Senna's Brazil GP McLaren to be auctioned by RM Sotheby's at 12-15M

A McLaren Formula 1 car driven by Ayrton Senna to victory at the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix will be offered at auction next month, RM Sotheby's said, with a presale estimate of 12 million to 15 million. The car, MP46 chassis MP461, carried Senna to his first home win at Interlagos and helped launch the campaign that produced his third and final world championship.

The 71-lap race at Interlagos has become one of Senna's most enduring performances. After qualifying on pole and briefly losing the lead to Nigel Mansell, Senna regained the advantage when Mansell's race was compromised by a slow pit stop. In the closing stages the McLaren's gearbox began to fail, forcing Senna to nurse the car largely in sixth gear as light rain fell. He kept the car alive by slipping the clutch through slow corners, endured cramps and muscle spasms from an overtight harness, and held off Riccardo Patrese to win by 2.991 seconds. Senna later described the victory as not his greatest but his hardest fought.

The MP46 was designed by Neil Oatley under the technical direction of Gordon Murray and featured an all new 3.5 liter Honda V12 that produced about 720 horsepower and revved to roughly 13,800...