Formula One is one of the most-watched sports championships worldwide today, representing the finest technology and drivers that the automotive world has ever seen. The cars are unquestionably engineering marvels, featuring the most boundary-pushing developments permitted by the incredibly thick technical rulebook. Drivers will put these vehicles through their paces over the course of 24 race weekends around the world in 2025, but what happens after all is said and done? Will the cars simply disappear, never to be seen again? Will they be crushed or melted to prevent corporate espionage, or will they continue to see service? Let’s explore the varying fates that befall the typical F1 car after the last checkered flag of the season is waved.
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In short, different manufacturers and teams have their own sensibilities regarding what to do when retiring an F1 chassis. Some elect to memorialize the car in either a functioning or non-functioning state in museums, usually with particularly significant models such as F1’s all-time fastest cars. Some cars even find their ways into private hands, and F1 cars can sell for millions of dollars. But many are systematically dismantled to be examined and tested by engineers, mechanics, and developers. Here’s how (and why) they do it, according to industry experts and the people who exhibit these classic racers.
How F1 teams learn from race-driven cars
Formula One technology evolves at such a rapid pace that these days that teams retire each model after just a single season. However, the cars are still valuable to their respective teams as teaching tools. Much like with regular automotive development, a large part of how F1 teams learn is through discovering how and why components fail and how to fix them. Engineers meticulously break down these vehicles and study how certain components wear or break, how structures change under the continuous stress of racing, and how to make upgrades for the next season.
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It’s not just whole F1 cars that are studied in this way; engines, gearboxes, body parts, brakes, and suspensions are removed and retained and used for further vehicle development or as display/showcase pieces. Various video channels and forums make use of these older components to study and educate their audiences, such as Driver61 and Engineering Explained. Outside of the spotlight, the teams will repurpose what remains useful for use in developing and testing future cars. This is particularly useful considering how expensive F1 cars and their parts are. Each component must be custom-built and hand-fitted, resulting in astronomical development costs and a long production time for replacement parts.
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Keeping the car intact
Less frequently, a team will opt to preserve the car as it was. F1 cars are often left as they crossed the finish line and retained as museum exhibits. Recently-raced cars can be used to test new drivers, and others find their way into the hands of private collectors or organizations that offer track days. You can even see F1 cars from 1973 and earlier compete on the track at a Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) event near you. This extended public life provides even more value for the enthusiast — after all, what better way to introduce a budding motorsports fanatic to the world of racing than by letting them walk up to, see, touch, and sometimes even sit inside of a genuine article? The reasons behind why teams choose to preserve an F1 car, dismantle it, or sell it off vary. Formula One cars command hundreds of thousands of dollars, with championship or historically significant cars becoming particularly keen collector’s items. Some drivers even retain their vehicles.
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One particularly infamous case is Jenson Button’s 2009 Brawn 001/01, a car he wound up owning after a legal dispute with Mercedes. This car represents one of three virtually identical machines. Another is in the garage of former team owner Ross Brawn, and the third went to Mercedes when it bought the team in 2009. Whether as museum pieces, functioning track-toy race cars, or collector’s items, intact Formula One cars retain value well above the sum of their parts. The parts also hold substantial value of their own, which teams are happy to exploit in the ceaseless quest to make their cars go faster.
