Michael Schumacher’s F1-winning Ferrari is up for auction

One of Maranello’s legendary F1 cars piloted by Michael Schumacher during his first Ferrari World Championship-winning season is going under the hammer.

Classic car auction company RM Sotheby’s has placed another celebrated Formula One Ferrari on the auction block, as part of its Luxury Week in Hong Kong. 

Chassis number 198 is expected to fetch approximately $US9.5m ($AU14m) – far less than the 2003 championship winning Ferrari, which sold in 2022 for a staggering £12.6m (AU23m). 

The ground-breaking racer was piloted by Formula One legend Michael Schumacher in his first Ferrari World Championship-winning season, along with Ferrari’s 2000 Formula One Drivers’ World Championship. 

The F1-2000 was initially intended to be a spare car for the world champion, but instead went on to play a pivotal role from just the second round of the season, which took place in Brazil. 

Chassis 198 was enlisted following damage that occurred to Schumacher’s main car during qualifying. The German went on to claim a famous victory, following a thrilling battle with Häkkinen. It would be the first of nine wins out of the 17 races that season. 

The Scuderia chassis was a dominant force in the field, boasting an advanced package of aerodynamics and a redesigned 90-degree V-10 engine, which enabled engineers to moderately lower the car’s centre of gravity. 

Technical Director at the time, Ross Brawn, was incredibly confident with the 198’s package, saying,  “I think we’ve probably had the best car we have ever had at the beginning of the season.”

The 198 drove its last laps at the 2000 Austrian Grand Prix, where it was retired following an incident with BAR-Honda driver, Ricardo Zonta.

The celebrated car was sold to a private collector in 2016, and drove in several Ferrari Corse Clienti events, along with Ferrari F1 Clienti festivities held in Monza, Texas and Austin.

The auction will end on Wednesday 12 April 2023, and the listing can be viewed by clicking here.

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