- A 2006 Ferrari 248 F1 race automobile is headed to public sale
- Michael Schumacher drove the F1 automobile earlier than his short-term retirement
- An F1 automobile beforehand pushed by Schumacher bought for $14.8M in 2022.
Michael Schumacher stays one in every of Method 1’s most profitable drivers, with most of that success coming in a dominant period with Ferrari within the early 2000s. The automobile that marked the tip of that period will likely be auctioned off by RM Sotheby’s Nov. 14.
The 2006 Ferrari 248 F1 is the final Ferrari F1 automobile raced by Schumacher, who briefly retired following the 2006 season. Schumacher did not add to his record-tying seven championships that season, however he did rating his last 5 victories and final three pole positions. His last pole and win had been scored within the automobile up for public sale—chassis quantity 254.
This season marked F1’s change from 3.0-liter V-10 engines to 2.4-liter V-8s, and Ferrari hoped the recent begin would enable it to reset from a disappointing 2005 season by which it misplaced the drivers’ and constructors’ championships to Fernando Alonso and Renault, respectively. These had been the primary championship losses for Ferrari since 2000, breaking the Scudera’s (and Schumacher’s) stranglehold on F1.
2006 Ferrari 248 F1 pushed by Michael Schumacher (picture through RM Sotheby’s)
The primary V-8 Ferrari F1 automobile because the championship-winning 158 of 1964, the 248 F1 did not fairly dwell as much as expectations—Alonso and Renault repeated their championship-winning kind—however it was far more aggressive than the 2005 automobile. Schumacher got here dwelling first within the San Marino, European, United States, French, and German Grands Prix. The latter was his last F1 win—on dwelling soil, nonetheless.
Producing 730 hp initially, and as much as 758 hp by the tip of the season because of improvement work, the 248 F1 additionally powered Schumacher to his last pole place, additionally on the German Grand Prix. Chassis 254 can be the automobile by which Schumacher surpassed Ayrton Senna’s report for pole positions (each drives have since been surpassed by Lewis Hamilton) and took the German driver to a few second-place finishes and 4 quickest laps.
Schumacher returned to F1 with Mercedes-AMG in 2010, however wasn’t ready so as to add to his victory tally throughout three seasons with the group. He certified on pole for the 2012 Monaco Grand Prix, however did not begin there on account of a five-place grid penalty from a collision with Bruno Senna on the earlier race. The 248 F1 thus represents the tip of Schumacher’s F1 glory days—and the start of the tip of Ferrari’s.
2006 Ferrari 248 F1 pushed by Michael Schumacher (picture through RM Sotheby’s)
Ferrari 248 chassis 254 additionally boasts a connection to a different F1 star. It was the primary Ferrari pushed by Kimi Räikkönen, throughout pre-season testing in Jan. 2007. Räikkönen would go on to win the drivers’ championship, with Ferrari successful the constructors’ championship after McLaren was excluded within the “Spygate” scandal. These stay Ferrari’s final F1 championships.
RM Sotheby’s didn’t publish a pre-auction estimate for this automobile, however to offer you an thought, an ex-Schumacher Ferrari F1 automobile from the 2003 season bought for $14.8 million at public sale in 2022.
