Formula One: Nigel Mansell's Senna taxi* is up for auction

It would seem that Nigel Mansell is having a bit of a clear out, and to make some space in his garage, the moustachioed F1 and IndyCar champ is selling something rather special indeed.

Yep, that's his 1991 Williams FW14 you see above. In fact, it's chassis FW14-5, the very car that Mansell drove to a crushing victory at the British Grand Prix before picking up his stranded title rival Ayrton Senna on the victory lap, giving the Brazilian a helpful lift back to the pits after he’d run out of fuel on his last lap.

It was a fantastic moment of sportsmanship of course, captured below in one of Formula One's most iconic pictures.

Senna would go on to win the championship that season – tragically the last of his career – but Mansell did finally get the better of him (as well as his own Williams teammate Riccardo Patrese and a young Michael Schumacher) in 1992 with the updated FW14B.

Williams gifted FW14-5 to Mansell at the end of the 1991 season and it has been on static display as part of his collection ever since. It’s worth noting that Nige took victory in this very car – designed by Adrian Newey and powered by a 3.5-litre Renault V10 – on no fewer than five occasions, with two second-place finishes to boot. A proper piece of F1 history, then.

How much will it sell for when it crosses the block at RM Sotheby’s Monaco auction in May? That’s anyone’s guess, but we reckon it might just be a stretch for our budget…

Gallery images: RM Sotheby's