A Michael Schumacher-driven Ferrari Formula 1 car has sold before the Monaco Grand Prix for £13.4 million.
Michael Schumacher piloted the Ferrari F2001 to win his fifth Monaco Grand Prix, in 2001. The victory helped Schumacher secure his fourth F1 driver’s championship and his second in the red of Ferrari.
The car was described as the “Schumacher Crown Jewel” by auctioneers RM Sotheby. The car was sold as a single lot in a sale on the track in the minutes before the GP qualifying sessions started.
The chassis 21 car in action at Monaco. Image courtesy of RM Sotheby.
The car has the chassis number 21, and it sold for €15.9 million or £13.4 million, around $18.1 million.
That makes chassis number 21 the fourth most valuable F1 car ever sold at auction.
It is the most valuable Schumacher car, surpassing the £9.7 million paid for the F2003.
RM Sotheby were able to list a slew of unique achievements for the car: the last Ferrari to win at Monaco in a Championship year; the first to win back to back double titles (driver and constructor).
Schumacher’s popularity is down to the German-driver’s extraordinary record on the track. His tragic accident means he has been out of the public gaze for over a decade.
It was brought together by Ferrari’s “super team”: Jean Todt, Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne, and Michael Schumacher.
F1 and its drivers are highly collectible.
Schumacher is among the most desirable. He won 91 races and seven titles, a record until Lewis Hamilton equalled it in 2020.
In 2023 a Schumacher helmet from the 2003 title-winning season sold for £96,000 at auction.
Schumacher was gravely injured in a skiing accident in 2013 and since then his condition has been kept private by his family.
Earlier this year, a Mercedes “streamliner” driven by both Sir Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1958 season sold for £42.7 million.
