Mika Häkkinen’s prototype McLaren P1 goes up for sale

Hybrid performance cars seem like old hat these days, but McLaren Automotive caused quite a stir when it pulled the wraps off the Frank Stephenson-designed P1 at the 2012 Paris Motor Show.

Arriving three months before the Geneva unveiling of Ferrari’s similarly hybrid La Ferrari, it briefly had the petrol/electric hypercar space to itself and was considered to be the spiritual successor to McLaren’s almost mythical, record-breaking F1 road car.

But before the 375 production P1s were built, McLaren completed more than 20 test cars, among which were (according to auction house Bonhams) seven validation prototypes – of which this is one.

Making it even more special is the fact that it has been owned from new by double F1 world champion Mika Häkkinen.

Chassis VP3 was the main car used for durability testing and is being sold complete with all the original notes generated during multiple, sustained high-speed laps at a number of oval circuits.

The buyer will also get one of the special booklets produced by McLaren that explains the importance of the ‘VP’ cars to the development of the production P1.

In addition to the validation versions, there were also more than a dozen experimental prototypes and three pre-production cars – but few were modified in order to be made available for sale.

Each was unique, with Häkkinen’s being tailored to his personal specification by McLaren Special Operations. The Flying Finn has regularly been seen driving the car near his Monaco home – and Nico Rosberg made a film about driving it for his YouTube channel.

Is VP3 the most desirable P1 in existence? Yes, quite possibly.

2015 McLaren P1. On sale with Bonhams, Monaco, May 10. Estimate: £1.3m-£1.7m