Airport offers duty free F1 cars

Passengers passing through Zurich airport can add a Formula One car to their usual duty-free shopping this month.

A selection of cars and memorabilia owned by Peter Sauber, whose Swiss-based team were taken over by BMW at the end of 2005, will be auctioned off at the airport over a six-week period from February 19.

"This is the first time Formula One racing cars will be up for sale at Zurich Airport," said Patrick Graf, head of marketing retail for the company that holds the government concession to operate the airport, in a statement.

The Sauber Formula One cars to be sold to the highest bidder include ones raced by France's Jean Alesi between 1998 and 1999 and Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen, the Finn who started his grand prix career with Sauber in 2001.

Even if they never won a race, the cars are unlikely to be easily affordable. The cheapest offering on the F1-sales.com Web site is a 1989 Leyton House rolling chassis with a starting price of 37,500 pounds.

- Reuters