Bonhams director of global motorsport Mark Osborne is a big fan of the car and its place in the country’s motorsport history. “As a young man I, along with a nation, was in patriotic awe of the brilliance of the British Williams cars, and of Red 5 in particular,” he tells GRR.
“Chassis eight was the focus of that adulation – the best of the breed – and in Mansell's hands it took the first five rounds of the championship. We are honoured to have been entrusted with such a motor racing legend.”
How much will Red 5 make at auction? Bonhams is not giving an estimate but there’s speculation around the £3m mark. Last year Bonhams sold Ayrton Senna’s Monaco Grand Prix-winning McLaren-Ford MP4/8 for €4.2m (now about £3.7m), while the record for the most valuable public auction sale of an F1 car stands at £5.6m for Michael Schumacher’s 2001 Ferrari, the car that took him to his fourth World Drivers’ Championship.
Additional photography by Motorsport Images.