In what is a rarity for a Mercedes F1 car, Lewis Hamilton’s W04 race car has gone under the hammer for $18,815,000 (just over £15 million) in Las Vegas. This is the exact car that he drove to victory at the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix.

At the very beginning of what would become a hugely successful partnership between team and driver. He drove this exact chassis in 14 of the 19 races that season, finishing on the podium four times with third places in Malaysia, China and Belgium and that victory in Hungary. He ultimately finished fourth in the driver’s championship.

The car itself was powered by a naturally aspirated 2.4-litre V8 limited to 18,000rpm producing 750PS (552kW). It featured KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), FRIC (Front-and-Rear Inter-Connected) suspension, and Mercedes referred to it at the time as the biggest step in performance the team had made since it returned to F1 as a manufacturer in 2010. Little did we know then just how dominant the team would go on to become.

Needless to say, this car represents a seminal moment in the history of F1, the moment when two great entities came together on the first steps on a historic journey. It’s also currently the only car of its kind to be sold outside of the Mercedes bubble. Almost all of the surviving F1 cars are owned by either Mercedes, Toto Wolff or their respective drivers.

You can see why it fetched such a high price.

Images courtesy of RM Sotheby’s