The most expensive car in the history of "Formula 1", driven by Michael Schumacher, was sold at a record price.. Video
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Legendary Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher's 2003 car was sold at a record auction price, making it the most valuable car in Formula 1 history.
While the 7-time world champion's car that was sold was said to be "fully operational".
The 2003 world championship Ferrari, won by Michael Schumacher, sold for a record $13.2 million at an auction in Geneva on November 9, 2022.
After confirming the sale, Sotheby's said the Ferrari F-2003-GA Chassis 229, with which the "Red Baron" won numerous races during the 2003 season, achieved "the record price for a modern-day Formula One car".
That is nearly double the record $7.5 million set by another Ferrari that Schumacher also drove during the 2001 season, sold by Sotheby's in New York in 2017.
The auction house later reported that when taxes and fees were added, the final price of the 2003 Ferrari came to $14.9 million.
The identity of the buyer, who made his bid by phone with a call from Europe after a bidding war that lasted more than 40 minutes, was not released, while the final price far exceeded expectations as the pre-sale auction house estimated that the car would fetch up to $9.6 million.
"It's one of Ferrari's biggest wins in the history of the brand, so it's a very important car in the history of motoring," Vincent Lozoe of Sotheby's, which deals with luxury car sales, told AFP.
"It was developed by engineers, Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn, who decided to design a slightly longer wheelbase to work on aerodynamics," he explained.
Schumacher scored five victories that season in the Spanish Grand Prix, the fifth round of 2003, starting on the Catalan circuit and then in the Austrian, Canadian, Italian and US Grand Prix.
Schumi started in Ferrari 2003 from first place 3 times (Spain, Austria and Italy), achieved the fastest lap during the race in Austria, Italy and the United States, and climbed to the podium twice in Monaco and France, to win the German in the Japanese Grand Prix, the last round of the championship. He won his sixth world title, breaking the previous record he shared with Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio (5 each).
Scuderia Ferrari also won its fifth consecutive title and 13th in its history in the constructors' championship.
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