How much would you pay to have a Formula 1 car in your garage? And how much would you pay for a Niki Lauda Ferrari? And for the F2002 with which Michael Schumacher swept his fifth world championship, adding 11 victories in 17 races and without getting off the podium all year?

But, above all, how much would you pay to have a collection of 69 Formula 1 cars? It is, what is considered “the largest collection of racing cars in the world”, according to its sellers.

All these questions are piling up for Bernie Ecclestone and he hopes to find an answer very soon. Because, effectively, he is going to auction his entire collection of Formula 1 cars.

“The time has come”

I love all my cars, but it’s time to start thinking about what will happen to them if I’m no longer here, and that’s why I’ve decided to sell them. After collecting and owning them for so long, I would like to know where they have gone and not leave them for my wife to take care of if I am not here

With these words, Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed that he will auction the collection of Formula 1 cars that he has been accumulating for decades. At 94 years old, the Englishman has an impressive collectionwith some of the most important cars in the history of this sport.

Ecclestone is considered one of the most important figures (probably the most important) in the history of Formula 1. Over time he managed to make this sport the category that moves the most money in motorsport through his position as president of Formula 1. One Group that controlled the income and sale of competition rights until Liberty Media bought the company in 2017.

Some of Bernie Ecclestone’s jewels that you can see in a video by clicking on this image

The Englishman has held the most relevant positions in the sport, including the purchase of Brabham, taking the lead in the creation of the Formula 1 Constructors Association (FOCA) and his subsequent fight with FISA (sports branch of the FIA ) in which was about to end up in a parallel championship of Formula 1.

And in all this time, Ecclestone has also taken the opportunity to acquire a collection of Formula 1 cars from all eras. 69 cars that make up “the most important collection of racing cars in the world. There has never been and probably never will be one like this that will be put up for sale again,” In the words of Tom Hartley Jr. who will be in charge of the sale of the vehicles through his company dedicated to classic cars. You can see an interview with Ecclestone in this link.

In the collection there are jewels of all kinds. In the english millionaire’s garage You can find an Auto Union V16 from before World War II or cars driven by historical drivers of this sport, from Michael Schumacher to Niki Lauda or Stirling Moss.

The project has been made known through Magnetothe only media outlet that has had access to the collection. In it, the most striking are the Ferraris, with jewels like the aforementioned Ferrari F2002, the Ferrari 312B3 by Niki Lauda but also more classic models, such as the Ferrari 375 F1 piloted by Alberto Ascari or the weird one Thin Wall Special which allowed those from Maranello to beat Alfa Romeo for the first time in 1950.

They explain in Motorsport.com which is not the first time that Ecclestone has gotten rid of part of his collection. In 2007 he put 50 cars from his collection in the hands of RM Sotheby’sfamous luxury goods auction house.

This time, the volume of vehicles is so high and some cars are so rare and exclusive that in Sports Illustrated They assure that the collection is valued around 300 million dollars and that the most expensive unit would be the one driven by Michael Schumacher that year 2022, which could reach 10 million dollars.

Photos | Tom Hartley Jr.