Mika Häkkinen’s McLaren P1 prototype leads Bonhams|Cars Monaco sale

It’s VP3, or verification prototype 3, which was one of a seven-car run of pre-production P1s built with the purpose of developing and testing the model ahead of production and deliveries.

It’s the only such VP car to ever be offered at auction and was the lead car in the P1’s durability testing programme. The car even comes with a booklet complete with testing notes from when the car was on duty.

Ordinarily these cars would not be sold to the public and instead be at best mothballed in a marque’s HQ or at worst, destroyed. But Häkkinen is no ordinary customer, being McLaren’s two-time driver’s champion of 1998 and 1999, so even after the run of production cars sold out, McLaren found a way to provide him with a P1.

Obviously, the car was reappointed to as-new, as-production spec following its retirement from the test program in a scheme specified by Häkkinen.

The car is expected to make between £1.3million and £1.7million when it hits the block in the Bonhams|Cars Les Grandes Marques a Monaco sale on 10 May 2024.

Images courtesy of Bonhams|Cars