Mansell parts with Williams and Ferrari F1 crown jewels

Well-heeled Nigel Mansell fans will soon have an opportunity to bid for two scintillating F1 gems that the 1992 world champion is putting up for auction.

The first car to go under the hammer at RM Sotheby's sale that will take place in Monaco on May 14 is a 1991 Williams FW14, the very car that famously taxied McLaren's Ayrton Senna back to the pits at the end of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone after the Brazilian had run out of fuel.

FW14-5 is missing its original Renault engine but given the chassis' pedigree which includes no fewer than five GP wins, the Williams is expected to fetch anything between €1.5m and €3m.

The second F1 crown jewel offered by Mansell, is a stunning 1989 Ferrari 640 chassis 109 which "Il Leone", as he was known at the Scuderia, raced to victory that year in the Brazilian and Hungarian GPs.

The 640, which was gifted to Mansell after F1's season finale in Adelaide, was the first prancing horse equipped with a paddle-shift, semi-automatic gearbox.

A quote, you ask? It's hard to estimate but bids north of €3m are expected.

It's unclear why Mansell has decided to part with his two most prized assets in his private collection, other than the fact that they have been sitting in solemn silence for decades in Jersey.

"It's pulling on the heart strings now a little bit," said Mansell, commenting on the sale.

"I never thought that I would be doing what I'm doing at this moment in time. But hopefully for the right reasons, it'll all turn out pretty good."

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