A prominent piece of motorsport memorabilia is going to auction this month, featuring the signatures of many of the most recognisable F1® names of the late 1990s.
A Goodyear tyre, originally used on Williams F1 Teams’ championship winning FW19, was signed by 20 drivers over the course of the 1997 and 1998 Formula One seasons. This one-of-a-kind item, covered with the hallmarks of racing legends, is now set to be sold at auction by F1® Authentics, operated by Memento Exclusives under licence of Formula 1®.
The 20 drivers who have applied their signatures to this tyre include x5 Drivers’ World Champions in Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen, Alain Prost, and Damon Hill. It has also been signed by other racing legends from the time such as David Coulthard, Heinz-Harald Fretzen, Jean Alesi, Rubens Barrichello, Giancarlo Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher and more.
The mark of champions
The distinctive Yellow Oz racing rim included authenticates this tyre as belonging from the FW19 that won the Drivers’ & Constructors’ titles in 1997. Being the last Championship win for the team to date makes the applied signatures of Champion Jacques Villeneuve and teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen, all the more special. As of 2025, this remains the last championship won by a non-European driver and the last won on Goodyear tyres to date.
The champions of 1998, McLaren, are also featured with the signatures of that year’s Drivers’ Champion, Mika Häkkinen, and his Constructors’ Champion teammate David Coulthard. The signature applied by Häkkinen is particularly noteworthy, as he has added his nickname, ‘The Flying Finn’. It would be 26 years after these signatures were applied before the team next achieved champions status.
World Class representation
Damon Hill entered the season as reigning Champion, having won the 1996 title with Williams before moving to Arrows, and then Jordan in 1998 – where he secured the team’s first-ever win in F1® at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Considered the greatest of all-time, the addition of 7-time World Champion Michael Schumacher is a significant inclusion. He won 11 races over the course of the two seasons and initially finished runner-up in both but was infamously disqualified from 1997 after a collision with Villeneuve in the final race.
Alain Prost represents the only Team Manager from these two seasons to have signed the tyre. A four-time World Champion in his own right, ‘The Professor’ is another highly sought-after addition, at the time of his retirement holding the records for most wins, fastest laps and podium finishes in F1® history.
Designed for collectors
Motorsport enthusiasts will undoubtedly appreciate that this complete tyre and rim is an impressive upgrade on typically collected rubber-only tyres. It is a weighted display-ready item, better representing how this would have appeared on the car in the 1990s.
Featuring signatures from much of the entire Formula 1® grid across two consecutive seasons ensures this showpiece symbolises not just a single driver or team, but a whole era of the sport, from established legends to rising stars. Each signature has been applied with meticulous care and preserved by the collectors who have owned it.
This historic item is presented as part of F1® Authentics’ End of Season Auction, live from 18th November 2025. Bidders can head to f1authentics.com now to preview a range of auction lots and register their interest.
