F1 cars on the grid at the 2018 Monaco sales

RM Sotheby’s and Bonhams have a bit of an F1 thing going on in Monaco in May, with RM adding two 1990s F1 cars and an F1-themed road car to the headlining lots for its 12th May sale at the Grimaldi Forum.

Both track cars have actual race history, the 1999 Jordan 199 driven to second place by Heinz-Harald Frentzen at that year’s Australian GP, while the Benetton B192 (pictured, top) was Michael Schumacher’s mount in the 1992 Spanish GP – where he likewise finished second.

RM is equally proud to have consigned an ‘immaculate’ 1978 Ferrari 308 GTS (above), said to have been a gift from Enzo to Gilles Villeneuve that he used regularly up until his death in 1982. The gossip at the time was that Gilles once made the 432km journey from his home in Monaco to Ferrari HQ in Modena in 2 hours 25 minutes, which our calculators suggest is an average speed of 111mph. (Do not try this at home.)

Meanwhile, Bonhams announced a while back that it had scooped the ex-Ayrton Senna, final Monaco GP-winning, 1993 McLaren-Ford MP4/8A F1 car (above) to its catalogue. It joins Senna’s 1984 turbocharged Formula 1 Toleman-Hart TG184, marking his Monaco GP debut in, says Bonhams, “the race that sparked his legendary feud with Prost”. Bonhams’ ‘La Grande Marques à Monaco’ sale is on 11th May at the Villa La Vigie.

Photos by Bonhams / RM Sotheby's