Sotheby’s will hold an auction on Wednesday for the Ferrari F2003 that Formula One legend Michael Schumacher used to win the World Championship.
On Wednesday, Sotheby’s is scheduled to hold an auction for the Ferrari that Formula One legend Michael Schumacher raced to victory in the 2003 World Championship.
The Ferrari F2003-GA, Chassis 229 is expected to sell for between 7.6 and 9.6 million Swiss francs ($7.6 and $9.6 million) when it is put up for auction in Geneva during Sotheby’s Luxury Week.
The auctioneers claimed that it is one of the most iconic Formula One cars ever. Schumacher did nine raced nine times with the car, winning five Grands Prix in the 2003 campaign. He also used it to win the championship in Japan.
“It’s one of the Ferraris with the most victories in the constructor’s history, so it’s a very important car in the history of motor racing,” Vincent Luzuy, a luxury car dealer from the Sotheby’s branch said in an interview with AFP.
The Ferrari F2003-GA, created by Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn, had a longer wheelbase for better aerodynamics. It was launched at the Spanish Grand Prix, the fifth contest of the 2003 campaign. Of the six F2003-GAs produced, Chassis 229 has by far had the most success.
Along with winning the Austrian, Canadian, Italian, and US Grands Prix in the vehicle, Michael Schumacher also drove it to victory in Spain. In the car, he also won the pole position and the quickest laps in Spain, Austria, and Italy.
The car enabled Schumacher win his sixth F1 championship, surpassing Juan Manuel Fangio’s five titles from the 1950s. It also aided Ferrari in capturing their fifth consecutive constructors’ title, the Italian team’s 13th overall victory.
“It’s a real pleasure driving it,” Schumacher’s F1 driver son Mick said after giving the car a run around Ferrari’s Fiorano Circuit. “It’s when the cars were sounding the nicest, driving the nicest.”
Such F1 cars, according to Luzuy, are hard to come by: “We’ve got quite a few interested collectors.”
“In 2017 we sold a car from the 2001 season also driven by Schumacher. At the time, we estimated the car at $3.5 million and in the end it sold for $7.5 million.”
“So it proves that there’s still a special interest in these cars, especially those with such a history,” he added.
A US buyer purchased the vehicle in New York.
Since sustaining severe injuries in a skiing accident in 2013, Schumacher has not been spotted in public.
