6 stunning F1 cars at Retromobile 2024

1. Ferrari Tipo 625 Monoposto

This car is up for private sale this week, the 1954 Ferrari Tipo 625 Monoposto is a rarified machine. The sister car to Alberto Ascari’s world championship winner of 1952 and 1953, this 625 actually began life as a 500 F2 (like Ascari’s car). It was converted to 625 F1 specification in 1954. It has the remarkable honour of being the first Ferrari ever campaigned by Ecurie Francorchamps. The first in an illustrious line.

2. McLaren MP4/21A

This 2006 McLaren is of the same type as the car that sold during last year’s Bonhams Abu Dhabi sale for a cool £2.1million. Whether this is the same car, we’re not sure, but the car that sold was Kimi Räikkönen’s, the very same that got a bit toasty at the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix. The stunning condition of the car on Joe Macari’s stand here at Retromobile at least matches that of the newly-restored Bonhams car. We reckon it’s the very same one.

3. Ferrari 312T

Leaping back in time once again we find ourselves with one of Ferrari’s all-time greats, the 312T. This was Clay Regazzoni’s car for the 1974 season, the inaugural year of his return run at the Scuderia. He joined alongside a young Niki Lauda. Regazzoni and the 312T stormed their way through the season scoring multiple podiums. He would have been a championship winner, if not for a rough United States Grand Prix where the car suffered handling issues allowing Emerson Fittipaldi to pip Clay to the title.

4. Brabham-Cosworth BT26A

On the Fiskens stand we saw the Brabham BT26, which sports similarly illustrious provenance and race history. Campaigned for two seasons, the car was driven by Jochen Rindt toward the end of 1968 and Jacky Ickx in the 1969 season. The car ran a Repco V8 in 1968 but that was replaced in 1969 for a Cosworth DFV and it’s that Ickx-raced BT26A we see here. Ickx drove the car to a runner-up position in the 1969 championship, having won the 1969 Canadian Grand Prix.

5. Ferrari F310B

Sat next to the McLaren on the Joe Macari stand is an example of the Ferrari F310B of 1997, which represented an enormous upward swing in Ferrari’s competitiveness, leading to the years of unchallenged supremacy. This example is a Schumacher car and a reminder that while he can be considered one of the greatest of all time, Schumacher’s hot head got the better of him at times. It certainly cost him the runner-up position in the 1997 championship. A mighty machine but one of compromise, half adopted by Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne on their arrival to the team, the F310B is in ways all the more impressive as a transitional car, given its performance.

6. McLaren MP4/9 Peugeot

From Ferrari on the up, to McLaren on the out, the MP4/9 Peugeot of 1994 was a car from the depths of McLaren’s 1990s off period. Peugeot being the domineering engine supplier meddled a bit too much for Ron Dennis’ liking, while providing an engine that was less than affectionately dubbed the ‘hand grenade’ given its propensity for catastrophic failure. This car, Martin Brundle’s #8 machine, scored a best finish of second in Monaco and a further podium in Adelaide. Much of the rest of the season the car retired or underperformed.

Photography by Joe Harding.