Bonhams and RM Sotheby's Monaco 2026- The Top Lots, the Oddities, and the One I Would Buy

Every spring, the Principality of Monaco offers two things that attract serious money: a city racetrack that hasn't changed since 1929, and auctions with lots as impressive as the scenery.

This year, the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique weekend hosts two major sales back to back - Bonhams on April 24, RM Sotheby's on April 25 - with catalogues that are worth your attention. Here is what matters, what doesn't, and what I would buy.

Monaco with F1 Grand Prix de Monaco grandstand

Bonhams Monaco Sale at the Fairmont Hotel - April 24th, 2026

I know this house well - I spent several years on their specialist team. So I notice when something changes. This spring, Bonhams|Cars begins a new chapter: Julie David has just been appointed Global Managing Director, replacing Whitney Maxwell. David arrives from mainstream automotive - Stellantis, Jaguar Land Rover - making her the first Global MD of this operation who hasn't come up through the auction world. Whether that shifts anything is a question the next few seasons will answer. For now, the Monaco catalogue speaks for itself.

And it speaks well. Bonhams chose their room wisely - the Fairmont overlooks the Loews Hairpin, meaning bidders can step outside between lots and watch period Formula cars negotiate the corner that defines Monaco. The catalogue is competition-heavy, which suits the setting.

1983 Audi Quattro A2 Group B - Works Car #38 (€900,000 – €1,200,000)

Chassis #38 is not a rally car that participated in Group B. It is the rally car that helped win the 1983 World Rally Championship with Hannu Mikkola at the wheel - the Quattro's finest season, before Group B went sideways in every sense. This official Audi Sport works car won the Rally of Portugal and led the Acropolis before a mechanical retirement on stage 40. It is presented in its 1983 Portugal livery with an extensive history file. The estimate - just north of a million euros for a championship-winning works car - feels honest. The same money barely touches a well-specced modern GT3. And at least here you have something really unique.

1958 Lotus 16 Formula 1 - ex-Graham Hill (€450,000 – €600,000)

The first single-seater Graham Hill ever raced. There is something almost vertiginous about that detail: Hill went on to be a two-time World Champion, the only man to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport, and it starts with this car. Bonhams note the Lotus could almost literally be driven from the saleroom and onto the Monaco Historic grid. That is not marketing copy. It is eligible to race this weekend.

The DTM Collection - 1995 Alfa Romeo 155 V6 Ti, ex-Nannini (€500,000 – €600,000)

A single owner is dispersing four 1990s DTM cars in one go: the Nannini Alfa 155, the ex-Klaus Ludwig 190E AMG DTM, the ex-Steve Soper BMW M3 E30, and a Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500. DTM in this era was arguably the most spectacular touring car formula ever run - works-backed, properly engineered, spectacular to watch. Each car carries genuine race provenance. The estimates are reasonable. And the broader market has finally woken up to the fact that these are among the last affordable works racing cars from a golden era.

Oddity #1 - 1976 Lancia Stratos Gr. IV (€750,000 – €900,000)

Mid-engined, Ferrari Dino V6, built for one purpose. The Stratos is never unwanted - it is an oddity because it tends to make every other car in the room feel slightly ordinary by comparison. Group IV specification means it is the real thing. In a sale anchored by single-seaters and touring cars, it stands magnificently alone.

Oddity #2 - 2021 Lamborghini Sián (€2,100,000 – €2,500,000)

One of 63 coupés produced. A genuine rarity - a hybrid hypercar from a manufacturer more associated with naturally aspirated drama. In a catalogue otherwise dominated by competition machines from the 1950s to the 1990s, it sits awkwardly. Which is not necessarily a reason to avoid it. It is a reason to wonder who consigned it here, and why now.

→ The one I would buy: The Audi Quattro A2

A championship-winning works rally car. Correct livery, documented history, matching components. At €900k to €1.2M, it is the most honest price in the room. You could exhibit it at Villa d'Este. You could run it at Goodwood. And if you understand what this car represents - the moment four-wheel drive rewrote the rules of international rallying forever - you would sleep well knowing it is in your garage.

RM Sotheby’s Monaco Auction at the Grimaldi Forum - April 25th, 2026

RM Sotheby's comes to Monaco on a biennial basis, and when they do, they bring a catalogue that operates at a different level from their annual sales. This year, 58 lots carry a cumulative low estimate of €87 million, with a quartet of Grand Prix racers expected to clear €10 million between them.

1984 Toleman TG183B-05 - ex-Ayrton Senna (€2,800,000 – €3,800,000)

Chassis 05 is where Ayrton Senna's Formula 1 career began. Not metaphorically - literally. This is the car he drove in Brazil, Kyalami, and Zolder in 1984, scoring his first World Championship points. It retains the original Hart 415T engine, Senna's gear lever, and a misspelled inscription of his name in the footwell - the kind of detail no restorer would invent. Recently rebuilt turbo and gearbox. Eligible for the Monaco Historic Grand Prix. The estimate is not cheap, but for the provenance it is not irrational.

1957 Porsche 550A Spyder - ex-Jack McAfee (€3,500,000 – €3,800,000)

One of just 40 produced. Delivered new to McAfee's dealership in Burbank, California, raced competitively through the SCCA season, and just emerged from a six-year restoration by marque expert Andy Prill. The matching-numbers engine case accompanies the sale, with documentation tracing back to handwritten records kept by Herbert Linge - the first mechanic Porsche ever employed. Won Best in Class at Amelia Island. This is not a car that has been assembled for the market. It is the real thing.

1978 Ferrari 312 T3 - Ex-Reutemann and Villeneuve (€4,500,000 – €5,500,000)

One of five chassis built for the 1978 season, driven by Carlos Reutemann across four rounds and subsequently by Gilles Villeneuve at the 1979 Argentine Grand Prix. Ferrari Classiche certified in 2025. Two of the most revered names in the sport's history, in a car that represents the peak of the flat-12 era. The estimate reflects it.

Oddity #1 - Ferrari Enzo, Argento Nürburgring (€4,900,000 – €5,300,000)

One of nine built in this colour, one of only five with a Rosso leather interior. Retained by its first owner for fifteen years, Ferrari Classiche certified throughout. The Enzo is not an oddity in itself - the model has been on a historic run since January's Mecum results. What makes this one unusual is the specification: silver is not where the Enzo market traditionally focuses its attention. Which is precisely why it is the one to watch quietly.

Oddity #2 - 2024 Bugatti Bolide

A track-only hypercar at a Monaco sale otherwise anchored in provenance and history. No racing record, no patina, no story beyond engineering excess and rarity. By the standards of this catalogue it is an outlier. Whether that makes it undervalued or simply out of place is a question the hammer will answer on April 25.

→ The one I would buy: The Porsche 550A Spyder

Every collector in that room will be watching the Toleman. The Reutemann-Villeneuve Ferrari will be what the auction house puts on the cover. But the 550A is the car I would be thinking about from the moment it was announced.

Forty were built. This one raced in California, was restored by the best man in the business, and carries documentation that traces every owner back to the day Porsche completed it. It won at Pomona, Laguna Seca, Riverside - tracks that defined West Coast sports car racing in the 1950s. And it is the machine that, more than any other, proved that intelligence and lightness could beat brute force.

That story does not get cheaper. It gets more expensive, every year.

God Save the Wheels.