Nine more F1 racers you can buy

F1 team Manor put four cars from their Marussia and Virgin Racing days up for sale a earlier this week, but if you don’t fancy spending upwards of £150,000 on a car with few accolades, there are alternatives to consider.

A quick search on the internet reveals dozens of cars that are available for purchase, spanning everything from little known backmarkers to vehicles driven by former world champions. Really.

Regrettably there are some drawbacks. None of the cars on offer come with pit crews or mechanics, so maintenance might be a burdensome expense.

Nor are they road legal, so you will need a trailer of some description. And access to a decent-sized race track.

Oh, and when we say they cost ‘peanuts’, we mean the ultra-expensive, gold plated kind. If such a variety exists...

Hurry while stocks last!

Lotus were one of the frontrunners for the championship in 1977, with their pairing of Mario Andretti and Gunnar Nilsson winning as many races (five) as Niki Lauda and Carlos Reutemann in the Ferrari that prevailed that season.

Eventually finishing second in the constructors standings, the car laid the foundations for the new and improved chassis which saw Lotus go one better in 1978, with Andretti becoming world champion that same year.

Restored by Classic Team Lotus in 2009, the car comes with a rebuilt engine and spare wheels. Shut up and take our money...

Price: Unknown

Arrows Grand Prix International competed in Formula One in various guises for 24 years, not once winning a race in 382 attempts.

The, um, plucky British underdogs did at least get on the podium on nine occasions, including five second place finishes. Although this A4-2 didn’t contribute to that tally.

With a price tag of a cool quarter of a million pounds, Mauro Baldi’s old racer comes with a fresh power unit and five sets of wheels. As long as they aren’t made of modern F1 rubber, they should last a while...

Price: £250,000

This Arrows car didn’t manage any podium finishes either, although it did come home in 5^th from all the way back in 16^th place in the second race of the 1983 season under the guidance of Swiss driver Marc Surer.

Thierry Bousten repeated the feat in the San Marino and Austrian Grands Prix the following year, although by and large it would either retire from the race or settle in the middle order.

The listing claims that the engine and gearbox have only done 375 miles since a rebuild was completed in 2010, so hopefully reliability will be much less of a problem today.

Price: Unknown

Now this is quite a find.

Ayrton Senna announced his arrival in Formula One with a sensational drive at the Monaco Grand Prix in 1984, which saw him finish the race in second place owing to heavy rain and a controversial black flag.

Senna had passed Alain Prost to take the lead on the final lap before the race was halted, only to discover that the classification would be taken from the previous lap in accordance with the race rules.

In any case it was the Brazilian legend’s first podium in Formula One, made all the more impressive by the fact that he was driving this generally uncompetitive Toleman in conditions that forced the likes of Niki Lauda and Nigel Mansell to spin off.

The seller doesn’t give a price, but we suspect it will cost an unfathomable number of pounds.

Price: Unknown

Not a hugely successful car considering it scored points just twice in 1990, although with the yellow trim and Camel sponsorship the 102 is at least recognisable.

The only Lotus F1 car to ever be fitted with a V12 engine, the 3.5-litre power unit from Lamborghini produced 700bhp at 13,000rpm in its prime, and should still do so today following a post-storage rebuild by Lotus themselves.

Ready to race in its original bodywork, and yours in exchange for lots and lots of money. Probably.

Price: Unknown

Another race seat that has played host to the buttocks of a world champion.

Driven by 1997 champion Jacques Villeneuve, this BAR Honda racer featured on the podium twice in 2001, claiming third place in the Spanish and German Grands Prix that year.

An absolute bargain, although the listing does point out that there is an “added cost” for getting it ready to race again. A minor snag.

Price: £60,000

If you’re in the market for an F1 car that’s scored a podium since the turn of the millennium, then your options aren’t limited to just the Honda.

This Jaguar R3 was driven by Eddie Irvine during the 2002 season, with a best result of third at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza behind the Ferrari line-up of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello.

Described as “one of only a handful of late F1 cars that are possible to run without factory assistance”, we’ll gloss over the fact that it retired from ten out of 17 races that year...

Price: Unknown

While Jordan only scored points three times during the course of the 2003 season, one of those occasions was a bona fide race win.

Under the command of Giancarlo Fisichella, this EJ13 claimed victory in one of the most action-packed races in the history of the sport following a litany of accidents at a soaked Interlagos.

A late crash forced organisers to end the race early, leading to confusion about the final standings. Fisichella and Jordan were eventually awarded the win a number of days after the race, following a podium ceremony where it transpired none of the drivers had been placed on the correct steps.

The drama on race day was also topped off by Fisichella’s car catching fire in parc ferme, although presumably any damage sustained has since been repaired. A genuine collector’s item, this one.

Price: £420,000

Until Manor’s vehicles went up for sale, this was the most recent F1 car you could buy.

Frequently creeping into the top ten, the C30 was driven by Kamui Kobayashi, Sergio Perez and once by Pedro de La Rosa when Perez withdrew from the Canadian Grand Prix due to concussion.

A not too shabby 7^th in the constructors championship in 2011, this car comes with an “impressive spares package”. Which is the least you’d expect, given the asking price.

Price: £130,000