One of Michael Schumacher’s F1 Ferrari cars is set to rake in a mind-boggling $15m as it goes under the hammer.
The Ferrari 248 F1 will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in November in a sealed auction.
This means the bids for the car will not be viewed until the auction date, leaving observers in suspense as to what the actual selling price will be.
Schumacher drove the car to five Grand Prix victories in the 2006 season when he ended up narrowly being beaten to the World Championship by Fernando Alonso.
This chassis saw the German take victory at the San Marino, European, United States, French and German Grands Prix that year.
It was after this season that Schumacher took his first retirement from F1 – only to return to the sport in 2010 as a Mercedes racer.
Sotheby’s have claimed the car has ‘impeccable provenance’ given its success – not to mention the fact that its current owner purchased the car straight off Ferrari.
It was also then given Ferrari Classiche Certified status in 2008 – which designates a car’s authenticity and can only be awarded by the province of Maranello.
It has been labelled with a price estimate ‘in excess of £15,000,000 – and if it fetches that amount, it will automatically become one of three most expensively sold F1 cars in history.
The top three currently already include one of Schumacher’s cars, with his 2003 Ferrari F2003 have been sold for just over $14m.
Meanwhile, it is Lewis Hamilton’s Championship-winning 2013 Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 W04 that comes in at second having sold for just nder $19m.
Topping the list is Juan Manuel Fangio’s 1954 Mercedes W196R which sold for a staggering $29.65m in 2013 – making it also the fifth most expensive car ever, not just in F1 standings.
But as a seven-time World Champion himself, many of Schumacher’s former cars has fetched a high price at auction.
Each of his title-winning cars from 2001, 2002 and 2003 have all been sold for over £5m previously.
And while this particular chassis could not quite clinch an eighth title for Schumacher back in 2006, Sotheby’s have tagged this car as one of the most remarkable they have dealt with.
Advertising the item, they claimed that ‘this car carries immense historical and sentimental value, making it one of the most significant pieces of Formula 1 history to ever come to auction’.
