Live your fantasy with this ‘bargain’ 2019 Formula One car

A race car used by Daniil Kvyat to achieve a podium result in the 2019 Formula One Championship has sold privately – but it comes with a big catch.

The 2019 Toro Rosso Formula One car – known as the STR14 – comes complete with its original hydraulic system, gearbox, radiators, and exhaust, as well as a number of spare parts, but is crucially missing its Honda 1.6-litre turbocharged hybrid V6 engine.

Built to rev to 15,000rpm, the Honda power unit was rumoured to produce approximately 750kW, but may have been removed from the vehicle in order to be kept as a spare, or stripped and used for spare parts by the team.

After rejoining the Toro Rosso team in 2019, Kvyat used this F1 car to achieve a third-place finish at the German Grand Prix – the first podium result for Toro Rosso in more than a decade – and one of nine top-10 finishes by Kvyat in this chassis that year.

The race car was sold by Italian classic car specialist Automobile Tricolore, for an unspecified amount. It was listed for €439,000 plus taxes, or almost $AU650,000.

This car may have been used for a testing session or public demonstration run in 2021, as it wears the same blue and white livery (sans sponsors) used by AlphaTauri – the new name for the Toro Rosso team – on its competition cars last year.

While it might seem like a lot of money for a car without an engine, modern ex-F1 cars have been known to sell for more than $AU9 million, as was the case with Michael Schumacher’s race-winning 2001 Ferrari F1 car.

More recently, Schumacher's 1998 Ferrari F1 car went to market for $6.7 million.