Michael Schumacher’s First Winning Car In F1 Racing Up For Auction, Bids Could Reach $552K
Michael Schumacher’s road to greatness started in the early 90s. One of his first cars in Formula One racing, the Benetton B191B from Ford, is up for auction with bids that could reach 300,000 pounds (roughly AU $552,000). The racer, who would eventually become a seven-time Formula One world champion, rode the said Benetton Ford car in the 1992 Mexican Grand Prix and finished third place in what would be the first podium finish for the then 23-year-old up and coming racer.
Schumacher won F1 world championships in 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 and is widely considered the greatest driver of all time in motorsports. Schumacher, who raced for Team Benetton from 1991 to 1994, rode the Benetton B191B in a total of three races including the 1992 South African GP and Brazilian GP placing fourth and third, respectively.
"Chassis 6 is highly respected as the Benetton that took Schumacher to his first podium position,” James Knight, head of international motoring at the auction house, said via express.co.uk. “But that's not where the story ends, for this was also the car that took three-time Formula One World Champion driver, Brazil's Nelson Piquet, through his last Grand Prix on the beautiful Adelaide street and parkland circuit in the 1991 season.”
Knight described the 3.5 litre V8-powered F1 car as “relatively uncomplicated and easy to run” and the car is expected to draw attention from car enthusiasts and high bids in the auction to be held at Mayfair, London on Sunday, Nov. 30. The head for the auction house is banking on the historical value of the car to get maximum value of which in the said auction.
"With its multiple connections to ten Formula 1 World Championship titles and its significance within the Michael Schumacher story, it is an historic artefact of true stature,” Knight added in the same article.
Schumacher is currently in recovery for a skiing accident in the French Alps in December 2012. The 45-year-old was initially treated at a hospital in France and is now being treated at home in Geneva, Switzerland.