Second Senna F1 car set for Monaco auction

By Marc McLaren
News
 | 15 Mar 2018
Second Senna F1 car set for Monaco auction

The car in which a young Ayrton Senna announced his arrival on the global stage is to be offered for sale at Bonhams' forthcoming Monaco sale.

The Les Grandes Marques à Monaco auction on 11 May already features one historic Senna racer, in the form of the McLaren MP4 in which he won his final Monaco Grand Prix, in 1993. Now it's been joined by another car which played a pivotal role in the late Brazilian's life: the Toleman-Hart TG184.  

Senna made his Monaco Grand Prix debut in the Toleman in 1984, his first season in F1, and immediately set about proving both his mastery of the circuit – he ultimately won there a record-breaking six times – and his speed in wet conditions.

Having qualified in 13th, Senna charged through the field during a torrential downpour and was closing on leader Alain Prost at four seconds a lap when the race director controversially waved both the red flag and chequered flag on lap 32.

To add to the controversy, Senna actually passed Prost's already stationary McLaren and crossed the finish line first, only for officials to rule that the result at the end of the previous lap would be final.

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Despite Senna's disappointment at not taking his first victory, the early finish may actually have worked in his favour; team mechanics later stated that the car's suspension had suffered damage and would likely have soon failed.

Nonetheless, Senna's second place secured the future three-times World Champion his first ever Formula One podium and marked the first flowerings of the legendary feud with Prost that would then rage throughout their F1 careers.

Second Senna F1 car set for Monaco auction

BBC TV commentator (and former F1 legend in his own right) James Hunt certainly called it right during the race, remarking that “I think we are watching the arrival of Ayrton Senna as a truly outstanding talent in Grand Prix racing…” 

So it would prove during the remainder of the 1984 season, with Senna also recording two third-place finishes – at Brands Hatch and Estoril – and finishing a creditable ninth place in his first F1 season. 

The Rory Byrne and Pat Symonds-designed Toleman-Hart TG184 is currently listed on the Bonhams website without an estimate, but don't expect it to come cheap: it was last on sale for £1million in 2015.

By contrast, the other Senna F1 car in Bonhams' Monaco auction was driven by the Brazilian towards the end of his career.

The McLaren-Ford MP/8A chassis #6 featured in eight of the 1993 season's Grands Prix, with Senna taking it to 2nd place in Spain and France and fourth in Germany and Belgium, in addition to winning his final Monaco Grand Prix in it.

Second Senna F1 car set for Monaco auction

Mark Osborne, Global Head of Motorsport at Bonhams, said, "The Senna-Prost joust of the late 1980s and early 1990s was one of the greatest sporting rivalries of all time, with two great champions providing F1 fans with some of the most eye-popping and spectacular racing ever witnessed.

"The spark that ignited this fierce competition can be traced back almost 35 years to the 1984 edition of the Monaco Grand Prix, and the politically charged decision to throw out the red flag when it was clear that the young Brazilian was about to ruffle some feathers!

"We are delighted to present the very car – the 1984 Toleman-Hart TG184 – that triggered this great rivalry, and which provided the opening chapter for Ayrton Senna's remarkable and record-breaking story at the Monaco Grand Prix."