It sounds like the maddest Mattress Mick idea ever — pay for three 2026 racing cars, which don't even actually exist yet, and you'll get them once the team has finished with them. No, it's not an automotive Ponzi scheme; it's McLaren's idea of a pleasure, deferred.
Hang on, how does this work then?
Well, McLaren holds a unique place in motor racing history, as it's the only team to have won the Monaco Grand Prix (lots of times), the Indy 500 (twice, so far), and the Le Mans 24 hours (once, in 1995). That's the unofficial Triple Crown of motor racing (although sometimes the F1 title gets substituted in for Monaco), and if McLaren is the only team to do it, the only driver ever to manage the feat was the late, great Graham Hill. But we digress…
So, what are you actually buying here?
McLaren has teamed up with famed auctioneers RM Sotheby's to create a one-off package for the Sotheby's auction in Abu Dhabi on 5 December, the weekend of the final F1 race of 2025, where more than likely one of the two McLaren drivers — Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri — will be crowned World Champion. The lot you'll be bidding for doesn't technically exist yet, so you have to think of it more like futures trading.
The lot, though, is a pretty cool one as it will consist of one of each of McLaren's racing cars from the upcoming 2026 season — an MCL40 Formula One car, a Dallara-built Indycar, and one of the new Le Mans and World Endurance Championship (WEC) 'Hypercar' racers, also built by Dallara, to the LMDh rules set.
It's entirely possible that, by buying those three cars, you could well be putting a down payment on next year's F1 title winner, the Indy 500 winner, and the Le Mans winner. It's a long shot, but then isn't all of racing?
Whose idea was this?
The idea is the brainchild of McLaren's head of racing, Zak Brown. “This auction is an extraordinary opportunity to own a piece of racing history and bid for a car that has competed on track before its official launch. The Triple Crown is a huge part of our heritage and we are determined to claim it once again as we prepare for our 2027 entry into the World Endurance Championship. Not only that, these incredible cars will come with unprecedented VIP access to the team and action on track.”
How much is this all going to cost?
Lots. No, wait. Even more than lots. Many, many millions of Pounds, Euro, or Dollars — take your pick.
What do we think?
It sounds like a cool idea, but there's a sting in the tail, which is that by paying up front, at a time when McLaren seems unbeatable in Formula One, you're kind of buying at the top of the market. Never forget that past performance is no guarantee of future earnings, so while you could be buying next year's Triple Crown winners, you could also be buying three cars that fall off the track on lap one…