Senna's Monaco-winning McLaren: sold to Bernie!

©Bonhams

Bernie Ecclestone forked out a hefty €4,197,500 to become the proud owner of Ayrton Senna's 1993 Monaco-winning McLaren-Ford MP4/8-6 at a Bonham's auction in Monte-Carlo on Friday.

The sale was the highlight of yesterday's auction, held on the eve of the Historic Monaco Grand Prix weekend.

Given the McLaren's winning pedigree and the fact that it was this specific car the Brazilian drove to his fifth and last Monaco triumph, it was always going to go to a well-heeled individual but its sale to Ecclestone keeps it in the F1 family.

Unbeknownst to many, the former F1 supremo amassed a massive collection of cars - both classic and racing - over the course of his exhilarating life.

For starters, Ecclestone kept the majority of the Brabhams raced under his tenure as the team's owner, but he also acquired dozens of other cars over the years, many of which are stored at Biggin Hill, out of the public view unfortunately.

A second Senna car went under the hammer Friday evening, with the Brazilian's 1984 Toleman-Hart TG184 fetching €1,610,000. Not too bad either!

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