{"id":33754,"date":"2026-10-07T14:28:03","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T14:28:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=33754"},"modified":"2026-10-07T14:28:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T14:28:03","slug":"where-did-williams-1m-worth-f1-car-go-team-sues-garage-owner-for-1m-after-ralf-schumacher-historic-cars-mystery-disappearance-international-sports-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=33754","title":{"rendered":"Where did Williams\u2019 $1M worth F1 car go? Team sues garage owner for $1M+ after Ralf Schumacher historic car\u2019s mystery disappearance | International Sports News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-134764514,imgsize-610113,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/ralf-schumacher.jpg\" alt=\"Where did Williams\u2019 $1M worth F1 car go? Team sues garage owner for $1M+ after Ralf Schumacher historic car\u2019s mystery disappearance\" title=\"Ralf Schumacher warns Tsunoda against joining Red Bull (Image Source: Getty)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"Ralf Schumacher warns Tsunoda against joining Red Bull (Image Source: Getty)\">Ralf Schumacher warns Tsunoda against joining Red Bull (Image Source: Getty)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Williams is taking legal action against former garage owner Peter Thorpe after a historic Formula 1 car allegedly disappeared. The British team is seeking \u00a31 million ($1.34 million) from Thorpe for the return of its rare FW23, valued at \u00a3750,000 ($1.01 million).<!-- --> The car was driven by Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya during the 2001 F1 season.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"3\"\/>The FW23 was loaned to Autotech Performance Ltd in 2015. It was supposed to be displayed at the company\u2019s garage in Telford. Williams later asked for the car to be returned, but the team says it received no response. Autotech has since been liquidated and dissolved.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"5\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h2><b>Williams seeks return of its missing FW23 car or $1.3 million<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>Williams says the FW23 is part of its unique collection of heritage Formula 1 cars. <!-- -->Only nine examples of the car were manufactured. The team claims it strictly controls the use and sale of its historic cars to help preserve them.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"11\"\/>According to Williams\u2019 court case, the team loaned the car to Autotech in 2015 under a \u201cHistoric Car Loan Agreement.\u201d The agreement allowed the company to keep the car until October 2021.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"13\"\/><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"15\"\/>Williams then contacted Autotech that year and asked to inspect the car. The team also terminated the loan. However, it says there was no response.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"19\"\/>Williams\u2019 lawyers claim the car was later removed from the garage. They allege Thorpe wrongly told a valuer working on Autotech\u2019s liquidation that he personally owned the vehicle.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"21\"\/>\u201cThe car is part of the claimant\u2019s unique collection of its own heritage cars, the use or sale of which it strictly controls inter alia [among other things] to ensure so far as possible that they are preserved\u201d, Williams\u2019 barrister Richard Clegg said while setting out the claim in the case papers.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"24\"\/>He added, \u201cIn 2015, the claimant agreed to loan the car to Autotech on the terms of a document entitled \u201cHistoric Car Loan Agreement\u201d which terms were known and agreed to by Autotech.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"26\"\/>Williams also claims the car remained at the company\u2019s premises until its voluntary liquidation. The team says the vehicle was removed sometime after the liquidation process began.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"28\"\/>Thorpe, however, strongly disputes the allegations. He says he does not know where the car is and denies telling anyone that he owned it.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"31\"\/>His lawyer Duncan MacPherson said, \u201cHe does not know who in fact owned the car then or now. The defendant closed the business of Autotech on 30 June 2021. The defendant suffered a stroke on 7 October 2018 that caused him cognitive impairment,\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"34\"\/>Thorpe says he last saw the FW23 at the premises on August 8, 2021, when Autotech\u2019s assets were being valued.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"36\"\/>His defence states, \u201cThe defendant admits that the car was at the premises on 8 August 2021, but does not admit whether it remained there until December 2021, because this lies outside his knowledge.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"39\"\/>He also said he \u201cbelieves that he has not told anyone that he owned the car, because he knew this to be untrue\u201d.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"41\"\/>The case was filed at the High Court in London. It has not yet reached a full trial. Williams said it has \u201cfull faith in the legal system\u201d to resolve the dispute.<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/international-sports\/where-did-williams-1m-worth-f1-car-go-team-sues-garage-owner-for-1m-after-ralf-schumacher-historic-cars-mystery-disappearance\/articleshow\/134763354.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ralf Schumacher warns Tsunoda against joining Red Bull (Image Source: Getty) Williams is taking legal action against former garage owner Peter Thorpe after a historic Formula 1 car allegedly disappeared. The British team is seeking \u00a31 million ($1.34 million) from Thorpe for the return of its rare FW23, valued at \u00a3750,000 ($1.01 million). The car [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-31"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ralf-schumacher.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ralf-schumacher.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ralf-schumacher.jpg","large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ralf-schumacher.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ralf-schumacher.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ralf-schumacher.jpg","blogsy-small":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ralf-schumacher.jpg","blogsy-small-tall":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ralf-schumacher.jpg","blogsy-small-square":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ralf-schumacher.jpg","blogsy-small-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ralf-schumacher.jpg","blogsy-medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ralf-schumacher.jpg","blogsy-medium-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ralf-schumacher.jpg","blogsy-large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ralf-schumacher.jpg","blogsy-wide":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ralf-schumacher.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"Ralf Schumacher warns Tsunoda against joining Red Bull (Image Source: Getty) Williams is taking legal action against former garage owner Peter Thorpe after a historic Formula 1 car allegedly disappeared. The British team is seeking \u00a31 million ($1.34 million) from Thorpe for the return of its rare FW23, valued at \u00a3750,000 ($1.01 million). The car [&hellip;]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":1,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":3,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ralf-schumacher.jpg",400,225,false],"medium":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ralf-schumacher.jpg",300,169,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ralf-schumacher.jpg",150,84,false]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/author\/admin"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"<a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-31\">\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}