By Cam Tait \/ Friday, 20 October 2023 \/ Loading comments<\/p>\n
Say what you will about Formula 1 drivers, but they probably have the best taste in cars of all sportspeople. For instance, Lewis Hamilton got Horacio Pagani to shove a manual gearbox in his Zonda 760 LH, while Max Verstappen has spent some of his championship prize money on an Aston Martin Valkyrie. And although Carlos Sainz recently forked out a pretty penny on a Ferrari 812 Competizione, he apparently uses an old VW Golf GTI as his daily driver \u2013 for which he deserves his fair share of kudos.<\/p>\n
Yes, the current grid certainly has an enviable collective collection of cars. But the driver with arguably the greatest back catalogue isn\u2019t on the grid anymore; he was recently hooning a NASCAR around at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It is, of course, Jenson Button – a man who, prior to his 2009 championship year, frequently featured on the front cover of tabloid papers for doing what F1 drivers did in the early-to-mid-2000s, while at the same time appearing in the news section of car mags for his recent acquisitions. You\u2019ve probably heard about his old Mercedes CLK DTM, the various Honda NSXs he’s owned and his championship-winning Brawn GP that is said to reside in a lock-up somewhere in Monaco. This really is the gold standard of car collections.<\/p>\n
Add the McLaren P1 to that list. And then strike it off, as Mr Button\u2019s old McLaren P1 is up for sale. It shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise that he owned one in the first place, given that he drove for McLaren for seven seasons (plus a one-time comeback at the 2017 Monaco GP for you F1 nerds) and doubtlessly earned a few quid in the process. What better way to show team spirit than to fork out seven figures on its latest hypercar?<\/p>\n
\u2018Wasn\u2019t the P1 listed at \u00a3930,000?\u2019 I hear you ask. Unless JB got a major staff discount, the options list on this example would have comfortably tipped it over into seven figures. This includes a specially developed Race Mode 2, which is essentially a road-legal version of the P1\u2019s most hardcore setting, along with MSO-spec forged lightweight wheels, carbon ceramic brakes with yellow callipers, stealth cosmetic pack and carbon fibre just about everywhere. Think of it more like a P1 GTR \u2018light\u2019, only with a Meridian sound system and parking sensors.<\/p>\n
Admittedly, he didn\u2019t drive it all that much in his three years of ownership. Just 500 miles were racked up before it was sold to its current owner in 2018, but when you have a collection as sizeable as JB\u2019s and an F1 title to chase after, there probably isn\u2019t a huge amount of time to squeeze in a continental road trip in your 916hp hybrid hypercar. The next owner, however, has logged a further 1,000 miles on the car, which should mean the battery is still in good working order. It\u2019s also recently undergone a service by a P1 specialist, so it\u2019s ready to add another thousand (or more!) miles from the get-go.<\/p>\n
The cost of entry? \u00a31,400,000. Yes, it\u2019s the most expensive P1 on the classifieds (not including the trio of P1 GTRs that are currently listed), but that\u2019s the price you pay for having an F1 champion\u2019s name on the original invoice. Well, that and the bespoke driver mode and all the other MSO goodies. If you\u2019re not keen on F1 but have a thing for special P1s, then there\u2019s this P1 prototype available for \u00a350,000 less. And if you just want to get your hands on a P1 no matter the spec, then this rather vibrant example should do the trick at \u00a31,250,000. What a marvellous time to be a prospective P1 buyer; now to find a spare million or two tucked down the back of the sofa…<\/p>\n