Static Display
The most common fate endured by an F1 car once the season is over is transformation to static display. That means mechanical components are removed, leaving just the bare cha**is. Because Toyota, Honda, BMW and Renault all sold their teams, only Ferrari and Mercedes remain as both cha**is constructors and engine suppliers. So, all the other constructors have to return the engine, gearbox, energy recovery system and other components, which are typically leased from their supplier for the duration of the season.
The old cha**is is typically repainted to the current livery (with the latest sponsor decals), then used for display at auto shows or the offices of the team, its parent company, or its sponsors. But without an engine or drivetrain, it won't be going anywhere else. At least, not under its own power, anyway.
Demonstration Events
Some of the teams operate traveling road shows that bring F1 action to cities that don't host their own grand prix. Red Bull runs what could be the most active of these demonstration teams, but Lotus, Mercedes and Ferrari have been known to take part in these events as well. They typically use former F1 drivers like David Coulthard or Giancarlo Fisichella to drive cars that are a couple of years old in front of enthralled crowds in locations as varied as Argentina, Russia, Israel, the Philippines, and New Jersey.
The Spoils of War
Although it doesn't happen every year, some teams have been known to give their driver the car with which he won the world championship. Benetton (now Lotus), for example, gave Michael Schumacher his car after he won back-to-back world titles in 1994 and 1995. Renault did the same for Fernando Alonso in 2005/2006.
But Jenson bu*ton had to fight Mercedes in court when it initially refused to honor the clause in his contract with Brawn GP to give him the cha**is with which he had won the championship the year before the German company took over. Just what these world champions do with their cars once they get them is another matter. Because, while we fanboys might salivate over the idea of having our own F1 car to play with, for an F1 driver it might seem more like taking their work home with them at the end of the day.
Private Collectors
While none of the teams that answered our inquiries admitted to selling cars to private collectors (aside from Ferrari, which we'll get to in a minute), there is an elite market for retired F1 cars. Auctioneers, like Bonhams and RM Auctions, often have cla**ic F1 cars on consignment – the most valuable of them, of course, being the ones with some measure of historical significance.
Championship-winning cars and race winners from the most famous drivers and constructors command the biggest premiums, as evidenced by Juan Manuel Fangio's 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 "Silver Arrow" that recently changed hands for more than $29 million, setting a world record for the most expensive car ever sold at auction. Of course, there are newer and less expensive F1 cars trading hands all the time, but you're typically looking at millions to own and operate your very own F1 car.
Vintage Racing
The calendar is packed with events dedicated to allowing private owners of retired F1 cars to continue driving them competitively. There's the BOSS GP series – standing for Big Open Single Seaters – which fields (relatively) modern F1 cars from defunct constructors like Jaguar, Benetton, Tyrell and Arrows, driven by "gentleman racers" on premier European racing circuits. Historic Grand Prix claims to represent more than 50 owners of vintage F1 cars across the United States.
And vintage racing events like the Goodwood Revival, Grand Prix Historique de Monaco, Rolex Monterey Motorsport Reunion, Silverstone Cla**ic and the Nürburgring Oldtimer Grand Prix traditionally include cla**es for F1 cars of varying vintage, giving owners of retired single-seaters ample opportunity to put them back into action beyond private track days. Rumor has it that F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone is planning a more official series, but that's a**uming he escapes his current legal troubles unscathed.
Ferrari Corse Clienti
It might come as little surprise that, of all the constructors in Formula One, Ferrari has the most robust program for its retired F1 cars. Within the Corse Clienti department that also supports GT customer teams, the XX development program, and the Ferrari Challenge series, the F1 Clienti program attends to decommissioned single-seaters from as far back as 1970 and as recent as two years prior to the current season.
From its base of operations at the company's Fiorano test track in Maranello, Ferrari's F1 Clienti unit stores, maintains, transports and supports cars that were once fielded by the Scuderia but are now used by private owners. Its staff is composed largely of the same mechanics and technicians that tended to the cars when they were in active service. They keep them in working order and accompany them to Ferrari Racing Days at circuits around the world, where its wealthy clients get to play Schumacher or Alonso for the day.
McLaren Unit 2
At the other end of the spectrum sits McLaren, which has retained the vast majority of its F1 cars since 1981. Although many of the pre-'81 cars are in private hands, since Ron Dennis took over (merging McLaren with his Project 4 operation), nearly all the subsequently MP4-designated cars remain company property. With the establishment of McLaren Automotive, the company sent out a few dozen cars to its dealers around the world for display. The rest are stored in a top-secret facility called Unit 2.
Situated adjacent to the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Unit 2 stores about 50 retired F1 cars and prototypes. Among them (if by some golden-wrapper twist of fate you were allowed in) you'd find cars driven by the likes of Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Mika Hakkinen, Nigel Mansell, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson bu*ton, along with some rare prototypes like a unique Lamborghini-powered single-seater tested by Ayrton Senna.
Sauber's Cutaway
Five years ago on the way back from the Geneva Motor Show, I caught a whole array of Sauber F1 cars on display at the Zurich Airport. They were all stripped of their mechanical bits and were being put up for auction. That was still during BMW's ownership, evidently eager to recover some of its expenses.
Peter Sauber bought his team back from the cash-strapped Bavarian automaker the next year, and since then Sauber reports that it hasn't sold many of its retired cha**is to private collectors. Instead, it sends the engine, gearbox and energy recovery system back to Ferrari (which has powered Sauber for the bulk of its history) and prepares the cha**is for static display like most teams do. But last year it came out with a rather innovative way to show what goes into a modern F1 car.
The product of two years' work, this BMW-Sauber F1.08 was meticulously split in two right down its center line, including all the mechanical bits inside. As a result you can see how tightly things (including the driver) are packaged into the car, and just how little room the engineers have to work with to get everything into place.
When a Team Shuts Down
Some of the constructors in F1 – like Ferrari, McLaren and Williams – are in it for the long haul. But all the other teams have changed name and ownership at least once within the past decade. That's because, while running an F1 team is a hugely expensive ordeal, the license to operate one is a hot commodity.
So, usually when an owner wants (or needs) to get out, they sell off the operation. There's only been one exception in recent years, and that's HRT. The Hispania Racing Team started in 2010 during the same expansion that saw Caterham (née Lotus) and Marussia (originally Virgin) join the field. But when HRT ceased operating at the end of last season, it failed to find a buyer. The team's a**ets were sold to a scrapper, and one of the cha**is (of the estimated eight it made over the course of two years in the series) was given to Pirelli to use as a test vehicle in lieu of payment for the tires it provided. More on that in the slide ahead.
Tire Testing
Testing in F1 is strictly limited due to the costs involved, but the rubber company that supplies the teams with their tires needs to be able to test different compounds. Because of these needs, the tire supplier has its own F1 car. However, to avoid any potential unfair advantage one team might get by obliging the tire company, it has traditionally been confined to the same regulations the teams are under – and that means using a car that is at least two years out of commission.
When Pirelli got the contract to replace Bridgestone and Michelin as F1's official tire supplier in 2011, it started testing with the TF109 from departing constructor Toyota before switching to the 2010 Renault R30 last year. But with all the problems its tires have suffered, the FIA has since allowed Pirelli to use more modern machinery. Rumors were afloat that Honda, which isn't subject to the FIA's regulations at this point, was developing its own car to test the engines it'll begin supplying to McLaren in 2015 without any sort of limitations. The Japanese automaker has denied any such plans.
Spare Parts
In addition to the cars themselves, F1 constructors are left with mountains of spare parts at the end of the season. Some of those components can be reused the next year and some are kept (or sold) with the operational cha**is to keep it running for years to come. But that barely makes a dent in the stockpile.
Therefore, with one of the wealthiest fan bases eager to take home a piece of the action, some constructors find innovative ways of selling their spare parts. Most teams have their own online shops where you can pick up anything from a vial of race-used motor oil to a coffee table made out of a spare wheel.