The Ferrari that drove Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher to the world championship title in 2003 will be auctioned off at Sotheby’s on Wednesday.
The F2003-GA, chassis 229 is estimated to cost 7.5 to 9.5 million Swiss francs (7.6 to 9.6 million US dollars) when it goes on sale during Sotheby’s Luxury Week in Geneva.
According to the auctioneers, it was “one of the most important Formula 1 cars of all time”.
Schumacher raced the car nine times, winning five grands prix in the 2003 season and driving it when he took the title in Japan.
“It’s one of the Ferraris with the most victories in the history of the constructor, so a very important car in the history of motorsport,” Vincent Luzuy of Sotheby’s luxury car sales subsidiary told AFP.
Designed by Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn, the F2003-GA had a longer wheelbase to improve aerodynamics, he explained.
He was used at the Spanish Grand Prix, the fifth race of the 2003 season. Chassis 229 is by far the most successful of the six F2003-GAs built.
Schumacher drove it to victory in Spain and also won the Grand Prix of Austria, Canada, Italy and the USA with the car.
He also took the car to pole position in Spain, Austria and Italy and fastest laps in Austria, Italy and the United States.
– ‘Real pleasure’ –
The car propelled Schumacher to his sixth F1 title – overall the German surpassing the five titles won by Argentinian Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1950s.
It also helped Ferrari win a 13th Constructors’ Championship – the fifth consecutive for the Italian team.
“It’s a real pleasure to drive,” said Schumacher’s F1 driver son Mick after driving the car at Ferrari’s Fiorano Circuit.
“That was when cars sounded and drove their best,” he said, citing the three-liter V-10 engine.
Luzuy said such F1 cars are rare on the market.
“We have some interested collectors,” he said.
“In 2017 we sold a car from the 2001 season that was also driven by Schumacher. At the time, we valued the car at $3.5 million and it ended up selling for $7.5 million, proving there’s still a special interest in these cars, “especially those with a history like that,” he said he.
The car was sold in New York to a US buyer.
Schumacher has not been seen in public since his serious skiing accident in 2013.
– Gems to win –
Sotheby’s Geneva Luxury Week kicked off on Friday with a selection of jewellery, watches and designer handbags.
Jewelry lovers can try their hand at acquiring a fancy, brilliant blue, cushion-shaped diamond weighing 5.53 carats, estimated at 11 to 15 million Swiss francs.
It is part of the De Beers Exceptional Blue Collection – a group of eight rare fancy blue diamonds with a total value of more than $70 million sold in Geneva, New York and Hong Kong.
Another outstanding lot is a fine 1850s emerald and diamond bracelet from the collection of Empress Eugenie (1826-1920), wife of French Emperor Napoleon III. It is estimated between 60,000 and 80,000 Swiss francs.
