A Ferrari Formula 1 race car driven by Michael Schumacher in his first championship year with the Scuderia is heading to auction with RM Sotheby's. It will be a sealed auction that requires interested parties to send one sealed bid from April 3-12.
The Ferrari F2000 marked the beginning of the Ferrari-Schumacher championship dynasty. Schumacher joined Ferrari in 1996 after two championship seasons with Benetton seeking to revive the team, but that didn't come to fruition until 2000, when the German won the drivers' title, while Ferrari won the constructors' championship. Schumacher and Ferrari went on to dominate F1 through the 2004 season.
2000 Ferrari F2000 chassis 198 driven by Michael Schumacher (photo via RM Sotheby's)
With a design overseen by Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, who had followed Schumacher from Benetton, the F2000 had serious pace. During the 17-race season, Schumacher took nine pole positions and nine victories. His teammate, Rubens Barichello, also won a single Grand Prix.
The car up for auction is chassis 198, which Schumacher drove to victory at the 2000 Brazilian Grand Prix, as well as the pole position and fifth overall at that year's Spanish Grand Prix. Notably, this is also the car Schumacher drove to a pole position at the 2000 Monaco—his only pole with Ferrari at that prestigious race. Schumacher nearly took victory at that race as well but retired with a broken pushrod.
2000 Ferrari F2000 chassis 198 driven by Michael Schumacher (photo via RM Sotheby's)
This car's final race was the 2000 Austrian Grand Prix, where Schumacher qualified third, but retired after being hit by the BAR-Honda of Ricardo Zonta. The car was repaired and brought to the season's remaining races, but was never used again, according to the auction listing. Ferrari subsequently rebuilt chassis 198, displayed it at the 2001 Geneva motor show, and sold it to Ferrari collector Kevin Crowder of Texas. Acquired by the seller in 2016, chassis 198 is Ferrari Classiche certified and has been driven at numerous Corse Clienti track days, the listing says.
Several ex-Schumacher F1 cars have come up for sale in recent years, including two examples of the 1998 Ferrari F300, one of which won all four of its races, making it Schumacher's most successful F1 car. A Schumacher-driven Ferrari F2002 sold for $5.9 million at auction in 2019, while an F2003-GA from the following season sold for $14.8 million at a November 2022 auction.