Lewis Hamilton’s first Mercedes car sold at Sotheby’s for a record $18.8 million

The car in which seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton won his first race in 2013 with Mercedes has sold for $18.8 million at a Sotheby’s auction in Las Vegas. This is the largest amount paid publicly for any modern Formula 1 car to date, writes Bloomberg. Initially, Sotheby’s estimated the cost of the racing car at $10-15 million.

Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2013 with this car. As the auction house notes, this is the only Mercedes F1 car of the modern era that is not owned by Mercedes, team principal and CEO Toto Wolff, or Hamilton himself. There is no information about who owned the car at the time of the auction. Also, a Sotheby’s representative refused to disclose who acquired the car.