Formula One legend Michael Schumacher drove this Ferrari F2001 to two of the three wins that helped him claim the 2001 Formula One world driver’s championship, and now it’s set another milestone. Its sale price of $7.5 million makes this the most expensive modern-era F1 car ever, according to Sotheby’s.
Sotheby’s didn’t define “modern” when they made that claim, as Autoblog notes, but suffice to say that it’s in a different class than your ultra-rare, 1 of 1 surviving one-off early F1 racers that go for even more obscene amounts of cash.
What’s particularly interesting is that this car was only expected to bring in around $4-5 million, per Autoblog. That would be closer to the price of the last ex-Schumacher car sold by Sotheby’s: one that was used in the 2004 season, and was a major success with a $3.2 million sale.
If that one was a success, I don’t know—this is like a ridiculous cashsplosion in comparison. A portion of the proceeds to to Schumacher’s Keep Fighting charity, whose causes include road safety and head safety.
The lucky buyer doesn’t just get the F2001 in racing condition to dominate every track event it ever goes to, but Ferrari themselves will also assist with its transport and storage. All that plus the Monaco Grand Prix-winning V10 F1 car? That practically makes $7.5 million seem like a steal!
The rest of us peasants will have to make do with mere photos of this beautiful prancing horse, which you can view on Sotheby’s auction listing here.