The Toleman of Ayrton Senna is up for auction.

      The auction house Sotheby’s will hold a sale in Monaco on April 26, where a car driven by Ayrton Senna during his Formula 1 debut in 1984 will go under the hammer. This is the Toleman TG183B, chassis No. 05, built by the British team based on last year's car under the guidance of the famous designer Rory Byrne.

      In his first qualifying session behind the wheel of this car, Senna outpaced his more experienced teammate, Johnny Cecotto, and started 16th in the Brazilian Grand Prix, which was held at the Jacarepaguá racetrack in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. However, he did not finish the race – on the 8th lap, the turbocharger on the 1.5-liter 4-cylinder Hart engine failed.

      At the next stage of the season, held in South Africa, Ayrton recorded the 13th fastest time in qualifying and finished 6th in the race, scoring his first points. By the way, the racing engineer for the 24-year-old Brazilian that year was Pat Symonds, now a consultant for the Cadillac F1 team.

      Senna raced this Toleman in two more stages of the season – in Zolder, Belgium, he earned another championship point, but in Imola, he failed to qualify again due to engine issues. Starting from the French Grand Prix, Ayrton drove the Toleman TG184.

      His first car remained in the possession of the team from Enstone, which changed its name to Benetton in the second half of the 1980s, for quite some time, but in 1992, the historic Toleman chassis was sold to a private collector and ended up in the USA. It returned to the UK in 2017, and in 2022, this car was driven by Martin Brundle at the Brands Hatch circuit when Sky Sports filmed the documentary "The Story of Toleman."

      In the spring of 2024, Pierre Gasly, a driver for Alpine, the factory team of Renault – the direct successor of Toleman/Benetton – took the wheel of the historic car. At that time, Sky Sports was filming a segment dedicated to both the 40th anniversary of Senna's debut in Formula 1 and the 30th anniversary of that fateful day in Imola...

      Now the Toleman TG183B will be put up for auction, and Sotheby’s notes that the car retains many original parts, including the gear lever and even the headrest, on which the Brazilian's name is misspelled. The car is operational, equipped with a restored Hart 415T engine, meaning it can participate in historic racing events.

      The auction organizers estimate that the car will sell for between €2.8 million and €3.8 million, but it could go for more, considering the high interest in the history of Formula 1 and the legacy of the great Brazilian driver.