When news appears online that in any way involves Michael Schumacher, it spreads like wildfire. That’s why it hasn’t take long for word to get out that the car he drove in his final Formula One season with Ferrari is about to be auctioned off. Don’t get your hopes up, though: it’s bound to sell for more than most of us could ever hope to earn in our lifetimes.
The car in question is the 2006 Ferrari 248 F1. Schumacher drove it to five Grand Prix victories and eight podiums before ending the season with his first round of retirement. He had broken most of the sport’s records by that point, and was already widely considered one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time. In fact, this is the exact car Schumacher was driving when he broke Ayrton Senna’s pole position record, and he also wheeled it to his final pole position and his final win at the German Grand Prix.
Schumacher briefly returned to F1 with Mercedes from 2010 to 2012, when he retired a second time and gave up his seat to none other than the next contender for the GOAT list, Lewis Hamilton. But once Schumacher secured five consecutive championships with Ferrari from 2000 to 2004, his career and the Scuderia were permanently linked in the eyes of fans. That connection remains steadfast to this day, even as the tragic skiing accident he suffered in December 2013 has forced him out of the public eye.
After its last outing on track during a test session with Kimi Raikonnen, Ferrari sold the 2006 Ferrari 248 F1 in 2007 directly to a private collector, who has owned it ever since. The car is Ferrari Classiche Red Book Certified and comes with extensive documentation, leaving no doubt this is the real deal.
Sale of this deeply important piece of Formula One history has been entrusted to Ontario-headquartered RM Sotheby’s for a sealed-bid auction, which will be held this November during the auction house’s marquee sales of Modern and Contemporary Art. The 2006 Ferrari 248 F1 will be on display in New York City from November 8 to 20, and bidding closes on Tuesday, November 19 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern.
If you think it might be worth dropping a bid for a few hundred bucks, we hate to burst your bubble. The top five highest-priced Formula One cars, according to the sanctioning body itself, include:
- McLaren MP4/8A chassis #6, in which Ayrton Senna won his final Monaco Grand Prix (sold for £3.6 million, or more than US$4.8 million, in 2018);
- 2010 McLaren MP4-25A chassis #1, the first Lewis Hamilton-driven car ever to be auctioned (sold for £4.8 million, or roughly US$6.5 million, in 2021);
- 2002 Ferrari F2002 chassis #219, with which Schumacher won some 15 times during that season; it was auctioned at the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for $6,643,750;
- 2001 Ferrari F2001 chassis #211, in which Schumacher won the 2001 Monaco Grand Prix; this car sold at a Sotheby’s New York auction in 2017 for $7,504,000; and,
- the 1954 Mercedes W196R, driven by the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio to the second of his five Formula One titles, which sold at auction for an astonishing $29,650,095 at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
It would be a shock to see the 2006 Ferrari 248 F1 surpass the Fangio car’s stratospheric overall record, but its final selling price could easily land somewhere within this top five. In the meantime, serious Schumacher fans may wish to consider a last-minute trip to New York to see this car before it disappears into the secretive halls of yet another private collector.
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