British F1 racing driver Lewis Hamilton recently became the third driver in history to win five world championships after Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio. To celebrate his staggering success, award-winning British artist Paul Karslake has created a one-off Mercedes art car.

The design is inspired by the livery of Hamilton's Mercedes W09 Formula One car, but the most eye-catching elements are a detailed portrait of the F1 champion and a Union Jack flag adorning the hood of the car, which were meticulously hand painted and airbrushed.

The eye-catching design isn't the only modification made to the Lewis Hamilton-themed 2002 Mercedes-Benz CLK 500 Avantgarde. It also wears a Sarto wide body kit, a unique rear spoiler designed specifically for the car, and sits on uprated Bilstein suspension with Cosmis Racing wheels. "The addition of the full body kit and a specially designed rear spoiler before I started added nicely to the look I wanted to achieve, but there are also some serious tweaks hiding beneath the surface," the artist said. "It's a brilliant fun car to drive.

Inside, the modifications made to the two-tone grey leather interior are minimal, however, as the artist painted the headlining in black "to give the car a GT feel." Six layers of lacquer were also applied to protect the artwork.

Soon, the one-off Lewis Hamilton-themed Mercedes will be heading to the specialist Historics auction at Mercedes-Benz World at the former Brooklands Circuit in Surrey on November 24. It remains to be seen how much a F1 fanatic is willing to pay for this one-off art car, but Historics expects it to fetch between $26,000 and $32,500.